Olney Theatre is begging audiences not to spoil the ending of its new musical

A collective gasp echoed through the audience. Upon exiting the theater, staff handed out stickers that read “No spoilers (please).”

Opening night of “I & You: The Musical” at Olney Theatre Center offered local audiences a first look at the show’s rolling world premiere (much has changed since its initial run last fall in New Jersey).

It’s a laugh-out-loud funny show with catchy tunes, creative visuals and standout performances. But the reason behind that audible reaction to the story’s shocking twist is exactly why Ari Afsar, who wrote music and lyrics for the musical, signed on to work with playwright Lauren Gunderson in the first place.

“When Lauren sent it to me, I read it on a plane and I was sobbing uncontrollably,” recalled Afsar, a “Hamilton” and “American Idol” alum. “And then I texted her immediately when I landed and was like, ‘We’ve gotta do it.’”

“I & You” debuted in its original play form more than a decade ago as a story about a teenager named Caroline, confined to her bedroom with a chronic illness, who gets a visit from her golden boy athlete classmate Anthony.

Anthony insists upon getting her help with a homework assignment about Walt Whitman’s poem “Song of Myself.” As she begrudgingly gets to know him, the two slowly unveil the mysterious connection that drew them together.

“It’s about the simple profundities of life and self and community, which I think we need a lot of right now,” Gunderson said.

The 80-minute one-act play is now a 90-minute musical with 14 songs and no intermission. Stars Alex De Bard (Caroline) and J. Antonio Rodriguez (Anthony), the show’s only two performers, remain onstage the entire time. The set, a well-lived-in teenage bedroom adorned with stuffed animals, posters of Billie Eilish, Raye and “KPop Demon Hunters” on every inch of the walls, also features a sequined Nicolas Cage pillow that elicited one of the biggest laughs of the show.

For Afsar — who previously played Elizabeth Schuyler in Chicago’s production of “Hamilton” and competed on “American Idol” in 2009 — adapting a two-character play into a full-fledged musical was as much “science” as art, she said.

“Each plot point is so nuanced and so specific, we have to really calibrate the songs and the emotionality of it like a clock,” Afsar said of writing from the perspective of the two teens.

Caroline’s angst lends itself to a pop punk motif throughout her more emotional moments. For Anthony, a self-proclaimed Whitman fan, jazz matched up with the freewheeling tempo of Whitman’s writing, which is quoted throughout the show.

“The contrast is really fun,” Gunderson said. “Ari is so brilliant that when those two start to blend, it follows the storytelling. They’re understanding each other and speaking each other’s language and literally singing each other’s songs.”

That harmony culminates in an ending best left for audiences to discover for themselves.

In a digital age where anyone can click a few buttons and spoil the entire plot in seconds, “I & You: The Musical” serves as a friendly reminder that the magic of live theater is experiencing a show as part of an audience.

“There’s hope. Things don’t end perfectly,” Gunderson said. “It’s not about easy, breezy entertainment that makes you feel good. It’s about walking out of that theater, wanting to live for something and fight for something and believe in something.”