Event overview
Creating Harold Hill: New Sources for 'The Music Man'
In December 1957, Meredith Willson's The Music Man opened on Broadway and went on to run for 1,375 consecutive performances, making it the third longest running musical of the decade. Yet in traditional narratives on the genre, the show has been overshadowed by Bernstein's West Side Story, which opened two months earlier and ran for only 732 performances. Willson's work is normally perceived to represent old-fashioned musical comedy, while Bernstein's associations with art music have led musicologists in particular to privilege West Side, creating an awkward binarism that has undermined the importance and success Willson's output. In 2011, Willson's estate made hundreds of his papers and manuscripts available to the public for the first time. In this presentation, I will present a selection of unpublished sources - including scripts, music and correspondence - that trace the development of The Music Man over a five-year period, shedding new light on a neglected work.
Dr Dominic McHugh is Lecturer in Musicology at the University of Sheffield and the author of Loverly: The Life and Times of My Fair Lady (Oxford, 2012) and Alan Jay Lerner: A Lyricist's Letters (Oxford, 2014).
---------------------------------------------------------------
The Music Research Series is designed to help postgraduate students advance their research and careers. The events stimulate exchange, hones skills, facilitates the creation of professional networks and helps to consolidate the department’s postgraduate community. Attendance is strongly recommended for all postgraduate students (MA, MMus and PGR) in Music but of course undergraduates, music researchers, and visitors from across the college and the community are also most welcome to these public lectures.
Dates & times
| Date | Time | Add to calendar |
|---|---|---|
| 3 Mar 2015 | 5:00pm - 6:30pm |
Accessibility
If you are attending an event and need the College to help with any mobility requirements you may have, please contact the event organiser in advance to ensure we can accommodate your needs.
