Director Shellin Lubin and author Carol Lee Campbell made a very intelligent decision before the reading began. That was to only read the book and not include any of the music while reading this show that is very early in its development. Often including the score and lyrics, particularly if they are good and sung by talented actors, will mask book flaws that sometimes sink a production. Here that was a very good decision because the book of Chicks requires a lot of work.

Campbell’s book is well written, but it is not very interesting. Four unlikely college friends (we are never told how this strange quartet came together) suddenly decide to reestablish their relationships after about 40 years of seldom, if ever speaking, to each other. Since there was no truly dramatic reason for the separation (protagonist, Frances, runs away after Emmaline confess that she has romantic feelings about her – at most passive aggressive homophobia) and there is no extraordinary event that makes them descend on Frances’ rundown antique shop in rural Virginia on the same day, there is nothing that captures and demands our attention.

But Lubin and Campbell also made another excellent decision. They provide us with a six-song CD that contains some very good songs by David Graziano, Campbell and Rob Receveur that should form the basis of a very good and interesting musical. This would be a vast improvement from the current book that would most likely be a play with music rather than a musical. Much cheaper to produce, but seldom if ever demanding attention from an audience.

The problem from Campbell’s point of view is probably that only 1 of these songs would be sung by her desired protagonists, the four college friends. That song would be an ensemble piece rather than a solo or duet and would involve little, if any, layering. But the songs by Favorite Child are perfect matches for Campbell’s current secondary characters. These characters are first Sophie, the fanatical evangelical mother of 18-year-old Conrad who has been home schooled. She “knows” that he will go to Liberty University in the fall (an inside Virginia joke that will probably not hit with most non-Virginia audiences). The second is the son, Conrad, who, maybe thanks to his upbringing, has often been in trouble (bringing a gun into the public school where he was not a student), having either a real or racist crush on the young, poor Black girl/woman Phoenix who he may or may not have slept with and a racist streak that causes him to spray racial slurs on the van of Emmaline (a Black stranger to Conrad and one of the four college friends). The third is Phoenix, the young Black woman, contemporary to Conrad who is from the “wrong” side of the tracks, is working 4 or 5 jobs to make ends meet and may or may not have had an abortion of a fetus that may or may not have been Conrad’s. These are the three characters that scream to be the protagonists/antagonists of Chicks in Heaven and that we want to learn more about.

Musically, as soon as we hear the first lyrics, we know that “Baby I Can’t Save You” is a song that belongs to Sophie. But it is good enough that later in the show, depending on the book and a different arrangement could be sung by Phoenix, Conrad or both.

“This is not a Song about your Ex” similarly we know belongs to Conrad and could be sung by Phoenix with a different arrangement and a book that invites that interpretation.

“Destiny, Like Chocolate” is definitely Phoenix’s song. It, if rearranged, could be Conrad’s for a second rendition, if the book invites it.

“Monsters & Saviors” is a song that would be arranged to be sung independently, but simultaneously, by Sophie, Conrad and Phoenix, but not to each other.

“Chicks in Heaven” would be ensemble piece led by the four college friends but perhaps joined by Phoenix, Conrad and Sophie if it reprised late in the show.

“From Far Away” would probably belong to whomever Campbell determines is the lead protagonist/antagonist in the new book.

These are very good songs that we want to hear sung in a book that embraces them and leads into them.

The four college friends/witches would still have a place in the new book, but not as protagonists. They could be used intelligently by Campbell either like the witches in Macbeth predicting the behavior of Sophie, Conrad and Phoenix or like a Greek Chorus – observing and commenting on the action/interaction and behavior of Sophie, Conrad, and Phoenix. This would be an exciting musical that audiences (except perhaps in rural Virginia) would want to see.