When you’ve got multiple Helen Hayes Awards nominees listed in your cast — as understudies — you know a production isn’t exactly going to be lacking in fantastic performers.

And indeed, the cast of Ford’s Theatre’s production of The Civil War is filled to the brim with powerhouse voices and magnetic presences. It’s the material that’s a little lacking.

The musical comes to us from Frank Wildhorn, a composer whom critics love to hate. His shows range from the over-maligned (The Scarlet Pimpernel‘s not exactly competing with Oklahoma! for theatrical significance, but it’s a fun show) to undeniably dreadful (Dracula: The Musical). The Civil War falls somewhere in between.

The show’s songs produce some cringe-worthy moments; it’s not that the lyrics are clumsy, it’s that they’re cheesy. Chief offenders in this arena include numbers like “For The Glory” and “The Honor of Your Name.” There’s also the undeniably sanitized feel that the show has — it’s hard to wince at the earnest portrayal of suffering slaves, but the wash the war is given (apparently every soldier out there, South or North, saw every man as his brother) stretches credibility.