Because my daughter has a role in Napa High’s production of “The Music Man,” which opened last Friday at the District Auditorium, I had to recuse myself from writing a review, which is why Mike Waterson, editor of the American Canyon Eagle and longtime performer around the Bay Area, kindly agreed to take the job.

But because we inadvertently mixed up the dates in the photo that accompanied Mike’s review Sunday, we promised to rerun them today, and this gives me an opportunity to add in my own unbiased view of the production:

It’s terrific.

I found myself marveling  on opening night that I still like the musical although I’ve heard the music a bazillion times. (In my early years I did, however, think that they’d stolen Paul McCartney’s song, “Till There Was You.”)

But more than that I had to wonder: How is it that high school kids are so much more talented these days than when I was in high school? Steve Sandy, in his first role on stage for Napa,  gives a dazzling  performance as the wiley traveling salesman Harold Hill who is more or less hoisted by his own petard when he arrives in River City, Iowa, and attempts to bamboozle the townspeople into buying his bogus boys’ band. Aside from his terrific voice, Sandy is also far better looking than Robert Preston, who played that role in the film and on Broadway, could have ever hoped to be.

But Sandy is matched in talent and energy by an array of performers in the show: Lauren Robinson, with her lovely, far-ranging voice as Marian the Librarian; Cesar Rosales as the rowdy kid Tommy; Taylor Fugit as Hill’s loyal sidekick Marcellus; Chris Henderson as Constable Locke; Lindsay Stolz’s sublimely comic Mrs. Shinn; the student orchestra that performed the entire score. With apologies to all the parents whose kids’ names I’m not mentioning — it’s just that there were hundreds of people involved — I know the list could go on and on because they were all great. Even Andy Dempsky, a former Register staffer in his role as a community performer, did OK.

 But how do they pull it off? The answer, at least in part, has to lie in their teacher-directors, a collaborative effort of director Sharon Rogers and assistant director Pamela Gregory, musical director Travis Rogers, orchestra conductor Harry Cadelago; choreographers Eileen Guerard and Sarah Villegas; and Jamie Butler, who coached the delightful barbershop quartet.

I know how many hours my own daughter has spent in rehearsals these last few months, how many times we’ve eaten dinner at 9:30 at night, or eaten without her, how many times I’ve dropped her off and picked her up at all hours, but I can’t imagine where these teachers found all the extra time they gave to pull this off.  The result, however, is an exhilarating show that combines entertainment with that generous dose of heart and soul that comes from a community show, which you’ll never get on Broadway.

On opening night I ran into a friend from long ago days at Mt. George Elementary School, Chris Biocca Browning, who was there with her husband, Walt, and sister, Andrea. They weren’t there to watch offspring in the show, Chris said, but just because “we like musicals.”

I mention this only to underscore the point that this show is great, even if you don’t have a daughter in it.

The show ends Saturday night, and on Sunday, Harry Cadelago is running in the Napa Marathon with his daughter. Someone give that guy a medal.

Still time left

Remaining performances: Thursday, 7 p.m.; Friday, 8 p.m.; Saturday, 2 and 8 p.m. Tickets are $15; call the Music Department at Napa High at 253-3705 for ticket availability.