Humans are creatures of habit. We drift toward what we’re already familiar with.

But new things can provide an exciting sense of discovery. Which brings us to “Maggie,” a musical that is having its American premiere at The Goodspeed in East Haddam.

This show — about a widow trying to raise her sons in a hardscrabble Scottish town from the mid-1950s to the mid-1970s — is emotionally moving. “Maggie” was inspired by the grandmother of the show’s co-creator, Johnny Reid, and the affection for the characters and their plights certainly feels real. So does what is at the heart of the story: the importance of family and community. It’s all beautifully overseen and shaped by director Mary Francis Moore.

In “Maggie,” whose book is by Reid, Matt Murray and Bob Foster, the titular character is a woman who, at the show’s start, is madly in love with her miner husband Jimmy and is awaiting the birth of their third child. Their adoration is effectively presented in the early scenes. But then tragedy strikes: Jimmy dies in a mining accident.

The plot soon leaps to when the trio of sons are teens and Maggie is trying to get by as best she can. The boys each have distinct personalities and talents: Shug is a musician, like his father. Tommy is a soccer talent. Wee Jimmy is a whipsmart student hoping to become an engineer. (Sometimes, particularly when the boys are being introduced, the storylines feel a bit busy, skittering from one to another.)

During this period — late 1960s to mid-1970s — Scotland is going through a tough time. Residents are leaving the country for better opportunities in other British Commonwealth countries (at one point, 3,000 a week were emigrating from Scotland), and the folks remaining are sometimes caught in the clashes between Catholics and Protestants.

The Catholic/Protestant conflict erupts in “Maggie,” as some Protestants speak angrily about how more Catholics are being hired and are taking, bit by bit, the country. It has distinct echoes of today’s rhetoric about immigrants.

The music for “Maggie” exudes a pop-folk energy, but it also evokes the story’s Scottish setting. The songs are pleasing, and no wonder: Reid, who is Scottish-Canadian, is a singer-songwriter who is a big star in Canada. He has sold millions of albums and won many Juno Awards. The songs he wrote for “Maggie” with Foster are all amiable concoctions that are easy on the ears. There are playful romps and soaring dramatic pieces.

I have to say that, as much as I enjoyed the number “Livin’ It Up,” which is an ingratiatingly peppy, poppy tune, it seems out of place in this show.

Warning to moms: You will cry when Wee Jimmy sings the lovely ballad “All Because of You” to Maggie. It’s an ode to everything his mother has done for and given him, and there were a LOT of women in the audience sniffling and wiping away their tears. That’s as positive a review of a song as you could possibly get.

Bringing Maggie to life

Director Moore wrote in the program notes that Maggie “is the mother in the background of our photographs, barely noticed, but who is holding us all together.”

Indeed, Maggie is a rich, multifaceted role, and actress Christine Dwyer makes the most of the opportunity. She imbues Maggie with strength but tempered with deep emotion, as she fairly beams with her love for family. And Dwyer belts beautifully on powerful numbers like “My Confession” and “Used To Be Fire.”

Maggie and the female friends surrounding her reflect the growing independence of women during this era. They are always portrayed as strong, but they become more liberated — or, more accurately, society lets them become more liberated — over time. Oh, and by the mid-1970s, they are let into the local bar along with the men. The trio of actresses do fine work. Sophia Clarke plays the dippy one … who might actually be the wise one. Terra C. MacLeod portrays the hard-edged one. And Kennedy Caughell’s character has to deal with an abusive husband.

The actors playing Maggie’s sons do well in roles that build as they go. Wes Williams gets the most dramatic arc, transforming from a free-spirited athlete to … well, you’ll see. Jeffrey Kringer is the golden-boy musician who is eventually wracked by guilt; again, no spoilers here as to why he feels guilt. Sam Primack brings a shy charm to the bookish Wee Jimmy, who blossoms over the course of the show.

Moving through time

The dancing (choreography by EJ Boyle) is fairly limited, though a bit with the women using wash rags as dance props is a frolic.

In a visually compelling and emotionally moving sequence when Jimmy dies, townspeople put up black umbrellas, as miners with the lights on their helmets providing shafts of illumination in the dark, carry in his casket.

Movement is used in other creative ways. In one segment, characters crisscross the stage to embody the passage of time — with, for example, a pregnant woman later pushing a pram.

Last but not least

And let’s not forget these two memorable performances in smaller roles:

Ryan Duncan lights up the stage every time he struts on as Uncle Charles, a window dresser whose sexuality is a thorny issue in the conservative area and era.

And Brian Michael Hoffman has a scene-stealing turn as a very confident local man who has no qualms about wearing a Speedo.

k.dorsey@theday.com

If you go

What: “Maggie”

Where: The Goodspeed, 6 Main St., East Haddam

When: Through Oct. 20; 2 and 7:30 p.m. Wed., 7:30 p.m. Thurs., 8 p.m. Fri., 3 and 8 p.m. Sat., and 2 p.m. Sun.; also 2 p.m. on select Thursdays, and 6:30 p.m. on select Sundays

Tickets: Start at $30, prices subject to change based on availability

Contact: (860) 873-8668, goodspeed.org.