The Music Man isn't necessarily one of my personal favorite musicals, but watching this national touring production at Theatre Under The Stars reminded me why Meredith Willson's show has endured for nearly seven decades.

More than anything, this is a musical that would be remarkably easy to get wrong.

The story follows Harold Hill, a traveling con man who arrives in River City, Iowa, convincing its citizens that their children desperately need a boys' band despite the inconvenient fact that he doesn't actually know how to teach one. Playing Harold requires exactly the kind of charisma that would make an entire town believe him, and Elliott Andrews has plenty of it.

Andrews is the acting standout of the production. Harold has to be charming enough that his increasingly ridiculous sales pitch somehow feels believable, fast enough to navigate some of Willson's famously rapid-fire material and likable enough that we can begin to understand why River City—and eventually Marian Paroo—allows him into its heart.

Andrews sells all of it.

Opposite him, Elizabeth D'Aiuto gives Marian a beautiful classical sound that feels perfectly at home in a Golden Age musical. Her soaring soprano is arguably the vocal highlight of the evening, effortlessly reaching the kind of notes that remind you just how demanding this score can be. Andrews may command the stage through personality, but D'Aiuto commands it vocally, and the two develop an enjoyable chemistry as their relationship gradually changes.

That relationship, however, is also where The Music Man loses me somewhat.

Marian is understandably suspicious of Harold from almost the moment he arrives. In fact, she eventually uncovers definitive proof that he isn't who he claims to be. What changes her mind isn't discovering that she was wrong—she wasn't. It's seeing the positive effect Harold has had on River City, and particularly on her withdrawn younger brother Winthrop, who suddenly comes alive after receiving his new cornet.

I completely understand why that would make Marian reconsider exposing him.

What I have a harder time buying is how quickly the story moves from recognizing that Harold is a fraud to accepting and ultimately falling in love with him. Marian already knows the truth by the time Harold is publicly exposed, so the lack of a major betrayal scene makes sense. Still, I would have appreciated a little more emotional reckoning with what he's actually done before the story asks us to embrace their romance.

It's one of those elements that probably feels different today than it did when the musical debuted in 1957. The Music Man is less interested in whether Harold deserves punishment than it is in the unexpected good that grows out of his deception. He may have arrived intending to swindle River City, but the community is genuinely happier, more connected and more alive because he came.

Whether that completely absolves him is another question.

Fortunately, even when the storytelling doesn't entirely work for me, the sheer craft of this production does.

Willson's score asks its performers to jump between lush traditional musical-theater vocals, intricate harmonies and lightning-fast rhythmic dialogue that practically functions as music itself. Then add enormous ensemble numbers filled with choreography, overlapping voices and a stage packed with performers who all have to remain perfectly synchronized.

This cast makes it look easy.

Numbers such as "Ya Got Trouble," "Seventy-Six Trombones" and "Shipoopi" become the production's genuine showstoppers, particularly when the full company fills the stage. Joshua Bergasse's choreography takes advantage of just how large this cast is, creating the kind of spectacle that reminds you why seeing a musical performed live can offer something a recording never could.

There is always something happening, yet the production rarely feels chaotic. The ensemble doesn't miss a beat, the harmonies remain remarkably clean, and the physicality required to keep these numbers moving is impressive.

I also can't say I was ever bored.

That may sound like faint praise, but for a two-and-a-half-hour musical written nearly 70 years ago, it's significant. The pace remains lively, the comedy still gets laughs and when the entire company comes together, it's easy to understand why The Music Man became a classic in the first place.

The story may require me to extend Harold Hill a little more forgiveness than I'm personally prepared to give him, but there is nothing fraudulent about the talent onstage.

This is a big, demanding, old-fashioned musical that requires exceptional singers, charismatic actors, disciplined dancers and an ensemble capable of making a tremendous amount of theatrical machinery run smoothly.

This touring cast has all of them.

The Music Man plays through September 27 at the Hobby Center in Houston as part of Theatre Under The Stars’ season. If you enjoy classic musical theatre, big ensemble numbers, and seeing a cast tackle material that demands this much precision and energy, this production is worth catching while it’s in town. Even if The Music Man has never been one of your personal favorites, this cast makes a convincing case for why the show has remained a classic for nearly seven decades.