There’s something exciting about a world premiere musical. There are no preconceived expectations—but there is the chance for future bragging rights that you got to see something before it hits it big and becomes mainstream (something D.C. has certainly experienced before). Here’s to hoping that’s true with Gun and Power, the richly imagined, well-plotted world premiere musical at Signature Theatre.

Gun and Powder is the story of two African-American sisters—Mary and Martha Clarke—who live in the rural “Wild West” of Texas post-slavery but are still forced to pick cotton in brutal conditions. Because of the sisters’ light skin (their father was a white Frenchman who abandoned them and their mother), they hatch a plan to pass as white women in order to make more money. They soon realize that a gun is potentially even more powerful—and lucrative—than their ability to pass, and become outlaws, robbing from wealthy white strangers and sending money home to their mother. The story gets complicated when they meet successful white businessman Jesse, who falls hard for the dreamy, aspirational sister Mary. While Martha sees Jesse as their final mark before heading home, Mary considers permanently passing as white in order to live a life of luxury with Jesse.

It’s a story of race, injustice, and identity that still resonates—especially for its book writer and lyricist, Anjelica Cheri, who based the musical on her own family. Director Robert O’Hara (fresh off his Broadway direction of Slave Play) keeps a show with a lengthy runtime moving at an excellent pace, along with staging that creates dynamic tension between the characters.

While the singing voices of the entire cast are strong and fluid in their range, even down to the ensemble members, Solea Pfeffier and Emmy Raver-Lampman,who play Mary and Martha Clarke, respectively, own the show. Pfeffier’s performance is incredibly raw, leading the audience to hang on her every note, while Raver-Lampman plays Martha with restraint and a cultivated hard exterior. Her performance is incredibly subtle for a musical that sometimes feels as if it’s playing to a much larger theater.

Some kinks in the show are fixable. The projections on the spare stage, for example, frequently get so busy that they overpower the scenes they’re setting. An ensemble used as “Kinfolk” in the beginning of the story to tell the sisters’ story also often feels repetitive—they’re telling the audience what we see very clearly. While their voices are beautiful, they feel superfluous.

The chemistry between the love interests, meanwhile, is lackluster. There’s also a lack of tension in the outlaw sisters’ escape from the law, especially when the drama is focused completely on the relationship between Mary and Jesse.

A larger issue that may need more lengthy work is the music. While Ross Baum’s songs move the story along and are beautifully sung, none of them got stuck in my head after I left the theater. Not every song needs to be an earworm, but there needs to be at least a few that stick with the audience, especially when the story of Gun and Powder has such resonance beyond the curtain call.

Gun and Powder runs at Signature Theatre through Feb. 23. Tickets $40-$103. Runtime two hours and 30 minutes with one intermission.

Previously: 

In Signature’s World-Premiere ‘Gun & Powder,’ Alums Of ‘Hamilton’ And ‘Slave Play’ Tell A Story Of Race And Sisterhood