actually, the central romance of Music Man makes more sense if Harold Hill is wildly desirable, floats from town to town selling the Brooklyn Bridge on the strength of his charisma and how much everyone wants to fuck him.
mostly because that means when he shows up in river city and hears that Marian the Librarian seduced a secure and permanent position out of the elderly town miser, he would think: ah, another creature like me.
(not that “sadder and wiser girl” isn’t a phenomenal song on its own, but it takes on a different tenor if it’s game recognizing game rather than HH just refusing to go after nice, church-going girls.)
plus, leaning into that characterization would mean that marian is sadder and wiser, did in fact befriend (or seduce) specifically to have access to books and then later, to keep accessing them; she’s a con man too, just on a lesser scale due to lack of opportunity.
romance between two people who think of sex as largely a way of getting what you want, except that one of them likes to read, and the other can play the piano by ear.
also….who are we kidding when it comes to her ‘‘little brother’‘ Winthrop.
#let’s all be honest: marian and her mother left to “help out a cousin in Chicago” and then came back with a baby #marian only ever referred to this baby as her brother. mrs. paroo only ever called him her son. #but if you were the family doctor. or maybe someone who knows a little bit about gestational math and menopausal women. #you might have some follow up questions. #anyway stay tuned for other hot takes about this american musical from the 1960s.
“What’s the other thing I’m entitled to know?”
[Harold Hill gazes meaningfully at Marian, then looks back to Winthrop]
“Well, the other thing’s none of your business, come to think of it.”
