TWYLA Tharp, the prickly genius behind the Broadway hit “Movin’ Out,” stood at the entrance to a re hearsal studio eyeballing every major producer and theater owner who filed by.

She looked, cracked one person, “as if she was checking for weapons.”

In fact, according to theater sources, the Tony Award-winning director/choroegrapher was checking to make sure that no one who wasn’t on the list of invitees to the workshop of her new show – a dance musical based on the songs of Bob Dylan – got past the door.

On pain of death – or least on pain of having to get up at 5:30 a.m. and work out with the famously disciplined Tharp at the gym – everyone involved in the production has been forbidden to discuss it in the press.

But this is a leaky business and, so long as their names were not used, several people agreed to speak about the workshop, which was held last week.

Opinions are all over the place on the show, whose cast included the Broadway veteran Terrence Mann and John Selya, the acclaimed star dancer from “Movin’ Out.”

One person says it was “impossible to follow. It’s not that I don’t want to tell you what it’s about. It’s that I can’t. I have no idea what was going on.”

Another says it was too close to “Movin’ Out” – the dance show set to the songs of Billy Joel – and that Tharp seems to be hoping “lightning will strike twice.”

A third says it was fascinating.

“If you can see where Twyla’s going with it, and I admit that’s not easy, it’s impressive.”

The 72-minute show, which does not, as yet, have a fixed title (although the word “dreams” has figured in several possibilities) is set in a circus.

In the workshop, Mann played the tyrannical head of the circus, and Selya played his troubled son.

The tone is dark, the setting tough and gritty.

“It reminded me of ‘La Strada,’ ” said one producer.

In this producer’s interpretation of the plot – “and mine may be different from Twyla’s,” he cautions – the son, after falling in love with a young female circus performer, tries to break free of the father.

The father takes his revenge by raping the son’s girlfriend.

Again, since this was a dance show, the “rape dance” is strictly a matter of interpretation.

“But it was weird,” says the producer.

Another oddity: The dancers sang the songs – among them “Blowin’ in the Wind” and “Like a Rolling Stone.” Dancers singing sometimes brings to mind Dr. Johnson’s quip about dogs walking on their hind legs: “It’s not done well, but one’s surprised to see it done at all.”

This seems to have been the case with Selya, who, according to several people, did a very bad Bob Dylan imitation.

It’s unclear where the Tharp-Dylan project goes from here.

James Nederlander Jr., who produced the workshop, declined to discuss it.

There is some talk it might go to a non-profit theater since, at least right now, it does not seem to be very commercial.

Whatever happens to the show, I, for one, would never bet against Tharp.

“Movin’ Out” was pretty much a disaster in Chicago. But by the time it reached Broadway, Tharp had whipped it into one of the most original and exciting shows in years.

She did so with the unwaivering support of her producers- the Nederlanders and Emanual Azenberg, who was a longtime champion of her work in the dance world.

Azenberg is not involved in the Dylan project.

That’s because he and Tharp are no longer speaking, after a dispute over money.

Tharp has been known to complain to anyone within earshot that she is not making enough from “Movin’ Out.”

She blames Azenberg, who negotiated her deal.

Neither Azenberg nor Tharp would comment on the feud.

But a production source says Tharp has made close to $2 million from “Movin’ Out,” an amount Azenberg thinks is more than fair.

The two also fought over the pregnancy of dancer Elizabeth Parkinson.

Last year, when Tharp learned that her star female dancer was pregnant, she was furious. Parkinson’s absence, she feared, would hurt “Movin’ Out.” Tharp tried to retaliate by having Parkinson’s husband removed as the show’s assistant choreographer.

Azenberg stood up for Parkinson and her husband and, according to sources, took great pleasure in informing Tharp that not only was Parkinson legally entitled to maternity leave but was also entitled to return to the show once her baby (a boy, as it turned out) was born.

Parkinson returned to “Movin’ Out” this week.

Tharp, who keeps a close eye on the show, was not on hand to welcome her back.

She did, however, send a very nice note.