I’ve been asked to play Mayor Shinn in a local theater’s production of THE MUSIC MAN. Somehow this is a musical I’ve never seen (and I don’t want to now since if I take the role it might influence my performance). For those who have seen it, is it a decent part? Any good comedic moments or songs?
Would you enjoy playing a pompous blowhard?
Very funny and memorable character.
I can’t think of anything he sings, unless maybe it’s a line or two in some of the whole-town songs.
Should be a fun character, though.
The Mayor also turns into a giant demonic snake and eats … oh, wait, that’s “Buffy.”
Great comedy role (I can only think of one song he might sing a line or two in, though, and he might not sing at all)…
But it should be fun to play, and IIRC, you were looking for a role with enough stage time to make it worth doing? The mayor is one of those roles.
YOU WATCH YOUR PHRASEOLOGY!!!
Also: “I’ve got to get these premises off my oldest girl!” and other malapropisms or variations thereof.
The IMDB quotes page has a few of the mayor’s quotes. I strongly recommend renting the movie. Not the horrible Matthew Broderick version, but the ONE TRUE Shirley Jones and Robert Preston version.
Pompous blowhard is a good description, but I’d add “hilarious” in front of it, when played by the right person.
Agreed. I love watching the old version. My favorite scene is him convincing the town they’re in Trouble!!!. I laugh every time they overreact.
I second the motion to rent a copy of The Music Man, but I would suggest that you get the forgettable Disney version. That way, you won’t be tempted to copy the actor. It will, however, give you the measure of the part. It’s a great featured comedy role and you should kill for it.
Of course, if you want to see what a great show it can be, rent the Preston/Jones version. I wouldn’t say it’s the best musical ever, but it is far and away my favorite.
The mayor’s role is essentially non-singing. There were a number of musicals that had one good role written in that didn’t require singing (I was the head Nazi in my high school performance of “Sound of Music.”)
It’s a great comic role and most actors play it broadly. If you want to go with a different interpretation, I’d suggest “wounded dignity.”
Think “male Margaret Dumont.”
Bingo.
Or, perhaps, male Hermione Gingold: “One Grecian Urn!”
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A few years ago, my G&S Company performed Patience, one of Gilbert & Sullivan’s lesser known operettas. It features a hilarious scene in which three soldiers, in a desperate attempt to attract the affections of their former sweethearts, cast aside their boorish, military ways and affect an artistic, aesthetic mode of behavior and dress. We had them dressed in short tunics, poorly-draped togas, and black shoes with knee socks and garters. During rehearsal, as they twirled about in their peculiar dance, I called out “THREE GRECIAN URNS!”
Once she had restored order, the Director nearly killed me.
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The original movie is worth watching just to see Hermoine Gingold pronounce “BALLLLL-zac!”
Sounds pretty cool and I have no life, so I’ll take it. (My only concern is that I just finished playing a much-older-than-I-am pompous blowhard, Mr. Kirby, in You Can’t Take It With You [pics of me before and after- my inner drama queen demands that I mention I received unanimously “stole the show” rave reviews 
] , but at least with this one I can wear Edwardian clothes and he’s enough different from Kirby (not as classist or rich or intelligent or ultimately pathetic) that it won’t be the same performance.
Speaking of Hermione, have you ever read her autobiography How to Grow Old Disgracefully? It’s one of the funniest show biz bios I’ve ever read (and she pulls no punches about being greedy, a bad mother or her hatred of Hermione Baddely [“I wasn’t aware there was another Hermione…” was the line both used whenever asked about the other, even though they shared a stage several times). Out of print, but I’ll gladly mail you my copy if you’re interested.
Oops. This is the correct after picture from above rather than the “Page Not Found”.
Actually, it’s more “Ba-ALLLL-zac”.
Oooh! Dibs! Dibs! I call dibs!
This is the second thread in as many days that’s referenced Hermione Gingold. Is there any place else in the world where that would happen?
I played Mayor Shinn when my high school did The Music Man approximately ninety thousand years ago. Hadda wear a fat suit, as I was a rail-thin kid.
Lotsa laffs. “Player piano… player… piano… player.”
Had to look up “stereoptican,” too.
Was disappointed that I didn’t get to sing (except in the “Wells Fargo Wagon” group), and I was further disappointed when, closing weekend, I joined the chicken pox epidemic that was sweeping the school and I was kicked out of the show. Instead of playing my role, I sat on the loading dock outside the theater and cried while I listened to the choir teacher doing his best to read the character’s lines from script-in-hand. 
Except for that, it was a great experience. Have fun.