Michael McLean and Kevin Kelly's "The Ark" is about to launch its third Utah County voyage — followed by tentative plans to set sail and dock at an off-Broadway theater in New York City.

A seven-week engagement opens Friday at Provo Theatre Company, featuring a combination of new and former cast members from the production's previous versions.

Art Allen and Lita Little Giddins have appeared as Noah and Egyptus in all three of the musical's earlier Utah productions — beginning with the 1998 premiere at the Utah State Fairpark — and they'll be reprising the roles here, as well.

Newcomers to the Provo Theatre Company cast are Matt Bellows as Ham, Laurie Harrop-Purser as Eliza, Noah's wife; Matt Cloward as Japheth, Marcie Jacobsen as Sariah, Japheth's fashion-addicted wife; Seth Child as Shem and Cassy Child as Martha.

In addition to these specific roles, some cast members also portray a variety of animals aboard the Ark. The audience also stands in for the boatload of other creatures.

Also revisiting "The Ark" is director-choreographer David Tinney, who performed those same tasks for two of the previous versions. He has also performed in the show.

"Initially he played Ham," McLean said by phone from his home in Malibu, Calif. "And now he's old enough to play Noah."

The first fully staged production of "The Ark" was in the fall of 1998, in a makeshift theater at the Utah State Fairpark's Zion Home Arts building. But the real history of the musical is sort of like Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice's "Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat."

Both shows started out as fairly short productions geared to children's audiences. "The very first time we did 'The Ark' was after school in the Plum Alley Theater at Promised Valley Playhouse," said McLean, "where we sat on bales of hay and straw, and the show was an hour and six minutes long. We put sand in the foyer and the opening number was 'Waddle and Wiggle,' which we sang while patrons were standing in line to get in.

"We first thought it would be just this cute little kids' thing, then it became like the 'Little Engine That Could.' "

Bits and pieces of the score also turned up as vignettes in LDS Church productions of "Celebrating the Light" on the Playhouse's main stage. Since then, the show has evolved — through countless workshops and rewrites — into a two-act musical.

McLean said there were two pivotal stages in getting "The Ark" to the point where it is now. One was a couple of years ago, when he and his New York-based collaborator Kelly were invited to participate in one of Stephen Schwartz's "Music Theatre Workshop" projects.