Sing Street, pre-Broadway production by The Huntington in association with Sing Street Broadway L.L.C., Calderwood Pavilion, through October 9. 617-266-0800 or huntingtontheatre.org

A high-energy ensemble means a lot to any musical, especially a new one. John Carney's Tony Award-winning "Once" had one, and so does the Huntington pre-Broadway staging of "Sing Street"—based on Carney's 2016 film of the same name.

The former had a strong book by Enda Walsh and the affecting music that Glen Hansard and Marketa composed for the 2007 Academy Award-winning film of the same name. Now Walsh has also written the book for "Sing Street," but her effort at the Calderwood Pavilion needs strengthening as does the 1980's appropriate Gary Clark and Carney score which ought to have more memorable numbers.

As with "Once," Broadway-bound (2019 Off-Broadway) "Sing Street" is set in Dublin—this time a poor 1982 area with work-challenged and financially struggling families. A clever center stage miniature house—kudos to scenic designer Bob Crowley, who also co-designs the vivid 80's costumes and get-ups with Lisa Zinni—opens up to make way for the home of the focal Lawlor Family. The Lawlors—father Robert, mother Penny and siblings Brendan, Conor and Anna—are beset by marital strife and diverse growing pains.

Working mother Penny is having an affair with her boss, and jobless Robert is emotionally conflicted. Older brother Brendan has virtually dropped out of life outside his home as well as college, spending many months on the living room couch. Anna is approaching graduation but angry about her mother's infidelity and her father's apparent weakness in reacting to it.

Because the family is financially strapped, Conor has had to switch from private school to a parochial one named Synge Street and run by Brother Baxter. Abusive despot Baxter makes him remove his non-black shoes which he considers a violation of his arbitrary regulations.

Central to the evolving family dynamics is Conor's desire to form a band with fellow students and find both haven from home problems and artistic fulfillment in rock music with an affinity to the decade's celebrated Duran Duran and The Core. Very soon he establishes a songwriting partnership with keyboardist Eamon. While finding a lead singer, he falls for elusive enlistee Raphina.

If the formation of the band may seem too easy—with the student singer/musicians quickly coming together, the same can be said for Conor's enrapture with his older would-be girlfriend (who warns him that she is involved with a much older London-bound man named Dave). At the same time Conor and his fellow musicians see the band's name Sing Street—of course a change from the school's name—as a signal for cultural revolution.

Unsurprisingly, Father Baxter tries to reign in the students and stifle what he considers their controversial and unacceptable extracurricular activities. The students' retaliation may seem like unsatisfying plotting—especially if compared with the parents-impressing student performance near the end of the musical " School of Rock."

Bully Barry Bray initially puts down the band's Duran Duran-like rock but eventually changes his tune in a turnaround that many theatergoers are likely to find too neat.

Plot and score issues notwithstanding, the production team is first-rate and the cast—directed forcefully by Rebecca Taichman (a very deserving Tony Award winner for the play "Indecent") —winningly exuberant. As with "Once," the students play their own instruments—and with fine technique. Choreographer Sonya Tayeh (an equally deserving Tony winner for "Moulin Rouge") has the students high-stepping during their numbers and the Lawlors moving strikingly during tense family moments—particularly Brendan almost acrobatically on the couch. Luke Halls and Brad Peterson add imaginative video design to the band's 80's ambience.

Most of all, the cast keep the characters' inner music engaging. Adam Bregman has all of Conor's naivete and spirit—notably on the romantic "To Find You." Donal Finn is a standout as complicated Brendan; he demonstrates appealingly the older brother's closeness with Conor and he persuasively moves from the shoeless couch sitter (a smart symbol) to closing shoe-donning optimist.

Courtnee Carter combines sweetness and street savvy as Raphina. Alexa Xioufaridou Moster makes the most of the as yet underwritten Anne. Ben Wang catches Eamon's reserve as well as his commitment to songwriting. Anne L. Nathan finds all of his mother Sandra's wonderful support for his music and the band.

Sandra advises that "Collaboration is your best friend." That wisdom has proven very true for "Once." If the team working on "Sing Street" can fine tune their collaboration, audiences at the Calderwood Pavilion and on Broadway will embrace an enjoyable tryout turned true musical winner.