Not your Disney-style high school musical

The musical "Zanna, Don't!" portrays high school in the 1970s with all the typical teenage angst and interests. But there's one significant difference. At the central high school in Heartsville, America, being gay is the norm, and everyone's expectations are turned upside down when two teens "come out" as heterosexuals.

While the idea of a twist on Disney's "High School Musical" suggests campy comedy, "Zanna" creator Tim Acito says the story is not meant to mock anything.

"I think it should feel like a cross between an episode of 'Father Knows Best' and 'Leave It to Beaver,' " Acito says. "These are characters who really believe in what they're doing and believe that theater can change the world. If we smile at their innocence, maybe it will inspire us to reclaim a little hope and sense of possibility in our own lives."

The SpeakEasy Stage Company production of the off-Broadway hit is now in previews at the Roberts Studio Theatre, Boston Center for the Arts, and director Paul Daigneault says he fell in love with the "Zanna" score as soon as he heard it.

"The show also knows exactly what it is," Daigneault says. "It's a gay fairy tale that has this tongue-in-cheek awareness about musical theater. You know, people sing about singing. At the same time, it has a youthful zaniness to it that it doesn't make any excuses for. It's filled with a kind of unabashed joy that's irresistible."

In the show, the title character, Zanna, is a matchmaker with more than a little magic in him who just wants to spread love around. Of course at this unusual school, the coolest guy is the chess champ, and it's no surprise the captain of the football team tries out for the school musical. But when that same football player falls for a girl instead of a guy, things get complicated. Acito uses the school musical - "Don't Ask, Don't Tell," which is about, naturally, straights in the military - to provide a catalyst for the lovers.

Acito can trace his life in musical theater to multiple influences. "I came from a musical family," he says. "My dad was a seventh-grade teacher who played in a Dixieland jazz band." Acito studied classical piano and danced with several modern dance companies (including Paul Taylor's) for several years before heading to Yale Drama School. "Musical theater is such a composite art form, I'm glad I was able to have experiences in several fields," he says. "I don't pretend to be an expert at any of them, but I hope my passion comes through."

Acito also grew up listening to an eclectic mix of AM radio music: "You had a rock song followed by Olivia Newton John, followed by Electric Light Orchestra," he says. That's the kind of musical mix that inspired "Zanna." "Even though pop songs seem simple, I treat the format with great respect," he says. "Even when you're using pop songs to be simply joyous, it still needs to be treated like a sonnet."

While "Zanna" plays in Boston, the world premiere of Acito's musical version of Gloria Naylor's novel "The Women of Brewster Place" opened at the Alliance Theatre in Atlanta last week. "People tell me that no matter where or when my musicals take place it's 1973," says Acito, "and lucky for me 'The Women of Brewster Place' happens to be set in a housing project in the early '70s."

Both "Zanna, Don't!" and "The Women of Brewster Place" take on big ideas of tolerance and prejudice, but Acito says you have to start with the characters and music, and let the ideas come later.

"I think you first have to connect with people's hearts and their feet," he says. "Then their minds can't help but come along."