Editing The Music Man (section)

===Act I===
In the early summer of 1912, aboard a train leaving [[Rock Island, Illinois|Rock Island]], Illinois,<ref>Rock Island is the departure point in the script of the musical; in the film adaptation, the reference was changed to [[Brighton, Illinois]], the hometown of Willson's mother. See John C. Skipper, ''Meredith Willson: The Unsinkable Music Man'' (Savas Publishing, 2015), p. 200</ref> Charlie Cowell and other traveling salesmen debate whether modern conveniences are making their profession more difficult. "Professor" Harold Hill is discussed as one whose sales skills make him immune from such changes ("Rock Island"). Charlie says that Hill is a [[confidence trick|con man]] who promises to form boys' marching bands, then skips town after taking payments for instruments and uniforms. Upon the train's arrival in River City, Iowa, a passenger leaves the train with a suitcase labeled "Professor Harold Hill".

After townspeople of River City describe their reserved, "chip-on-the-shoulder attitude" ("[[Iowa Stubborn]]"), Harold sees his old friend and [[shill]], Marcellus Washburn, who has "gone legit" and now lives in the town. Marcellus tells Harold that the only person who might expose him is the only trained musician in town, Marian Paroo, the librarian who gives piano lessons. He also informs Hill that a new [[pool table]] was just delivered to the town's local [[billiard parlor]] so, to launch his scheme, Harold convinces River City parents of the "trouble" that can come from a pool table in the community ("[[Ya Got Trouble]]"). Harold follows Marian home, attempting to flirt with her, but she ignores him. Marian gives a piano lesson to a little girl named Amaryllis while arguing with her widowed mother about her high "standards where men are concerned"; she mentions the man who followed her home ("Piano Lesson/If You Don't Mind My Saying So"). Marian's self-conscious 10-year-old brother Winthrop arrives home. Amaryllis, who secretly likes Winthrop but teases him about his lisp, asks Marian to whom she should say goodnight on the evening star, since she doesn't have a sweetheart. Marian tells her to just say goodnight to her "someone" ("Goodnight, My Someone").

The next day, bumbling Mayor Shinn and his overbearing wife Eulalie MacKecknie Shinn lead the festivities for [[Independence Day (United States)|Independence Day]] at the high school gym ("[[Columbia, the Gem of the Ocean]]") but are interrupted by a firecracker set off by troublemaker Tommy Djilas. Harold takes the stage and announces to the townspeople that he will prevent "sin and corruption" from [[Moral panic|the presence of the pool table]] by forming a boys' band ("Ya Got Trouble [reprise]/[[Seventy-Six Trombones]]"). Mayor Shinn, who owns the billiard parlor, tells the bickering school board to get Harold's credentials, but Harold gets them to sing as a [[Barbershop Quartet]] to distract them ("Ice Cream/Sincere"). Harold also sets up Zaneeta, the mayor's eldest daughter, with Tommy, and persuades Tommy to work as his assistant. After another rejection by Marian, Harold is determined to win her ("The Sadder But Wiser Girl"). The town ladies are very excited about the band and the ladies' dance committee that Harold plans to form. He mentions Marian, and they imply (falsely, it turns out) that she had an affair with a now-deceased miser, who willed the library building to the town but left all the books to Marian. They warn Harold that she advocates "dirty books" by "[[Geoffrey Chaucer|Chaucer]], [[François Rabelais|Rabelais]] and [[Honoré de Balzac|Balzac]]" ("Pick-a-Little, Talk-a-Little"). The school board arrives to review Harold's credentials, but he leads them in song and slips away ("[[Goodnight, Ladies]]").

The next day, Harold walks into the library to woo Marian in earnest ("Marian the Librarian"). For a moment, she forgets her decorum and dances with Harold and the teenagers. Harold kisses her; when she tries to slap him, she accidentally hits Tommy instead. With Tommy's help, Harold signs up all the boys in town to be in his band, including Winthrop. Mrs. Paroo likes Harold and tries to find out why Marian is not interested. Marian describes her ideal man ("My White Knight", rewritten for the film version as "Being in Love"). She sets out to give Mayor Shinn evidence against Harold that she found in the ''Indiana State Educational Journal'', but they are interrupted by the arrival of the [[Wells Fargo#History|Wells Fargo]] [[Stagecoach|wagon]], which delivers the band instruments ("The Wells Fargo Wagon"). When Winthrop is so happy about his new [[cornet]], and totally abandons his shyness and self-consciousness, Marian begins to see Harold in a new light.  She tears the incriminating page out of the Journal before giving the book to Mayor Shinn.