Dream Casting: The Music Man

Today we’re launching a new series: Dream Casting, or Why Producers and Casting Directors Should Listen to Us and Mount These Sure-to-be Successful Productions of Beloved Musicals or Books with Stars from the Stage and Screen.

Today’s dream production: Meredith Willson‘s The Music Man, which has held a sacred spot in the heart of American musical theater since its Broadway debut in 1957. Since then, it’s had a much-loved Hollywood adaptation in 1962 (starring Robert Preston and Shirley Jones), a 2003 televised production (starring a miscast Matthew Broderick and a perfect Kristin Chenoweth), and a 2000 Broadway production led by director-choreographer Susan Stroman (and starring Craig Bierko and Rebecca Luker). Moreover, NBC has repeatedly flirted with the idea of mounting a production of The Music Man for its next installment of a live televised musical, featuring a blend of stars from stage and screen. Though NBC has rightly passed over The Music Man for The Wiz and the upcoming Hairspray, we feel as though the time has come for a reboot of the beloved show. As such, break out the seventy-six trombones, the one-hundred-and-ten cornets, and the rows and rows of the finest virtuosos– we humbly submit our wish-list for the show’s two leads:

Professor Harold Hill – Seth MacFarlane

We’d love to see Seth MacFarlane star as “Professor” Harold Hill, a fast-talking con man with a heart of gold who attempts to sell band instruments to the good citizens of River City, Iowa, at the turn of the last century. After all, MacFarlane is a bonafide musical theater nerd– and we love him for it. Not only has MacFarlane sprinkled musical theater references and numbers into his hit Family Guy (including “Shipoopi,” a song from The Music Man), he is also an accomplished singer with an uncommonly swoon-worthy, Sinatra-kissed voice. His successful Christmas album is cozily, unapologetically old-fashioned, and he has performed at BBC Proms in London (where he hit Music Man‘s “Ya Got Trouble” outta the park in 2012. Bravo, sir). To put it plainly: Seth MacFarlane was born for this role. Someone, cast him already!

Marian the Librarian – Kristen Bell

What about Marian, the sensible bibliophile whose unrealistic romantic ideals have condemned her to singledom? Look no further than Kristen Bell, whose musical chops need no introduction– as one of the stars of Disney’s megahit Frozen, her voice has been heard by hundreds of millions around the world. The star of Veronica Mars has had respectable turns on stage, too: she made her Broadway debut as Becky Thatcher in 2001’s short-lived The Adventures of Tom Sawyer and has since starred in 2001’s Reefer Madness, the acclaimed 2002 Broadway production of The Crucible (starring Liam Neeson as John Proctor), and most recently in the Hollywood Bowl’s star-studded production of Hair in 2014. Her demonstrated sweetness and feistiness would make her an ideal Marian, especially opposite MacFarlane’s fast-talking, but-deep-down-he’s-just-a-romantic-softy Harold Hill. Don’t you just want to sit back and hear her sing “Goodnight, My Someone” and “My White Knight“? We sure do.