A new “old musical” may sound like a contradiction in terms, but that’s exactly what Meet John Doe, now playing at Ford’s Theater, is. At first, one might wonder if we need a show that takes us back to the days of classics like Kiss Me Kate and Sweet Charity, but with such intelligent lyrics and such a satisfying blend of hope and cynicism, John Doe is more than a nostalgia trip, and doesn’t have to break new ground in order to be considered fine entertainment.

Meet John Doe focuses on a newspaper’s desperate publicity stunt; when columnist Ann Mitchell (Heidi Blickenstaff) is faced with the possibility of a pink slip, she cooks up a fictional “John Doe,” who writes into the paper threatening to commit suicide out of anger against the world’s injustices. The letter boosts circulation and allows Mitchell to keep her job – the only problem is John Doe doesn’t exist. So the paper hires a down-on-his-luck former baseball player (James Moye) to fill the role. A movement quickly forms around Doe, and the paper’s slick publisher (Patrick Ryan Sullivan) attempts to mobilize it for his own purposes – and throw a wrench into the budding romance between Doe and Mitchell in the process.

The show is based on a Frank Capra film, so we know we’ll likely be dealing with trials of conscience and the struggle between the individual and the many. Capra’s heartwarming style seems a natural transition to the world of the musical, but it is the work’s darker themes that keep it from descending into schmaltz. This is aided by a wonderful score from Eddie Sugarman and Andrew Gerle – the lyrics are smart and funny, the rhymes are unexpected, and there is a refreshing lack of cliché. One example is the endearing duet, “Who the Hell?”, a love song obliquely talking around the couple’s attraction to each other.