The sweet musical “Big Fish,” which closes the Manatee Players’ mainstage season, is all about an adult son trying to understand his tall tale-spinning father and determining the truth from the hyperbole. 

Adapted from Daniel Wallace’s 1998 novel and a 2003 film that was directed by Tim Burton, it is far from a perfect musical with some choppy transitions and a few plot points that seem to drift away. But director and choreographer Rick Kerby, working some magic with projection and lighting designer Nick Jones to reveal a fish-laden river, a circus and a glimpse of small-town show business, helps to ease some of the bumps in the storytelling.

You may not even notice the problems because the show’s engaging star, Chip Fisher, returning to the stage after several years, casts the audience under his enthusiastic spell as the father, Edward Bloom.

Edward is a traveling salesman, but you’d think he exists in multiple worlds by the stories he tells to his adoring wife, Sandra (Sarah Yonko), and his son, Will. Those stories help him make friends with just about everyone he meets, but as Will grows up and prepares to start his own family, he wants to get to know the “real” Edward, if there is such a thing.

Edward is front and center in just about every scene, singing, dancing and leading parades and circus performers, and Fisher runs about the stage with an indefatigable energy and the spirit of a carefree child. By the end of the lively opening number “Be the Hero,” in which he encourages everyone to find their own wild adventures, Fisher wins over the audience and does a good job of carrying everyone else on stage with him.

That opening number by composer and lyricist Andrew Lippa is exuberant and purposeful, setting up a story, but the rest of the songs are not quite as catchy or tuneful. Still, the cast works hard to make them sound enjoyable.

The audience meets two versions of Will. Phoenix Woodland-Junkins is adorable as the 6-year-old Will, who delights in his father’s tales even as you can sense his suspicions about the reality of them. The strong-voiced Merdoc Augsberger takes over as the grown-up Will, who is more grounded and lacking in his dad’s carefree sensibility. In short he’s more sensible.

In the song “Stranger,” Will expresses his frustration at not really knowing his dad, whom he describes as a “puzzling shell.” Over the course of the show, we watch as his attitude changes, from pledging to use common sense in raising his son to embracing his father’s vivid imagination to help make life more exciting.

There are some tender moments between Fisher and Corinne Woodland as his teenage sweetheart, with Ben Rigney as Karl, the Giant, and Roddy Dyer as the circus operator Amos.  Suzanne Marshner conveys a mystical aura as a witch whose edabout the end of Edward’s life guide him through the years.

Fisher also has a warm connection with Yonko who seems to relish her role as a supportive wife who shakes her head at Edward’s stories, but doesn’t want to rein in his eccentricities because she realizes they are the essence of the man.

The show, written by John August (who also wrote the film screenplay), bounds from one story to another as Will begins to discover that his father is a different kind of hero, one who hid rather than boasted about his achievements.

The closing scenes are a bit manipulative, but I was moved enough to feel a tear or two gathering in the corner of my eyes at the touching conclusion.

‘Big Fish,’ music and lyrics by Andrew Lippa, book by John August. Directed and choreographed by Rick Kerby. Reviewed April 23. Manatee Performing Arts Center, 502 Third Avenue, West, Bradenton.  Through May 10. Tickets are $34.50-$42.50. manateeperformingartscenter.com; 941-749-1111