The Music Man Review: Till There Was Hugh
8 / 10
The Music Man has long had the misfortune of being both overexposed and underappreciated, a mainstay of school and amateur productions that doesn't consistently let audiences in on the sophistication and emotional honesty of Meredith Willson's score and storytelling. (Hearing that score played by a 24-piece orchestra at the Winter Garden Theatre under the baton of Patrick Vaccariello is especially gratifying here.) But there's nothing simplistic about The Music Man, and this slightly zany production, deeply felt and deeply funny, sells the show's intelligent warmth with a persuasiveness to rival Harold Hill himself.

