Ace runs at Signature Theater through Sept. 28.

Signature Theater’s Broadway-bound musical Ace has a story that is so much more appealing than its lyrics, that it’s tempting to wonder whether the whole thing might have worked even better as a play.

Robert Taylor and Richard Oberacker have crafted a tale that reveals itself bit by bit, almost like a detective story. It centers around the ancestry of a young boy, Danny, who never knew his father. The boy (and the audience) are gradually given clues to a story his mother (from whom he has been separated after she attempted suicide) desperately wants him to learn. The story is interwoven with tales of flight — the exhilaration of being in the air, dreams of heading to space, the tragic risks taken by fighter pilots.