When lyricist Nathan Tysen and composer Chris Miller met in New York University's graduate program in musical theater, they realized they had a lot in common.

They are the sons of ministers. They grew up performing in church music groups. They played in bands.

But they didn't realize how deep the connection went until the evening Miller dropped by Tysen's apartment.

"This was before iTunes," Tysen says. "I had a lot of CDs, and it was a very, very eclectic collection. Chris was looking through it. Then, finally, he said, 'I have every CD that you own.'"

It made their future collaboration feel like destiny.

That was 10 years ago, and now, after three shows, they feel like things could really start to happen.

Their first off-Broadway show, "The Burnt Part Boys" — an elegiac musical about teenage boys in a coal-mining town — opens at the famed Playwrights Horizons in May.

Lincoln Center has commissioned them to create a musical based on the children's book "Tuck Everlasting."

And tonight in St. Louis, their "Fugitive Songs" makes its world premiere at Echo Theatre, under the direction of Eric Little.

Tysen and Miller think this show just might have a future for two reasons: It's not complicated to produce, and it deals with emotional issues that, they suspect, will strike a chord with young adults.

A song cycle rather than a traditional musical, "Fugitive Songs" deals with young adults who are running away from something, either literally or figuratively. Each song tells a "runaway" story.

Tysen and Miller, both 32, suspect that running away figures prominently in the psyches of people their age.

"The fear of settling — that's a big issue for our generation," Tysen says. "You're afraid to be put in a box for the rest of your lives. Then, before you know it, you get to an age where you're afraid that it's already too late to follow your dreams."

But maybe it's not.