Happy 60th anniversary to 'The Music Man,' that most American of musicals, and the hero of its story, Marian Paroo.

The act one finale of ‘The Music Man’ never fails to make me cry because of Winthrop’s breakthrough.

Marian never falls for Harold’s con. She sees right through him but decides not to out him when she realizes that his impact has, to her astonishment, been positive (distilled through her brother’s sudden and carefree logorrhea).

The people of River City are anti-literacy, anti-immigrant and presumably not thrilled about Catholics, so their disdain for an independent-minded, unmarried Irish-American librarian would be palpable.

(Mayor Shinn dislikes Tommy Djilas because he’s the son of an Eastern European immigrant day laborer)

Harold inadvertently brings culture to the town with his con. Suddenly they are interested in Beethoven and Delsarte, and even gets the Town Ladies to actually read the books they proclaim to hate.

As a result, he manages to turn the public opinion of Marian in her favor (which makes the "Pick-a-Little" reprise, cut from the film, crucial)

‘The Music Man’ is simultaneously a celebration of and a gentle satire of Americana. Harold is in the tradition of irresistible folk heroes we fall for but shouldn’t. Marian is the type of American we should strive to be: inclusive, fair, educated, passionate, and open-minded.

‘The Music Man’ is the most American of musicals: as commentary about mob mentality, resentment of education, taste; eschewing rational thought for the zeitgeist. How Americans can be sold a bill of goods, no matter how bad or misinformed, if it strikes at the primal or patriotic

As for Marian, because she doesn’t fit in with the River City aesthetic of being a dutiful, subservient wife, she’s scorned. The first the audience hears about her is that she’s a stuck-up librarian who teaches piano: the patriarchy at work.

As a result she’s seen as, depending on the source, an old maid or a fallen woman. She is, of course, none of the things anyone says about her. But we the audience get to know her and root for her through her confessional solos.

Marian also saves Harold’s skin in the final scene by mercilessly upbraiding the town for reverting to what they were before he arrived and allowing enough time for the boy’s band to get there for the finale punchline. Hero.

I fucking love ‘The Music Man’ in great part because of its leading lady, who is so much more than an ingenue, and perhaps my favorite character in musical theatre.

Also, I'd like to know more about Helen Raymond, the original Eulalie MacKecknie Shinn, who was 79 when she opened in 'The Music Man' and retired after the show closed.

Another look at my favorite moment in 'The Music Man' featuring Barbara Cook, Eddie Hodges, and Helen Raymond