Big alert here for musical lovers. “Carousel,” the fall production playing through this weekend at the Grand, is not a story that’s going to make you feel any warm fuzzies. It’s about good-for-nothing men and wimpy women. It’s about men who leave and women who wait for them. It’s about men who like to hit and the women who love them. It’s about all that persevering co-dependence that made tranquilizers so popular in the 1940s (when the musical showed up in New York) and the 1950s (when it showed up on the big screen).

Fortunately, it’s also about some terrific music (by Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein) and about those reliable Hancock County actor-singers who always churn out a good time under the direction of Ken Stack.

Set in the late 1800s in a Maine fishing village, the plot picks up with Billy Bigelow, a carousel barker, who quickly falls in love with Julie Jordan, a mill girl. After marrying, they both lose their jobs, and by the time Julie is pregnant, Billy is so frustrated with his workless life that he becomes involved with a sinister sailor. The two men plot a robbery, which gets botched and leads to drastic measures for Billy.

To reveal any more would be a disservice to the hard work this able cast has done to create a show with genuine intrigue. Suffice it to say that there’s an unusual amount of psychological depth to the characters, but the most impressive part of the production is the cast’s renditions of the timeless tunes “If I Loved You,” “You’re a Queer One, Julie Jordan,” and “You’ll Never Walk Alone.”

Stack’s direction is straightforward and as cheerful as possible given some of the dated approaches to domestic violence in this show. But to recognize that the script is dated makes it easier to enjoy the fun parts. Stack is absolutely right to play up a Maine setting, and more than once capitalizes off of regional humor. His ace in the hole for that is funny man David Closson, who knows how to use a wicked good Maine accent to make his character the most entertaining in this show.

Heather Astbury, who plays Julie’s friend Carrie, is at her best in musical theater and shines brightly in this supporting role.

Lead actors Steve Gormley and Amy Torrey, as Billy and Julie, are entirely sweet together. He’s as big as she is tiny, as dark as she is blond, and the contrast works well — whether they are kissing or feuding. Gormley is a big-voiced actor, and there’s no trouble hearing his booming voice over the orchestra — and possibly over a helicopter if it were to land nearby. Few performers could take hold of the unusually long and difficult number “Soliloquy,” a major meditation on fatherhood. But Gormley keeps the audience right with him, and this solo is one of the best-done moments of the production.

Torrey is sometimes hard to hear, but her voice is truly lovely when it moves above Steve Norris’ live orchestra. Otherwise, she plays her role with the right touch of dreamy youth and thankless stick-to-itiveness. You’d like to smack her for being accommodating to a man who bops her in the face, but Torrey is so convincing, that you’ve got to love her, too.

Amusing performances are also turned in by Eric Henry as the bad-boy sailor, Ben Layman as the self-righteous Mr. Snow, and all of his stage children: Margot Newkirk, Rachel Henry, Heather Leeman, Jared Tucker, Hillary Leeman, and Hannah Leeman. Amelia Huckel Bauer, as Julie and Billy’s teen daughter Louise, combines grace and spunkiness for a winning portrayal of a girl with a sad and stalwart heart. She makes you realize how much more happiness her character deserves to get by the end of the show. (And to think that Hammerstein, who based this musical on the play “Liliom,” changed the ending from one of despair to one that is generally thought of as hopeful!)

An interesting side note to this musical: The film version was shot in Boothbay Harbor in 1955. Frank Sinatra, who was to play the role of Billy, walked out because he reportedly didn’t want to perform each scene twice for two cameras, so Gordon MacRae stepped in. According to local news reports from that time, sightseers lined the hills overlooking the set, and boats filled with spectators dropped anchor offshore — often to the dismay of camera operators trying to create an authentic turn-of-the-century scene.

“Carousel” will be performed 8 p.m. Nov. 8 and 9, and 2 p.m. Nov. 10 at the Grand in Ellsworth. For tickets, call 667-9500.