Thursday, February 13, 2003

NO CON JOB

Matthew Broderick puts his song and dance skills to good use in ABC's 'The Music Man'

By Peter Hartlaub, San Francisco Chronicle

For those who don't jet to the Broadway theater, memories of Matthew Broderick dancing will be limited to his stint as Ferris Bueller -- when he jumped on a parade float and karaoked Wayne Newton during his day off.

Broderick has picked up a few moves since that 1986 movie role, putting them on full display in the ABC special "The Music Man."

The new father had success in recent years on Broadway but wasn't asked to act in a recent stage version of the musical. Broderick said he was pleasantly surprised when he was contacted to play con man Professor Harold Hill in the television version of the Meredith Willson classic, which airs 7 p.m. Sunday.

"I was very pleased, because I remember when the play was getting started on Broadway, I kind of half hoped that they would think of me for the part and they never did," Broderick said. "It was kind of nice to have someone right after that say, 'Well, we want you.' "

Broderick, 40, has been in dozens of movies since his 1983 big-screen debut in "Max Dugan Returns" but has never appeared in a filmed musical.

With his well-known successes in stage musicals "The Producers" and "How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying," however, Broderick's turn as a hoofer isn't likely to create false rumors of stunt doubles. Unlike "Chicago" stars Richard Gere and Renee Zellweger, it wasn't necessary for Broderick to get a credit pointing out that he did his own dancing and voice work.

A bigger shock to the television-watching public may come from the performances of Victor Garber (Mayor Shinn) and Molly Shannon (MacKechnie Shinn). Known to most as Jennifer Garner's CIA spy dad on TV's "Alias," Garber seems like the last guy to have the voice of an angel. Shannon proves she has a lot more range than the pratfalls that made her famous on "Saturday Night Live."

Broderick points out that viewers may not realize the degree of difficulty of the acting roles in "The Music Man," which put everyone's lip-synching skills to the test. Producers started recording the music about three weeks into the 44-day shoot. In some cases, the choreographed performances weren't filmed until several weeks later.

Some of the best-known songs in "The Music Man" are tongue-twisters ("Well we got trouble. Right here in River City. With a capital 'T' and that rhymes with 'P' and that stands for 'Pool' "), which Broderick said were particularly difficult to line up with the soundtrack.

"I think the hard one for lip-synching and everything was 'Trouble,' because it had to be prerecorded and it's basically just very fast talking," he said. "To get the lip-synch proper, you had these people just staring at the screen saying, 'You're a little late on "River City" ' or 'The "city" part of "River City" is late and the "river" is right.' "

With the recent success of "Chicago" creating buzz about the possible revival of big-screen musicals, the makers of ABC's "The Music Man" look like scheduling geniuses. But co-executive producers Craig Zadan and Neil Meron had been planning the special for five years, and already had produced several successful musicals for ABC, including "Annie" and "Gypsy."

Zadan and Meron, for their part, can't believe their luck, getting Broderick's mainstream singing and dancing debut at a time when even male audiences are showing up at movie musicals.

"We're really proud of him," Zadan said. "There are so many people who haven't seen what he did as a Broadway star."

Broderick's excited about it too. But he admits he's become a little paranoid because everyone asks him about Robert Preston, who defined the Harold Hill role in the 1962 film.

Broderick considered not watching Preston but ended up buying the DVD shortly after he landed the role. Broderick said he has "huge admiration" for Preston, even though he recalls hearing the songs before seeing the actor's performance.

"I think my father had the record," Broderick said. "I can remember him and my sister singing 'Pick-a-Little, Talk-a-Little' in the car."

The public may make comparisons, but no one will accuse Broderick of mimicking Preston. The ABC version gives Broderick a less sinister sheen (the producers call him "impish"), focusing more on the love story between Hill and librarian Marian Paroo.

And though all the classic songs are there ("Til There Was You," "Gary, Indiana"), the soundtrack has its differences, including a first-ever screen version of the song "My White Knight," performed by co-star Kristin Chenowith.

Broderick has a newborn son with his wife -- "Sex and the City" star Sarah Jessica Parker -- but the voice of "The Lion King" said he's not intentionally choosing family fare.

"That said, it will be fun to have some DVDs for him with his old man in them," Broderick said. "I'm doing one called 'Good Boy!' now where I'm the voice of a dog. I try to keep them coming."

And he doesn't have regrets about waiting so long to tackle a screen musical, even though it's now clear he would have done an able job standing in for Newton in "Ferris Bueller's Day Off."

"I probably could have done 'Danke Shoen' OK," Broderick said, referring to the Newton- classic-turned-parade-float-anthem. "But it might not have been the best way. Wayne Newton's track is so hilarious for some reason."