With all the horrors that have unfolded in the Middle East since just last year, the Arab Spring — the pro-democracy uprising that began with protests in Tunisia and Egypt in 2010, leading to the dissolution of authoritarian regimes — can seem like a glimmer from a halcyon era. Yet as a new musical, “We Live in Cairo,” reminds us, that era was itself short-lived, and produced its own bloodshed and despair.

Featuring a book, music, and lyrics by the Lazours — brothers Daniel and Patrick, who are of Lebanese ancestry — “Cairo,” as its title suggests, focuses on the revolution as it rolled out in Egypt. We meet a group of young activists, one of whom has just returned from prison; she was sentenced to solitary confinement after posting negative comments about the president at the time, Hosni Mubarak, and about his son, who was reportedly being groomed to succeed his autocratic father.