Leonard Bernstein’s little-heard musical, the vibrant satire Trouble in Tahiti (1952) receives an intimate and immediate staging, followed by the world premieres of brand new songs on the topic of the American Dream by the country’s leading contemporary composers, including Michael John LaChiusa (The Wild Party), Michael Friedman (Gone Missing), Michael Mahler (How Can You Run With a Shell on Your Back?), Kevin O'Donnell (Resident Composer at the House Theatre of Chicago), Michael Mahler (How Can You Run with a Shell on Your Back?), and Josh Schmidt (The Adding Machine: A Chamber Musical). Spend an evening with Bernstein’s Sam and Dinah, a married couple in 1950s suburbia, and then flash-forward 50 years to hear what our best music-theater writers discover about changing expectations of love, lifestyle and success.