Are you one of those lucky theater lovers who saw A Gentleman’s Guide to Love and Murder during its premier at Hartford Stage before it went on to capture four 2014 Tony Awards on Broadway?

Well, you won’t have to travel further than Newtown High School this weekend to see another entertaining musical that could have its next premier on the boards in New York.

During a visit to final runthroughs of the historical comedy/musical Liberty Smith, running this weekend at Newtown High School, NewArts summer program director Michael Unger hinted that the version of the show he has adapted for Newtown’s run is under consideration for a New York theater run in the near future.

“I really loved how the show’s authors worked with us to rewrite it for Newtown,” Mr Unger said Tuesday, June 28. The director said that since the show demands mostly male actors, his idea was to retool the script to call for a typical mix of contemporary high school students, both male and female, to reprise the many historical roles — and to combine Revolutionary era costumes and props with what those students would find in their modern classroom.

“In collaborating with the authors, by necessity and by virtue of the message we wanted to send, we cast a lot more women in the show, even if they are playing men’s characters,” Mr Unger explained. “So our Ben Franklin is a woman, our James Otis is a woman, our Sam Adams is a woman.”

The director likens the story line to the old Rocky & Bullwinkle Fractured Fairy Tales with familiar historical figures, with the addition of Liberty Smith, who ends up playing a role in most of the Revolutionary era developments as America sought and gained its independence.

“We’re taken back in time through this history report of this girl in high school,” Mr Unger said. “That is brand new to this [version] of the production. It opened up the piece because she is casting the play using her classmates and items that will be familiar to students here at the high school.”

For instance, Ben Franklin’s printing press is portrayed using a photocopy machine. And there are contemporary references “all over the place,” mostly as comic relief, according to the director.

Choreographer JoAnn M. Hunter, who is heading from Newtown to Broadway to create and produce dance numbers for the premier of School of Rock, is rooting the summer musical’s dance numbers in traditional 18th Century dance styles with contemporary elements.

Mr Unger is expecting at least two of the musical’s creators to attend opening night, so they can see how the production has morphed into something that could be much more commercially accessible.

“If you love mucial comedy, it has all the elements of a hugely successful show. This version has never been put on anywhere before and we’re talking with a theater in New York right now about putting it on once we close in Newtown,” Mr Unger said.

Liberty Smith will be staged Friday, July 31, at 7 pm; Saturday, August 1, at 2 and 7 pm; and Suday, August 2, at 2 pm.

The second NewArts musical production this summer, Disney’s The Lion King, Jr will be presented Thursday and Friday, August 6-7, at 7 pm; Saturday, August 8, at 2 and 7 pm; and Sunday, August 9, at noon and 5 pm.

Tickets for all performances are $15 to $25 each.

NewArts is a division of the nonprofit 12.14 Foundation, whose eventual goal is to establish a permanent performing arts center in Newtown. For details on productions, sponsorships, tickets and fundraisers, visit www.1214foundation.org.

This report was updated July 29 removing incorrect references to a possible Broadway run for the musical Liberty Smith.