Courtesy of Herb Hemming In "The Music Man," Gary Best plays the conniving Harold Hill and Holly Ferguson portrays the oh-so-proper librarian Marian Paroo. Their best moment together comes during the sweet ballad "Till There Was You."

It's a great way to get the kiddies and teens off Ojai's — uh, River City, Iowa's — streets for the summer. Meredith Willson's true-blue, rousing "The Music Man" is full of fun, lively songs and lots of positive thinking.

Ojai Art Center Theater brings it all together under the direction of Tracey Williams, with music director Jimmy Calire, vocal director Candace Delbo and choreographer Julie Hamann. The cast of more than 40, some in multiple roles, is solid, with the inevitable variations among those who can sing, dance and act, and those who do one or the other well and get by with the rest. All show signs of hard work and great spirit.

The culmination of all the honed skills comes in an unusual spot for the show, which usually hits its high with the kids coming together in their new uniforms to clumsily play a "piece," which miraculously sounds as if they have learned how to play, at least a bit, thanks to Professor Harold Hill's "Think System." That end-of-show moment is funny and heartwarming, as usual, but for a bright example of young talent, and old, the rendition of the peppy "Shipoopi," a nonsense song led by Hill's reformed friend Marcellus (Len Klaif), wins the blue ribbon. The singing is good, the dancing, even among the youngest, is well-practiced and full of energy.

A big plus for the production is Holly Ferguson as Marian Paroo, the proper librarian who ultimately lets herself be conned by Hill because she sees the good in his well-worn character. Ferguson gets some of the show's best romantic songs and has the fine and true soprano voice to carry them. Every time she starts to sing, the audience knows it's in for a treat, be it "Goodnight My Someone" (charmingly joined by young Sarah Van Son as Amaryllis), "My White Knight" or, best of all, "Till There Was You," paired with Gary Best as Harold Hill in his sweetest song.

Best, a proven actor with extensive stage experience, isn't the best fit for the patter song-and-dance guy, but puts lots of intensity into the effort and reaches reasonable heights. Still, Best is best in the final scenes when he can let Hill's humanity shine through and gets to sing some lovely lines.

Kudos can be scattered throughout the cast, including Chris Westphal as Hill's nemesis; Bill Spellman and Catherine Dain as the mayor and his gradually transformed wife, Eulalie Mackecknie Shinn; Laura Ring as an extremely exuberant Mrs. Paroo, Irish-to-the-max mother of Marion; Lucas Starbuck as Winthrop Paroo, Marion's young, shy brother who it eventually turns out can also sing and dance; and Spencer McManamna and Janelle Meister, as the teen pair Tommy Djilas and Zaneeta Shinn. And of course, there's the quartet that sings at the drop of a note, Armando Hernandez, Jim Halverson, Brad Halverson and Darakshan Farber, plus the Pick-a-Little Ladies, who make gossip chatter precision work.

Music for the show, led by Calire at the keyboard, shows the art of fitting the music to the talented musicians assembled to play it. The result is a little more jazzy than brassy, but it gets the job done.

You have to hand it to the Ojai crew for cramming the stage with talent of all sizes and coming up with an enjoyable evening that highlights some of Willson's most beloved songs, and his nostalgia for "River City," Iowa.

— E-mail Rita Moran at ritamoran@earthlink.net.