The Encore Musical Theatre in Dexter is participating in an exciting creative collaboration. Encore is offering its space and many of its talented actors and musicians in the “developmental premiere” of a new musical based in part on Jon Krakauer’s best-selling non-fiction book “Into the Wild” and in part on “Back to the Wild,” a photographic history of Chris McCandless’s journey by the McCandless Foundation.

Krakauer’s book told the story of Chris McCandless, who took off after graduating from Emory University on a cross-country tour in search of adventure and his soul. The adventure ultimately led to the wilds of Alaska and a brutal death and left more questions than answers about McCandless and his quest.

The book was later adapted into a critically acclaimed movie under the direction of Sean Penn.

Janet Allard wrote the book and lyrics for the new musical with music and additional lyrics by Niko Tsakalakos. Mia Walker is the director. She has worked as director or been assistant director on Broadway, off-Broadway, and touring productions.

As a developmental project the creative team is still trying to fine-tune their approach to a difficult subject and gauge audience reactions and feedback.

Chris McCandless was a complicated young man.

He seemed to have it all laid out before him. He came from a solid middle-class family. His father was a “rocket scientist” with NASA. Chris graduated with honors from one of the country’s elite universities and was expected to pursue a law career. But he chucked it all for the open road in his run-down, aging Datsun.

He was charming, funny, high-spirited and intelligent. He devoured books, especially the back to nature writings of Thoreau and Tolstoy. He made friends easily despite a habit of becoming a motor mouth. But there was another Chris. He was also selfish, careless, irresponsible, hurtful, arrogant and, often, clueless about where his ideals would mislead him.

This is strong stuff. Allard and Tsakalakos follow the lead of Krakauker and Penn by showing McCandless warts and all. They don’t sugarcoat his responsibility for his own unhappiness and ultimate death. But the song cycle they’ve created probably comes down a little more in McCandless’s favor.

This is primarily a sung-through musical drama with little spoken dialogue. The musical approach is intense and lacking in variety. The songs mostly seem to begin quietly and then swell up into loud declarations, shouts, and screeches. When the song “Happiness” comes around in the second act, it’s a joyful, playful, and very welcome break from the rest of the score. Still, there are some fine moments in the dramatic music, especially as Chris begins to understand himself.

And the performances throughout are outstanding.

The weight on this shows falls heavily on the strong shoulders of Conor Ryan as Chris McCandless. Ryan is a University of Michigan graduate and has performed on and off Broadway. He fully embodies the many complex sides of Chris McCandless, who styles himself on the road as Alexander Supertramp. Ryan’s voice is strong and he handles his long musical numbers were intensity and understanding. But he is especially good at conveying the wild, dreamy, heart-breaking madness of a young man in love with an idea and totally unprepared to pursue it. We’ve seen that wild look before, heard that rambling voice of the young who blithely turn away from those who love them in pursuit of something else. He sings with urgency throughout but especially on the gut-wrenching “Just In Time.”

The production draws on the rich talents of the Encore family. The musical direction is under the firm control of Tyler Driskill and the Encore band.

Greg Bailey plays Chris’s father, Walt, a stolid, conservative man. Chris and his father have many issues between them, some social and one deeply personal. But the father loves his son in a way that Chris can’t quite grasp. Bailey brings a serious, thoughtful demeanor fitting a NASA engineer and a good singing voice.

Sarah Briggs, who has taken many hilarious comedy turns with Encore, is serious here as Chris’s distraught mother, who provides support and counsel in Chris’s Alaskan hallucinations. She has a strong voice and creates an intense presence.

On the road Chris finds temporary families. He meets a family of travelers who welcome his footloose attitude, with some reservations. Gayle E. Martin plays the earth mother figure Jan, who in mourning the loss of her own child attaches to the mother-needy Chris. She gets a nice reflective moment on “Nothing to Trust.”

Daniel A. Helmer plays Wayne, who gives the money averse Chris a job. They become fast friends and drinking buddies. Helmer is a fine performer and he and Ryan give life to “One More Round.”

Alexandra Reynolds plays Tracy, a care-free young woman attracted to Chris. She delivers the sweet spot song “Happiness” in a clear, playful and melodic voice. This is a strong moment of hallucinatory memory that gives counter to Chris’s wavering philosophy of life.

Michael Szymanski plays Russ, an old man who has lost a son who finds one in good-natured Chris. He sings a touching “Fathers Need Sons.’

Connor Casey gives a good performance as 12-year-old Chris discovering the joys of nature and Jack London and the mysteries of adulthood. He has a fine singing voice and makes his character live. Matthew Pecek rounds out the cast in ensemble roles.

Into the Wild is staged on a set designed to look like a snowy mound in Alaska. But the real set is a series of brilliant projections which take Chris from his middle-class home, across the country, from California to South Dakota to Alaska. The projections also include McCandless’ notes, ideas, and location markers across the many layers of the gray-white set. Projections and set are the work of Stephanie Busing and are meticulously and precisely projected. She also recreated in rugged detail a shell-like version of the famous, or infamous, rusted city bus where McCandless died.

This is good material. As Krakauer found, McCandless was partly a story of idealistic youth and partly a story of gross irresponsibility. It was a tribute to ideals and a cautionary tale about respecting nature and, as any good scout knows, always being prepared.

This musical version needs some trimming, some tightening, and some more variety in its musical approaches. But it seems to be an honest attempt to grope with these conflicting issues, and in Conor Ryan the creative team has a hardworking and emotionally-charged lead performer.

Hugh Gallagher has written theater and film reviews over a 40-year newspaper career and was most recently managing editor of the Observer & Eccentric Newspapers in suburban Detroit.

"Into the Wild" runs April 13 to May 7 at The Encore Theatre, 2126 Broad St., Dexter. Showtimes: Thursdays at 7 pm, Fridays at 8 pm, Saturdays at 3 pm and 8 pm, Sundays at 3 pm. There will be no performance on Easter Sunday, April 16, and the closing performance on May 7 begins at 2 pm. Visit theencoretheatre.org for tickets and more info.