The reopening of the renovated District Auditorium in 2004 made possible the revival of a long-standing Napa tradition — full-length musical productions by Napa and Vintage high schools.

Between 1968 and 1994 the schools had treated the Napa community to annual presentations of Broadway hit shows on the auditorium stage.

The auditorium was dark for four years, after it was damaged by the 2000 Labor Day earthquake. To celebrate the auditorium’s reopening, and to complete a master’s project, Napa’s drama teacher Sharon Rogers mounted Rodgers and Hammerstein’s “South Pacific” in the spring of 2005. Hundreds were turned away from the six performances, which sold out the 600-seat venue.

In 2006 Vintage High School followed with a spectacular production of “Les Miserables.”

The community provided a resounding response that, yes, indeed, the Napa community would support the revival of high school show productions in the historic space.

 This month, the auditorium is humming — singing, dancing and trumpeting  — with activity as 112 cast members and a 35-member student orchestra are rehearsal for their upcoming production of Meredith Willson’s “The Music Man,” about the traveling salesman who gets caught by his own schemes when he ventures into the River City, Iowa.

“The Music Man” opens Feb. 23 for seven performances, that include a first-time Tuesday night show.

What’s involved in staging such a production? Hours and hours and hours of time, not only on the part of the cast, but the technicians, costume makers, set painters —  and the teachers who give up their afternoons, weekends and evenings.

As with “South Pacific” the production is powered by a trio of Napa teachers, led by director Sharon Rogers, with Travis Rogers directing the singing  and Harry Cadelago conducting the student orchestra, which has been rehearsing the score since last fall.

“Auditions took place in November,” said Travis Rogers. “Cast readings of the show, orchestra rehearsals, scene blocking and set building began in December prior to the three-week winter break.”

After the students returned to school in early January, daily scene rehearsals began, along with twice-a-week chorus, dance and orchestra rehearsals (three simultaneous rehearsals on some days). Set building, painting, prop creation and costume fittings take place after rehearsals and on the weekends.

“One time I sat down and wrote out the major areas that need to be covered to do a show and came out with 13 total — scene blocking, chorus, dance, orchestra, costumes, makeup, lighting, sound, set building, props, tickets, publicity and ushering,” Rogers said.  “If any one of the 13 were not covered, the show would not be successful,” he added.

“Thankfully, Sharon has delegated out to some great people to head up many of the areas but, even with that, the number of hours it takes in each area to build the show is truly amazing.”

In fact, last year, Vintage music teachers Mark Teeters and Jan Lanterman, mindful of the demands on staff, parents and busy students, decided to try an experiment: They cast  “Les Mis” entirely from the concert choir students. Auditions were held in class, Teeters said, as are rehearsals up until three weeks before the production when the cast moved to the auditorium.

“I thought, ‘Why shouldn’t it be part of the curriculum; why not work on it in class?’” Teeters said. As work progressed on “Les Mis,” which is based on Victor Hugo’s epic novel set amidst the turmoil and social unrest of  France in the 1830s, Vintage students beyond the choir class were absorbed into the history as well as the story, Teeters said; one Vintage English teacher brought her class, which was reading the novel, into the choir class for rehearsals.

“It was a learning process for everyone,” he said. “It was exciting during the school day.”

The Vintage production also hired a professional orchestra as well as costumer, to lighten the demands on both students and parents. The formula worked, he and Lanterman agreed. They said they’ll be repeating it next year when it’s Vintage’s turn to take the stage.

The community approach

Because her master’s degree work required Sharon Rogers direct a multi-generational cast, she drew on community members, Napa High staff as well as students for “South Pacific” in 2005, another experiment that proved to be a hit. She’s repeating that formula for “The Music Man,” and children, teachers and parents are mingling with students on the stage as they rehearse. 

This will be the second time Napa has presented “The Music Man,” Travis Rogers said. “The first production was exactly 20 years ago.  Believe it or not, in this production, in the chorus, we have the two people who played the leading roles 20 years ago. Ed Boe (“Harold Hill” in 1987) is in the show with his freshman son, Adam, and Tracy Botterbush Schneider, who played Marian the Librarian is participating too — in fact she married Michael Schneider, a young man she met more than 20 years ago in the Napa High Choir and who played the part of Mayor Shinn in the production 20 years ago!”

Either way a school approaches the staging of a musical, it adds up to an impressive commitment of time and energy. The Napa cast members will give up two school holidays on Feb. 12 and 19 to fine-tune the production and add makeup, sound and lighting cues prior to opening.

“By the time the curtain lifts on Friday, Feb. 23 at 8 p.m., literally thousands of man-hours will have been invested in the show to bring  ‘The Music Man’ to the Napa community,” Rogers concluded.

But somehow it’s all worth it, when the curtain rises and the show begins. It must be the applause.

Performances are Feb. 23, Feb. 24, March 2 and 3 at 8 p.m. Feb. 27 at 6 p.m., March 1 at 7 p.m. with matinees set for 2 p.m. on Feb. 25 and March 3.  Tickets may be purchased now at the Napa High music office at 2475 Jefferson St. during school hours or at 253-3705.