Discarded notes and lists collected by Davy Rothbart fuel a new musical worth saving

New musicals not based on movies are rare. And ones with the originality and infectious exuberance of Found are even more uncommon. The show is based on the Found magazines and books by Davy Rothbart, who saw discarded letters, to-do lists and other scraps of paper littering streets as windows into people’s lives. These fragmented, out-of-context messages are cleverly woven into a sweetly compelling musical about discovering one’s place in the world. The book by Hunter Bell and Lee Overtree, who also directs, traces the rise of Found (an angry note to a suspected cheater sparked it), its attempts to grow into a TV show and fallout from that expansion. Eli Bolin’s lively and lovely songs — a moody mix of acoustic-driven ballads and tunes with jazzier edges — keep the action humming. David Korins’ evocative set, forged from tossed-away notes, makes an ideal setting.