Westcoast Black Theatre Troupe founder and Artistic Director Nate Jacobs has certainly been on a creative tear with his brother Michael Jacobs recently, creating three wholly different and original world premiere musicals at the theater in just three years.

“Ruby,” based on a 1950s murder case in Florida, was the first, opening (after a COVID delay) in 2024, followed last year by the tap-dancing spectacle of “Syncopated Avenue,” built around the young dancing star Lamont Brown.

And now comes their latest, “Lies, Spells and Old Wives’ Tales,” which may be the liveliest and most entertaining of the trio, even though it needs significant trimming to support its premise and ideas.

The musical is built around the wise sayings and beliefs passed down by our elders to each new generation, creating a kind of patchwork quilt of how to live your life. “There’s a lesson in it for you if you give it a chance,” the cast sings in the title song about the aphorisms, sayings and more. 

They touch on love and how to know if you’ve found “the one,” self-care, self-expression and the struggles of men to find their own support networks,

It is a story tailor made for the African-American members of the Westcoast audience because of its ties to ancestral beliefs. Many at the April 11 opening night gleefully joined cast members to finish various statements or questions.

We learn that itchy body parts mean different things, but itching in your right hand means money is coming in. In many African-American and Southern households, people eat black-eyed peas and collard greens for good luck on New Year’s Day. Apparently dreaming of fish means you’re pregnant. (I hope I don’t have any such dreams.)

All these witticisms, beliefs and superstitions don’t form a fully fledged story but lead to a series of vignettes, a few of which interweave with other elements and characters in the show, while some simply fade away.

They are individually charming, funny or lively, but don’t add up to a compelling storyline to follow.

The setting is a village in some timeless place as a community gathers around push cart vendors selling fish, potions, masks and more.

In the first act, there’s an extended story in which Jazzmin Carson plays a young woman seeking a potion from the healer (Sieglinda Fox) to help her know if the man she loves wants her or a friend and apparent rival. The healer warns her about the answers she may find, triggering several reprises of the song “It’s in the Blood,” before Carson and Michael Mejia Mendez join together in “Real Love.”

Later, the women gather to celebrate older generations in the rhythmically tender “The Gifts They Gave Grandmama.” Recurring throughout the show is a battle between Fox as a woman who loves the company of men, and a former suitor played by Leon Pitts II who is now a reverend and worried about her soul. In the first act, she sings the funny and sassy “I Love My Men” and he responds in act two with the vibrant “God’s Gonna Getcha,” which seems to possess Pitts and the ensemble.

The two songs are among the show’s highlights but we’re not given enough information to allow the story to make a strong impact. Did they or do they have a connection we don’t see? Does he still want her or is he really trying to save her? In either case both Fox and Pitts are a delight to watch.

As the healer, Fox is paired with Kiamani Canady as her daughter, Willie Mae, who laments the masculine sound of her name while she tries to follow in her mother’s potion-making traditions. There’s a lot of talk about adding this and that, but it all becomes repetitious without moving the story forward.

Ulric Alfred Taylor is memorable as a guy singing about “The Itch,” but that song is preceded by a lot of dialogue that makes the same point. He later plays a snake who breaks a promise to a man trying to protect him, for a lesson in how you can’t necessarily change the basic nature of any creature.

There’s a hint of a flirtation between two characters played by Dee Selmore and Patric Robinson that I was hoping would lead somewhere. They’re adorable. The large cast also includes Jonathan Dewitty, a terrific young violinist as The Fiddler, who wanders onto the stage to provide some moving background to numerous scenes.

At its heart, there is plenty of material, especially in the musical score, around which to build a fun, funny and potentially moving musical. But the Jacobs brothers need to cut some of the unnecessary or duplicative parts.

I’ve often said that Nate Jacobs has a tendency to overdo it in his shows, packing his shows with far more than is necessary. There’s an old show business adage about “always leave them wanting more,” but too often in his original shows, I want less.

The new musicals that make it to Broadway often take years of workshops and development. Westcoast Black Theatre isn’t Broadway, but I hope the theater isn’t rushing these new shows onto the stage. They needed to be nurtured over time to work out the kinks.

At a nearly three-hour running time, the show is far too long to support the material as it is presented. But it is never boring. In fact, you will find yourself clapping your hands or tapping your toes to Nate Jacobs’ catchy original score that touches on a variety of styles, from African rhythms through soul, gospel and 1960s pop, all arranged in a vibrant style by Dan Sander-Wells and performed by an off-stage band led by music director John Bronston.

The colorful African-influenced costumes by Suwatana Pla Rockland, the open set by Roland Black and the nicely designed pushcarts created by Annette Breazeale, along with Michael Pasquini’s lighting, make it nice to look at. And the large cast keeps you engaged with their voices and dance moves (choreographed by Donald Frison). 

‘Lies, Spells & Old Wives’ Tales.’ Book and lyrics by Michael Jacobs, music composed, lyrics and directed by Nate Jacobs. Reviewed April 11. Runs through May 17, Westcoast Black Theatre Troupe, 1012 N. Orange Ave., Sarasota. Tickets are $54, $24 for students 25 and younger and active military. westcoastblacktheatre.org; 941-366-1505