DEXTER, MI–The 1960s was a critical time for music, women’s rights and civil rights. That mash-up is the subject of a new musical, New World Comin being worked out and workshopped at The Encore musical Theatre here.

Props to Artistic Director Dan Cooney for bringing, by my count, the third show in development by New York producers to The Encore, allowing us to be part of a show’s development process.

Under the direction of musical director/orchestrator/arranger Seth Farber, the show is written by Dayle Ann Hunt (Christmas Caroled), directed by Terry Berliner and produced by New York-based Judith Manocherian and Joseph Romano (Brooklyn Heights Productions).

The show focuses on three young women who are trekking in a VW Microbus from a small Minnesota town, called Moosetown (yes, really), to New York City for a singing contest that would change their lives if they won. The backstory of the story is that Mickey Cooper’s (Charly Dannis) Mother, who died young, had given up her dreams of singing on the big stage when she left a band she was in with her father, and settled in Moosetown. Her father, Carl, (David Moan,) is a supportive Dad we’d all like to have. Sharon Lee Bettis (Kira Whitehead) is the brassiest group member who is the most hard-bitten of the trio and the most anxious to get the heck out of their hometown. Bonnie Lou Walters (Gabriella Palminteri) is torn between loving her grease-monkey boyfriend and catching her dream in the big city.

Along the journey, the trio encounter people and situations that give the characters a chance to flex their independence and emerging identities as self-sufficient women with careers, rather than children and chicken dinners, on their minds. They encounter the bar owner who doesn’t want to pay them, the young woman with an abusive boyfriend she is afraid to ditch, and one of the characters finds she is pregnant while on the way to NYC, presenting her a difficult choice. Most of the situational boxes are checked for a story about emerging women standing up for themselves.

Perhaps it was the way the show is billed that I expected a brighter, more energetic music experience. The opening song, “Son of a Preacher Man,” is a terrific choice—iconic and a toe-tapping favorite. “You Don’t Own Me,” is also a well-known song from the era that fits the story. And toward the end, “Downtown,” is a great choice despite the somewhat problematic arrangement and orchestration.

If I could impart some advice to the creators of this in-progress show, it would be to seriously review the rest of the music in the show. “Colour My World,” a song written for the show as a kind of anthem for the girls, which they keep coming back to in scene transitions, doesn’t really work at all and is off kilter with the iconic songs. Even some of the songs written for icons and covered here, like “One Way Ticket” and “It’s Getting Better,” both recorded by Mama Cass as singles, don’t even represent Cass’s best choices, let alone serving the show well.

Musicals need the strongest possible songs for the play to work, and the selection here needs review and upgrade. The dialogue, always the toughest thing to get right in a new show, needs work too, so that conversations sound more natural rather than speechy.  That’s one of the key reasons to workshop in small theatres. Writing like people actually talk is not easy when you have a blank screen in front of you.

The sets, by Sarah Tanner, involving a car and a VW Microbus interior is well done and clever. Mr. Moan ,Mariah Colby, and Shaun White who play multiple roles, deserve props for their great work changing characters and having them seem different and allowing us to forget it’s the same actor in the different roles.

There is much promise here, and the story and idea is definitely worthy to keep pursuing. And, as is, the show is an enjoyable watch. It will be fascinating to see where it goes and what it ultimately becomes.