A ‘Road’ well-traveled

But through the skyscraper fires and the watery Shelley Winters heroics, McGovern says her heart wasn’t entirely invested in singing big ’70s anthems that swelled with heavy orchestration and syrupy lyrics. Though they were worldwide hits, they didn’t satisfy her artistically, and she always longed to return to her days as a folk singer. Now, decades later, she’s singing the songs she says she has always wanted to perform - works by her personal heroes such as Bob Dylan, Joni Mitchell, Jimmy Webb, and Laura Nyro. McGovern is presenting the world premiere of “A Long and Winding Road,’’ a one-woman show told through the music of the 1960s, at the Wimberly Theatre, Boston Center for the Arts, presented by the Huntington Theatre Company.

“I’ll obviously be grateful to ‘The Morning After’ until the day I die, but it was a frustrating time for me because the producers kept picking the songs, the keys, and the orchestration,’’ she says one morning before rehearsal for “Road.’’ “What I wanted was to go back to my folk roots and sing meaningful things.’’

In fact, at one point in the 1970s, McGovern was so disillusioned with the direction her career was taking, and so broke because of managers who had taken advantage of her business naivete, she dropped out of the music business altogether and went to work as a secretary under an assumed name, she says. It was only when she found a new outlet for her creative energies - Broadway - that she eased herself back into show business.

It is this circuitous path that brought her to “A Long and Winding Road.’’ The production began as an album and a cabaret show in New York, but she has spent the past year turning the song cycle - which follows her life, politics, and career - into a full stage show. It stretches from the idealistic 1960s to the materialism of the 1980s and to a milestone that McGovern faced this year: turning 60.

“We call this a theatrical concert,’’ McGovern says. “So it’s not Rodgers and Hammerstein, but it’s not strictly a conventional concert. It really has a spine and a story. The songs spring naturally from the dialogue that is taking place. We conceived this ultimately as a one-woman show that takes the ’60s generation on a journey with me. My life mirrors theirs in a lot of ways. Every generation has their breaking away from the past, but in the 1960s that was particularly explosive because of the [Vietnam] war.’’

McGovern has no shortage of musical stage experience. She took over for Linda Ronstadt in Broadway’s “Pirates of Penzance’’ with Kevin Kline, created the role of Marmee in “Little Women: The Musical’’ on Broadway, and starred with Sting in a Broadway production of “Threepenny Opera,’’ in addition to touring and playing regionally with “Elegies,’’ “The Umbrellas of Cherbourg,’’ and “The Sound of Music,’’ among other shows. She did not have experience, however, when it came to writing productions for the stage. That’s when she turned to Philip Himberg, who serves as co-writer and director of “The Long and Winding Road.’’

Himberg is the producing artistic director of the Sundance Institute Theatre Program - part of Robert Redford’s Sundance empire - which has overseen the development of hit shows such as “Spring Awakening,’’ “Grey Gardens,’’ and “The Light in the Piazza.’’ Himberg met McGovern when he directed her in “Umbrellas of Cherbourg.’’

“It was her idea to look at her coming of age in the 1960s and 1970s,’’ Himberg says. “The songs that she chose are really the second part of the Great American Songbook. The first time I heard her sing ‘The Times They Are A-Changin’ I was blown away. I could actually hear the words. It really meant something, and you realize how much resonance those words have.’’

All involved in “Road’’ are shying away from labeling it a baby boomer show. Both Himberg and McGovern say they feel any generation can relate to experiencing periods of personal growth and change, no matter what era they happen to take place in. The challenge both faced was first narrowing down the number of songs in the show - McGovern started with a list of hundreds - and then transforming the show from a straightforward cabaret program to a theatrical evening. They first worked on the show in Florida before bringing an early version of it to Washington, D.C.

It was while in Florida that Himberg contacted Peter DuBois, who had recently been named artistic director of the Huntington Theatre. DuBois went to Florida to hear the show in its developmental stage and was immediately impressed. He agreed to add the show to the Huntington’s schedule.

“Listening to the songs and to the dialogue, I thought there’s really something here,’’ DuBois recalls. “This is like an exploded cabaret. You have Maureen, and you have these arrangements with real drive. The projection designer has created this big theatrical event.’’

Since that early run in Washington and a few invitation-only performances at the Huntington in March, more than half the story has been rewritten and songs have been added and removed.

“I’ve had my meltdowns because the contents of the show are highly personal,’’ says McGovern. “I’m singing, and I get to Joni Mitchell’s ‘Circle Game,’ and I started weeping because the words are so incredibly moving. I believe that music really reaches inside you emotionally. We are instantly taken back. We exercise to music to get the heart rate going. We lower the blood pressure with music. It’s just a very strong, profound vehicle. Telling a story through songs makes it just that much more powerful.’’

Christopher Muther can be reached at muther@globe.com.