Actors Conservatory Theatre’s production of “Shenandoah” — at Bryn Mawr Presbyterian Hall in Yonkers this weekend and next — has a lot going for it.

First and foremost, there’s Steve Taylor, who tackles the lead role of Charlie Anderson — a part created by John Cullum on Broadway — with a mix of weariness, fear and a twinkle in his eye.

Taylor’s singing voice is strong and suited to the role. He delivers each song — from the far-reaching “Meditation” to the playful “The Pickers Are Comin’ ” to the lullaby “Papa’s Gonna Make It All Right” — with a command not often seen in community-theater productions.

With music by Gary Geld, lyrics by Peter Udell and a book by James Lee Barrett, Udell and Philip Rose, “Shenandoah” is based on the 1965 Jimmy Stewart film.

It tells the story of Charlie Anderson, a widower who promises his dead wife that he’ll keep the family — six boys and a girl — out of the Civil War that’s erupting all around their Shenandoah Valley farm.

At ACT, director Arlene Wendt’s cast sure can sing, and there’s a spirit of fun and family that overarches the dark action on stage: These people enjoy each other’s company.

Teachers and computer specialists by day, they’re going to put on a show — in a church hall — and enjoy it. And they hope you will, too.

The show’s lone production number, sung by five of the Anderson boys — Miguel Acevedo, Anthony Cuozzo, Anthony Malchar, Jaime Olaya and Michael Tavarez — is the high-spirited “Next to Lovin’,” a song that demonstrates how best to approach community theater.

What they might lack in dancing skills the men more than make up for in gusto. They are making the most of the moment.

The stage is tiny, the ambitious set requires long changes, some in the cast are not up to every nuance of choreography or character. But there are moments of magic on the stage at Bryn Mawr Hall.

The lovely duet “We Make a Beautiful Pair,” sung by Anne (Rachel Schulte) and Jenny (Ariana Morales) is a sweet blending of voices in a song that demonstrates how opposites attract.

And the scene in which Sam asks Charlie for his daughter’s hand is a charming slice of life, as sincere and genuine as anything in Thornton Wilder’s “Our Town,” to which much of “Shenandoah” bears a resemblance.

The cast’s youngest members — Shaw Schiappacase as Robert Anderson (“The Boy”) and Danielle Winchester as the slave girl Gabrielle — are focused and believable.

But the revelation of the evening came half-way through Act Two when a grimy, weary Confederate soldier, told to return home, steps downstage and the music swells.
Often, at a moment like this, a regular watcher of community theater winces a bit, unsure of what’s to come.

But when Dominick Ranieri opens his mouth and delivers “The Only Home I Know” in the sweetest of tenor voices, it’s a moment that astonishes. We are not in a church hall. We are in Virginia during the Civil War. And we feel his pain.

Transformative moments like that — live, genuine, unexpected moments — are what theater audiences crave.

ACT’s “Shenandoah” satisfies that craving.

‘Shenandoah’
Where: Actors Conservatory Theatre, Bryn Mawr Presbyterian Hall, 20 Buckingham Road, Yonkers.
When: Through Oct. 26; 8 p.m. Thursdays through Saturdays; 2 p.m. Sundays.
Tickets: $22; $20 seniors; $15 for children 12 and under. All seats on Thursday are $18.
Call: 914-391-6558.
Web: www.ACTshows.org.

Photo by Matthew Brown/The Journal News: Steve Taylor as Charlie Anderson in the ACT production of “Shenandoah.”