The Music Man as America (not just Americana)

 1776
Is the musical about the founding of America.

The Music Man 

Is the Great American Musical.

But The Music Man 

May tell the story of America as well. 

I don't mean to be trivial, 

Merely metaphorical.

You may recall the story:

Con man Harold Hill 

Tells River City Iowa 

That they've got Trouble 

With a capital T and that rhymes P and that

Stands for pool.

He convinces parents that the new pool hall

Will corrupt their youth. 

They need something wholesome to compete:

A boys' band! 

He collects their money to join 

And buy instruments and uniforms

But in the end, he leaves before any music 

Is ever played. 

He keeps the money for himself. 

Colonists had real Trouble,

The tyranny of the British Crown,

Instead of a pool hall in their colonies.

But they did propose a solution.

Not a boy's band,

But the truth, held to be self-evident, 

That all men are created equal. 

They convinced people to go to war

To fight for this idea. 

There were, no doubt, some forms 

Of marching bands involved,

Musical or otherwise. 

But like Harold promising a boy's band

And delivering some of the supplies needed

But then cutting out with the cash, 

Our Founding Fathers promised equality,

Went to war for it, 

And made steps towards it 

(They delivered some of the instruments,

The Constitution, for example),

But they cut out with with cash for themselves:

Only the landholding, white Harold Hills 

Were permitted to hold power. 

Our national River City 

Ended up with something that sounded great

But in the end didn't deliver.

Not even the Wells-Fargo wagon 

Could deliver 

The promised America.

But, of course, remember the plot of The Music Man.

Harold Hill starts as a con man, 

But then he is caught, 

Held to account. 

But he is also caught

"with his foot in the door."

Because he falls in love,

Not just with a woman,

But with a place. 

In the end he admits 

That he always actually believes 

There is a band. 

And what Marian the Librarian 

Points out to him 

Is that even his pretend band

Created magic. 

He has tranformed the town

Just by creating the anticipation

Of the marching band. 

It's taken the better part of 250 years

For the magic to work its way

Through our River City.

It hasn't completely worked yet. 

In fact, at this moment, 

The magic seems pretty dim. 

The band seems thoroughly fake.

But perhaps the time has come to hold 

Our Harold Hills to account,

To ask them to finally play the music 

That was promised all those years ago

When the words "All men are created equal"

Rang out like 76 trombones.

It will involve some real thinking,

Not just the "think method"

("Think, boys! Think!").

So far our attempts to play the music 

Have been off key, discordant, grating. 

But still, music to some ears. 

("That's my Davey!")

But remember where the show ends, 

With a united band, 

A grand diversity of different 

Instruments -  

Trombones,

Cornets,

Reeds like weeds,

Horns of every shape and kind - 

All playing 

in a more perfect union. 

This time for real.