When the performer in your title role is so impressive and his romantic lead is so wonderful that they alone are worth the price of admission, all the little problems seem silly and everything else good is a bonus. Such is the case with the joint production of the Scottsdale Community Players and Greasepaint Youtheatre of the timeless Meredith Willson tuner, The Music Man. Caleb Reese is so amazing as Professor Harold Hill, and Laura Webb is so lovely as Marian (The Librarian) Paroo, one is quick to dismiss the minute-though-pervasive flaws of this bulky and bottom-heavy presentation and laud the several excellent performances beyond.

Director D. Scott Withers has been tapped to direct traffic for this 39-person cast, and he does as well as he can keeping the evening from tipping over under the weight of its need to highlight so many kids and adults. However, between his casting of his excellent leads, his bringing together of a quartet (Stephen Goodfriend, Billy Lowry, Jeff Goodman and James Asimenios) of impressive quality, and his luck in finding a young Winthrop (Josh Cutlip) that is cute without creating insulin shock and a young Amaryllis (Rachel Brown) who can not only sing but ably accompany herself and Ms. Webb on the piano, he takes an evening that could be overweight community and youth theatre and turns it into a triumph.

While the proceedings groan under inexplicably lengthy set changes covered by repetitive vamping (what little set there is, unimpressively designed by Julie Cotton, should be moved quicker considering the bulk of people who can do the job), and trudges along with time-consuming ensemble crosses that stretch the evening to nearly two-and-three-quarter hours, when the two leads take the stage, which is blessedly most of the evening, the show transfixes. Mr. Reese has come out of nowhere. I never knew from past performances that he had such a spellbinding presence in him to pull this off. He even shows himself to be a triple-threat, singing strongly, acting with bravado and dancing professionally. He has a strong visceral bond with Ms. Webb, who belts like a pro, hoofs like an ace and successfully presents Marian's arc from icy to lovestruck.

Excellent performances also come from Lisa Fogel as the impish mother Mrs. Paroo. She is endearing, if a bit young for the role, has a great voice and keeps her Irish accent through almost all the proceedings. Michael Arbuckle is a strong Marcellus, and Jen Haran as Eulalie Shinn leads a group of hilarious hens to counter the quartet's singing. The biggest disappointment to an otherwise solid group of leads is Jeremie McCubbin as stuffy Mayor Shinn. Mr. McCubbin, a veteran of many successful and hilarious performances, seems to phone in this one with a distracted air and little comedic timing.

The teen ensemble, led by Ross Lopata as Tommy and Dani Cisna as his love Zaneeta, are able to hold their own with the adults, making this a solid blending of community and youth theatre.

Laurie Case's choreography is consistent and even clever at turns. Christie McKibben's five-piece orchestra is strong, though sometimes overwhelms some of the singers. Denise D'Angelo's costumes are generally on the mark, until she puts poor Ms. Webb in a final dress that is inexcusably unflattering. Erik Michael's lighting holds no surprises, while Scott Kirkorsky's sound design is solid.

Everyone has seen this show a thousand times. I'm here to tell you to see it for the thousand and first. When you experience Mr. Reese and Ms. Webb channeling great performances of Harold Hill's and Marian Paroo's past while still bringing their own throughout, you'll be glad you did.