Yet this new musical, this Broadway season's freshest and funniest to date, defies skepticism, both in its wacky humor and its big, buoyant heart. Book writer and lyricist Brian Hargrove and composer Barbara Anselmi have taken a familiar premise -- that of lovers from different backgrounds uniting -- and crafted something that is both endearingly old-fashioned in spirit and decidedly contemporary in execution. Under the whip-smart direction of David Hyde Piece (Hargrove's husband), the 100-minute Shoulda Been can feel like a revival of some lost screwball classic. But Hargrove's hilarious lines, in song and dialogue, take liberties that wouldn't have flown back in the day...The message underlying this madness has to do with the importance of viewing others -- as individuals, in families and relationships -- with eyes wide open. And Pierce and his superb cast serve it with a delicacy befitting a fine soufflé.