THERE’S a lot to be said for the high octane spectacle of a modern musical with its dazzling special effects and belt-out numbers but call me old fashioned because I find that sadly more often than not, audiences leave the theatre whistling the set rather than the tunes and after a week you can barely remember a single melody.

For the real magic of the musicals it’s sometimes worth looking back and taking the chance to revive a true classic, which is exactly what Abergavenny Star Players did this week with their production of Rodgers and Hammerstein’s Carousel.

I’ve reviewed Carousel many times over the years and most of the performances I’ve seen - both professional and amateur - have had their ups and downs and this was no exception.

There were some strong performances from the leading players and excellent support from the chorus but there were times when the action lagged slightly - the opening ten minutes seemed endless and left the cast with a lot to make up when the action finally started.

Carousel is perhaps a brave choice for such a young company to tackle, as its theme of domestic violence and abuse raise eyebrows in a woke world, but ASP did not shy away from the tricky subject with Richard Poytner working well to show the more vulnerable side of the anti-hero Billy Bigelow as well as his brutal facade.

As the innocent Julie Jordan, Daisy Edwards gave as good as she got, playing particularly well against Michelle Cooper as Carrie Pipperidge.

Cait Davies as Nettie is blessed with two of the show’s most rousing numbers - June is bustin’ out all over and You’ll never walk alone and she played these for all she was worth.

Equally good support was provided by Nigel Hart as Enoch Snow and Duane Edwards as Jigger Craigen.

At heart Carousel is a love story every bit as tragic as Romeo and Juliet as it follows the course of two couples experiencing two very different kinds of love - Billy and Julie’s passionate but unexpressed and Carrie and Enoch’s contractual but accepting - and the music and direction need to follow this course, which is sometimes where this production fell short in that there was very little by way of light and shade.

Not every song needs to be belted from the front of the stage, some moments can afford to be more intimate and a little more restraint would have made the world of difference to this production and given it more depth and drawn out the full emotion of the piece.

That said Molly Brickley Clark did a sterling job as director, MD and choreographer, combing her off-stage jobs with joining the chorus and unexpectedly conducting the orchestra.

She managed to overcome the restrictions of the theatre in terms of orchestra space, which have seen other companies resort to backing tracks for their productions, by putting her musicians on stage, something which might work in the Lincoln Centre, but creates its own set of problems at the Borough which by and large this hard-working group overcame.

In short, this was not the best Carousel I’ve seen on stage at the Borough, but by no means was it the worst. Did I come away moist-eyed after You’ll never walk alone? Maybe not. But I did relish the chance to watch a groundbreaking musical, performed by a talented and energetic cast which obviously relished the opportunity, worked well together as an ensemble and pulled off a competent production and maybe the fact that a week on I’m still singing the songs in the shower says it all!