‘The Music Man’ Once Had a Disabled Character. Then He Was Erased.

Theater|‘The Music Man’ Once Had a Disabled Character. Then He Was Erased.

https://www.nytimes.com/2021/12/15/theater/music-man-disability-meredith-willson.html

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‘The Music Man’ Once Had a Disabled Character. Then He Was Erased.

At the urging of producers, Meredith Willson cut a boy in a wheelchair from the early scripts for his 1957 musical. A look back shows what was lost.

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Michael Phelan as Winthrop Paroo and Rebecca Luker as Marian Paroo in a 2000 revival of “The Music Man” at the Neil Simon Theater in Manhattan.Credit…Sara Krulwich/The New York Times

By Amanda Morris

Dec. 15, 2021, 12:09 a.m. ET

Many know Meredith Willson’s 1957 Broadway musical, “The Music Man,” as a light comedy centered on a cheeky scam artist who pretends to [...]