Song and dance and series?

There’s a new Professor Harold Hill coming to town, to sell parents on the dubious virtues of 76-trombone marching bands, when ABC revives “The Music Man” in mid-February. A new Billy Flynn has just arrived too, and the scheming “Chicago” lawyer, embodied by Richard Gere, is hard at work concocting perfect story lines to win clients the attention of tabloid newspaper reporters and sympathy of gullible juries.

Even those master salesmen might have learned a thing or two from Craig Zadan and Neil Meron. The executive producers behind “Music Man” and “Chicago,” the business partners have perfected a razzle-dazzle sell-job in recent years persuading doubtful entertainment executives and audiences that decades-old musicals can have a new life as events for a new generation.

Unlike Hill, the duo’s Storyline Entertainment has come up with the goods to back up their sweet talk, resulting in a successful string of television hits, including CBS’ Bette Midler-starring “Gypsy,” and at ABC, “Annie” and the music-filled “Life With Judy Garland: Me and My Shadows.” The films have earned critical praise for their fidelity to the material, big production values and inspired casting. The projects have been important for the networks at a time when competition is fierce and TV movies are a difficult audience sell.

So Zadan and Meron expanded their sales pitch. The Miramax theatrical release “Chicago,” a film version of the Broadway musical starring Catherine Zeta-Jones, Renee Zellweger and Gere, just opened, after weeks of buzz about possible Oscar nominations. Up next, and a big test of whether Storyline can break into completely different territory, is the ABC action-adventure series “Veritas: The Quest,” set to launch Jan. 27. More feature films, dramas and even sitcoms are in development.

The new projects come on top of a busy -- some might whisper overextended -- period for Storyline’s bread-and-butter business. A “Martin and Lewis” biopic earned solid ratings for CBS in November. Final details are being cleaned up on the much-anticipated “Music Man,” which stars Matthew Broderick. Casting on a new “Fiddler on the Roof,” also for ABC, is ongoing. CBS is expecting a three-hour film about the creation of “I Love Lucy” for May.

“Our interests were never ‘Friday the 13th Part 3,’ ” says Meron. “Or Part 8,” adds Zadan.

Lucky for them, nostalgia TV came in vogue just as they were hitting their stride. Both raised in Brooklyn, Zadan, 53, and Meron, 48, first met in New York in the 1970s, when Meron, a Brooklyn College student, invited Zadan, author of a book on Stephen Sondheim, to speak at a lecture series. Eventually, Meron went to work as Zadan’s assistant on a series of club acts at the Ballroom in SoHo; they later spent three years working together at Joseph Papp’s New York Shakespeare Festival. In 1979, Zadan moved to Los Angeles, where he lives in the Hollywood Hills; Meron, who lives in West Hollywood, followed in 1980.

With a long string of theater credits and a grab bag of Hollywood film and television jobs between them, including Zadan’s just-ended work as producer of “Footloose,” they teamed up in the mid-1980s to form Storyline, first focusing on long-to-gel features. It was in 1993 that having realized TV was a faster process, they hit it big with “Gypsy,” spurning the then-vogue “women in jeopardy” TV movies for a project that got CBS’ attention only when they promised they could bring in a star and landed Bette Midler. Some 36 million viewers tuned in.

“Cinderella,” for ABC, followed in 1997, with its groundbreaking colorblind casting of Whitney Houston, Brandy and Bernadette Peters. (In between, there were some less notable projects, the Jack Lemmon-James Garner feature film “My Fellow Americans” and the well-received “Serving in Silence: The Margarethe Cammermeyer Story,” starring Glenn Close as an Army officer ousted for being gay.)

With ABC’s 1999 “Annie,” Storyline took off, catapulting them, along with Robert Halmi Sr., into the top rank of big-event TV movie producers at a time when few are making it in the shrinking business. Susan Lyne, now president of ABC Entertainment, was running ABC’s movie department and took on oversight of “Wonderful World of Disney,” where “Annie” was in development.

Same-old movies of the week weren’t working with bored audiences, and Zadan, Lyne says, “knew that I was looking at new ways to break out television movies. We really needed to look at each movie we greenlit as an event in and of itself. Craig and Neil really believed they could deliver movies that made people forgo their regular TV habits and tune in to ABC.”

“Susan was the first person to treat us as filmmakers and not as suppliers,” says Zadan, who goes on to compare the woman who is their biggest client to Jackie Kennedy.

Storyline, which does much of its production work in Toronto, did seem to have the charmed touch. Other producers’ TV movies about ‘60s and ‘70s rock drew lackluster audience response; Storyline’s “Beach Boys: An American Family” followed on ABC and succeeded. Zadan says that as with all of their films, the key was to “give it an emotional core” that revolves around family. “If we can’t find that, then we find it hard to tell the story,” adds Meron.

So “Beach Boys” was about an abusive father; “Martin and Lewis” a platonic love story about two men as close as brothers; “Annie” about a little girl looking for family; and “Music Man” will emphasize the love story. With biopics especially, Zadan says, the audience will come based on the appeal of learning about “a show business icon, but they’ll stay because they can relate to the emotional point of view.”

Others around Hollywood zero in on different Storyline strengths. The company, they say, is about bringing in the stars and then selling the projects to audiences once they are finished. “They realize that making the movie is often the least of it,” Lyne says, crediting their savvy choice of material as well as casting.

Salesmanship and stars

Often drawing on theater relationships, Storyline has delivered stars. Case in point: Broderick, just off Broadway’s hit “The Producers,” to play Harold Hill. They had put out feelers to Billy Crystal, Kevin Kline and Steve Martin in the role, Zadan says; Broderick heard about the part and approached them; he was the only one to be offered the role. Zadan had known him through the actor’s wife, Sarah Jessica Parker, who played Rusty in “Footloose.” His charm is the opposite of that of the slick Robert Preston, who originated -- and, in essence, has personified ever since -- the “Music Man” role, and the casting has raised eyebrows in the entertainment world. Zadan calls him “adorable,” a word no one would ever apply to Preston in the role.

That’s the appeal, Lyne says: “It’s about how can we surprise both [the audience and the critics] with the mix of casting.” Broderick’s Marian the librarian will be Kristin Chenoweth, not as well known to TV viewers but a darling of New York musical theater.

As for the selling, Quinn Taylor, who oversees ABC’s movie department, calls Zadan and Meron “the single best marketing machine in town.” Lyne agrees: “Nobody is better at marketing their material.”

For “Annie,” they spent weeks fine-tuning a theatrical-length trailer to send to reporters, something ABC had never done, to build buzz for a project that wasn’t going to be finished until very close to its air date. They also have good relationships with many important TV critics. Then there’s the prodigious amount of e-mail Zadan sends out with quotes from positive reviews (such as a recent Liz Smith column devoted entirely to a rave about “Chicago”) and news of awards, wins or just nominations, an in-your-face approach that rankles some. Zadan blames former Walt Disney Studios Chairman Peter Schneider, who, he says, “screamed at us that we were sending too many faxes” and insisted they start using e-mail.

The ability to generate attention can make others want to get on board. “I have not yet worked with any producers more adept at getting publicity for themselves and their projects,” said Kirk Ellis, a journalist-turned-writer who has worked on three Storyline projects, adding that, “I’ve been a beneficiary of that.”

“They come in with these great big branded titles and put every breath into these movies,” says Bela Bajaria, who runs CBS’ movie department. “They are so passionate about the movies they do, sometimes working for years to get the rights to material. It’s never just for the gig; it really is about making this movie.”

Zadan and Meron say they are drawn to projects that have an untold side, such as the love story in “Music Man,” which they want to be more believable in the ABC project than in the original play or movie. “Perfect” movies aren’t candidates for remakes: “We would never do ‘The Sound of Music,’ ” says Zadan.

“Music Man” had a typical several years’ long gestation, starting in Zadan’s Hollywood Hills living room in about 1998, just before the revival of Meredith Willson’s 1957 hit. The producers held a star-cast read-through with Crystal as Hill; Bernadette Peters as Marian; Shirley Jones, who played Marian in the 1962 film, as Mrs. Paroo; Christine Ebersol and Edward Asner, among others; and catering from Greenblatt’s Deli on Sunset Boulevard.

Compared with the original show, “we realized there was a whole other show here,” says Meron, with a darker, more emotional second half, and they committed the next day. Once they tapped Broderick for the role, they had to wait more than a year for him to be freed up from “The Producers.”

In an interview in New York in November, during a particularly frenzied period when they were in town to finish up editing on “Chicago” and with “The Music Man” still in post-production in Los Angeles, the two vied collegially to tell their stories. Unlike many partnerships that break down into a creative partner and a financial one, both do all of the jobs at the business, although Meron gravitates toward the prep work and hiring, while Zadan likes post-production. “They can really take over, one for the other,” says Helen Verno, executive vice president, movies, at Sony Pictures Television, where Storyline has had a long producing deal for films such as “Martin and Lewis.”

On projects, say some who have worked with them, they use more of a “good cop, bad cop” routine. When “Music Man” had some early setbacks, Zadan fired off a middle-of-the-night e-mail suggesting that the top behind-the-scenes team be fired (it wasn’t). “They’re both good cops,” says Sony’s Verno, although she adds that “Neil sometimes has a gentler approach and Craig sometimes has a firmer approach.”

Despite some on-set tensions, the same directors and production staff -- even those who have had contentious experiences -- tend to work with them over and over, partly drawn to the scope of the projects. Network executives have been known to get frustrated with the process too. Bajaria says much can be allowed “when people are that good at what they do and deliver the goods time after time.”

With successes to their credit, Zadan and Meron tend to get bigger budgets to play with than the average TV movie producer. Lyne says the two “have to work within the same budgetary constraints that everybody else does,” at least for event movies, but concedes that Storyline pictures, which recoup some costs from video sales, aren’t done for the standard $3.2 million for two hours. The three-hour “Music Man” will come in at more than $15 million, according to people familiar with the numbers.

“They wanted to make a film that would look good and be right for the material,” Ellis says of writing “The Beach Boys.” He says he was told to ignore traditional TV scale in writing the script and think feature film; later, the team pared back to meet budget constraints. “We did incredibly elaborate concert sequences with hundreds of extras, instead of the usual four extras moving in front of and behind the cameras over and over again,” Ellis says.

Not everything has been coming up roses recently. With the “Fiddler on the Roof” remake, they started out with hopes of casting Crystal and Bette Midler as Tevye and Golde. Instead, the much-praised but lesser known Victor Garber -- who also had starring roles in “The Music Man,” “Life With Judy Garland,” “Annie” and “Cinderella,” when not playing Jennifer Garner’s slippery father on “Alias” -- is expected to play Tevye and the Golde casting remains undecided. ABC recently took the long-promised remake of “Mame,” with Barbara Streisand as an executive producer and Cher in the starring roll, off its futures list because the much-delayed project hasn’t come together, although network sources said ABC would still like to revive it.

With bravado to rival Harold Hill’s, Zadan and Meron haven’t gone timidly into their new ventures, many of which seem to have few threads in common with the formula that has worked for Storyline so far. Zadan rattles off a list of eight series with script orders at Disney’s Touchstone Television: five comedies and three dramas. Series television, says Meron, is a way to “make a better living. It’s a great way of securing the future.”

Among the prospects: an hourlong drama set in the world of gladiators. A dramedy about a young businesswoman who also must take over her family business, which happens to be a Mafia family (“Sex and the City” meets “The Sopranos,” Zadan says). A half-hour “anti-’Sex and the City’ show about real Midwestern housewives.” And a sitcom, in its second go-round in development, about gay parents, which would be groundbreaking if it gets on the air.

There’s also another theatrical film, based on Ray Bradbury’s futuristic novel “Fahrenheit 451,” with Mel Gibson, as well as “a slew” of family feature films for Disney, Zadan says. In addition to “Fiddler” for ABC, the pair are working on a movie based on “Ghostlight,” New York Times columnist Frank Rich’s memoir of growing up fascinated by the theater, and a live-action “Hunchback of Notre Dame,” with new music from Stephen Schwartz and Alan Menken to augment their original songs for the animated version.

At CBS, a long-in-the-works biography of Ronald and Nancy Reagan and a remake of “Butterflies Are Free” are in development.

The list is lengthy for a reason, they say. “I made the most tragic mistake of life after ‘Footloose,’ ” Zadan says. He was new to Hollywood in 1984 and focused for years on the movie, neglecting to begin development of other projects. When “Footloose” was a hit “for two seconds, I was a very hot producer. All the studios were wining and dining me, and I had nothing to make.” He began to put things in development, but by then, he says, “people had moved on. It was a really bad time for me in life. I wasn’t able to capitalize on ‘Footloose’ at all and I never made that mistake again.”

Most imminently, there’s “Veritas: The Quest,” an “Indiana Jones”-like show about a father and son’s archeological adventures in “search of the truth behind the mysteries of history and civilization.” With a tough 8 p.m. Monday time slot, up against CBS’ comedies, NBC’s “Fear Factor” and the WB’s family-friendly “7th Heaven,” industry observers are already speculating that it may be short-lived. ABC’s Lyne calls it “a really fun commercial program,” but the network declined to make it available for viewing.

It may also have the dubious distinction of being one of the most expensive pilots ever, having started out as a $7-million, two-hour movie that was cut to an hour. ABC was considering a lengthier hourlong version without commercials, but in the end it will air with ads. Zadan says the shorter version was chosen so the program could air the night after ABC’s Super Bowl broadcast.

Lyne says she wasn’t skittish about giving Zadan and Meron a shot at a series despite their lack of experience in the genre. “I think that they are smart enough producers and so committed to winning that I had every confidence that what they didn’t know about the series business they would learn very fast. And they are: Day by day, week by week, they are more assured in that arena. They are going to be great series producers.”

Of more concern is the big pile of projects on their dance card. “Of course I worry. I would love them to do nothing for anyone but our network,” Lyne says. “It’s hard to reel them in because they are in demand and they’ve worked hard to be able to cast this wide net.” But, she added, “they said they could do it and I do trust that if they tell me they can pull it off, they will do it.”