THEATER REVIEW ‘CAROUSEL’ : Giving It a Whirl : The Conejo Players combine good casting, acting, direction and production design for Rodgers and Hammerstein musical.

With “Carousel,” the Conejo Players in Thousand Oaks end their season with one of the company’s--and the county’s--top offerings of the year. The show is a commendable combination of casting, acting, direction and production design.

Inevitably, upon its introduction to the Broadway stage in 1945, “Carousel” was compared to 1943’s “Oklahoma!” And why not?--the creative team behind both plays was identical. Oscar Hammerstein II and Richard Rodgers supplied libretto, lyrics and music, Agnes DeMille was the choreographer, and Rouben Mamoulian directed.

The show, reviewers of the day were quick to point out, wasn’t a musical comedy like its predecessor. Instead, it’s something of a musical tragedy, though one with a relatively upbeat ending. This is, after all, Rodgers and Hammerstein, not Shakespeare.

For quick reference, “Carousel” is the one that generated hit songs including “June is Bustin’ Out All Over,” “If I Loved You” and “You’ll Never Walk Alone.” Like “Oklahoma!” it features a dream ballet.

Much of the play is based on Ferenc Molnar’s 1921 “Liliom,” which had been produced, as would be the Rodgers and Hammerstein works, by New York’s Theatre Guild. Hammerstein’s book lightened Molnar’s story a bit, while retaining the Hungarian playwright’s unenlightened attitude toward spousal battery.

Mark Reyes stars as Billy Bigelow. A carousel operator in a late 19th-Century carnival, Bigelow tries to seduce--and then (sort of) falls in love with local innocent Julie Jordan, here played by Glynn Scholle. As one character puts it so pithily, Billy’s a blackguard.

We all know, though, that sailors can cleave even closer to the philosophy of love ‘em and leave ‘em than show folk can. “Carousel” is blessed with Jigger Craigin (Paul Roach), a “scurvy hunk of scum” who makes Billy Bigelow (who “ . . . ain’t willingly or meaningly bad,” says Julie) look like Captain Kangaroo by comparison.

Jigger is the character who lights up the play, whether skulking around the sidelines attempting to draw Billy into an evil scheme, or singing the rousing “Stonecutters Cut It On Stone.”

Important peripheral characters in a cast of more than 30 include carnival owner Mrs. Mullin (Sandie Sigrest); Julie’s friend Carrie Pepperidge (Cari Bistrow); Carrie’s fiance, Enoch Snow (Gary Saxer); diner owner Nettie Fowler (Molly Melachouris), and a couple of heavenly spirits--shades of “Here Comes Mr. Jordan”--played by Stephen Cain and Steve Cardwell.

All are fine. Reyes, one of Ventura County’s more reliable leading men, handles the difficult “Soliloquy” with aplomb, and Bistrow’s a real pistol--it’s difficult to imagine her Carrie Pepperidge falling for the hopelessly square would-be sardine tycoon Snow.

Wendy Douglas, featured in the dream ballet, is also noteworthy.

If there’s one general problem with the cast, it’s the wide variety of accents employed. The show takes place in Maine in the mid-1800s; the characters seemingly come from all over the country. If everybody involved in a play can’t handle appropriate regional accents, it’s usually better for all to settle on something similar to one another.

Dick Johnson, who directed, is also credited with the complex and imaginative set design, which his crew managed with amazing ease Saturday night. There are a lot of walls and furniture to be switched around in surprisingly little time. The many costumes are credited to Crystal St. Romain.

* WHERE AND WHEN

“Carousel” continues Thursday through Saturday nights at 8:30 through Dec. 14 at the Conejo Players Theater, 351 S. Moorpark Road in Thousand Oaks. General admission tickets are $8 on Thursday; $10 on Friday and Saturday. For reservations or further information, call 495-3715.