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Baby (musical)
Encyclopedia
Baby is a musical
with a book by Sybille Pearson
, based on a story developed with Susan Yankowitz, music by David Shire
, and lyrics by Richard Maltby, Jr.
. It concerns the reactions of three couples each expecting a child. The musical first ran on Broadway
from 1983 to 1984.
juniors who have just moved in together. Athletic Pam and her husband, Nick, a sports instructor, have had some trouble conceiving. Arlene, already the mother of three grown daughters, is unsure of what to do, contemplating abortion
while her husband Alan is thrilled with the thought of a new baby. Throughout the show, these characters experience the emotional stresses and triumphs, the desperate lows and the comic highs, that accompany the anticipation and arrival of a baby.
Act II
"Baby, Baby, Baby (Reprise)" was replaced in the initial run and the original cast recording with the song "Patterns," wherein Arlene contemplates her circular life as mother and wife.
"The End of Summer" was written for the Paper Mill Playhouse production, and is now part of the newly revised score available for licensing.
"With You" and "And What If We Had Loved Like That" are in reverse order in the new libretto.
production, directed by Richard Maltby, Jr. and choreographed by Wayne Cilento
, opened on December 4, 1983 at the Ethel Barrymore Theatre
, where it ran for 241 performances and 35 previews. The cast included Liz Callaway
as Lizzie Fields, Beth Fowler
as Arlene McNally, Todd Graff as Danny Hooper, Catherine Cox
as Pam Sakarian, James Congdon as Alan McNally, and Martin Vidnovic
as Nick Sakarian. Set design was by John Lee Beatty
, costume design by Jennifer von Mayrhauser, and lighting design by Pat Collins
.
The Paper Mill Playhouse
, Millburn, New Jersey
presented an updated version of the musical from March 31, 2004 to May 9, 2004. The cast featured Carolee Carmello
(Arlene), Chad Kimball
(Danny), LaChanze
(Pam), Norm Lewis
(Nick), Moeisha McGill (Liz), and Michael Rupert
(Alan).
The Ohio premiere of Baby was the first production to use the new and updated score which was finalized for this production. It also contained an updated script with more modern references. The show ran March 2010 at TrueNorth Cultural Arts, Sheffield Village, Ohio. The cast was headed by Natalie Green (Lizzie), Shane Joseph Siniscalchi (Danny), Michael Dempsey (Alan), Bernadette Hisey (Arlene), David Robeano (Nick) and Maggie Stahl-Floriano (Pam) under the direction of Fred Sternfeld. The production won ten Cleveland Times Tribute Awards for Outstanding Theatre in 2010.
International
Baby was staged at the Meralco Theatre in Manila
from August 18 through September 5, 2004. The cast included Lea Salonga
in the role of Lizzie Fields and David Shannon as Danny.
A Brazilian production opened on May 15, 2011.
, theatre critic for The New York Times
wrote, "At a time when nearly every Broadway musical, good and bad, aims for the big kill with gargantuan pyrotechnics, here is a modestly scaled entertainment that woos us with such basic commodities as warm feelings, an exuberant cast and a lovely score. Perfect Baby is not, but it often makes up in buoyancy and charm what it lacks in forceful forward drive... Sybille Pearson has chosen her characters as if she were a pollster in search of a statistical cross-section of modern (and uniformly model) parents. Worse, this writer... values hit-and-miss one-liners over substance... Miss Pearson is also fond of such plot contrivances as mixed-up lab reports, and, in Act II, the story runs out altogether. The last trimester for the mothers in Baby is as much of a waiting game as it can be in real life. Yet David Shire, the composer, and Richard Maltby Jr., the lyricist, rush to the book's rescue by addressing the show's concerns with both humor and intelligence... To keep up with the varied ages of the characters, Mr. Shire writes with sophistication over a range that embraces rock, jazz and the best of Broadway schmaltz... Mr. Maltby's lyrics are not just smart and funny, but often ingenious." He concluded, "If the virtues of Baby can't override all its hitches, so be it. In achievement, this show is a throwback to the early 1960s - the last era when Broadway regularly produced some casual-spirited musicals that were not instantly categorizable as blockbusters or fiascos. Those musicals - like, say, Do Re Mi
or 110 in the Shade
- weren't built for the ages but could brighten a theater season or two: They were ingratiatingly professional, had both lulls and peaks, and inspired you to run to the record store as soon as the original cast album came out. So it is with Baby, and wouldn't it be cheering if such a show could find a home on the do-or-die Broadway of today?"
Drama Desk Awards
Todd Graff won the Theatre World Award
Musical theatre
Musical theatre is a form of theatre combining songs, spoken dialogue, acting, and dance. The emotional content of the piece – humor, pathos, love, anger – as well as the story itself, is communicated through the words, music, movement and technical aspects of the entertainment as an...
with a book by Sybille Pearson
Sybille Pearson
Sybille Pearson is a playwright, musical theatre lyricist and librettist.-Biography:Pearson was a graduate student in the creative writing program at the City College of New York in 1980, when her play, the two-person comedy-drama Sally and Marsha was chosen to be produced at the Playwrights...
, based on a story developed with Susan Yankowitz, music by David Shire
David Shire
David Lee Shire is an American songwriter and the composer of stage musicals, film and television scores. The soundtrack to the movie The Taking of Pelham 123 and parts of the Saturday Night Fever soundtrack such as Night on Disco Mountain, an adaptation of Modest Mussorgsky's Night on Bald...
, and lyrics by Richard Maltby, Jr.
Richard Maltby, Jr.
Richard Eldridge Maltby, Jr. is an American theatre director and producer, lyricist, and screenwriter. He is also well known as a constructor of cryptic crossword puzzles. He has done this for Harper's Magazine, sometimes in collaboration with E. R...
. It concerns the reactions of three couples each expecting a child. The musical first ran on Broadway
Broadway theatre
Broadway theatre, commonly called simply Broadway, refers to theatrical performances presented in one of the 40 professional theatres with 500 or more seats located in the Theatre District centered along Broadway, and in Lincoln Center, in Manhattan in New York City...
from 1983 to 1984.
Synopsis
Three couples, each newly expecting a child, have different but familiar reactions. Liz and Danny are universityUniversity
A university is an institution of higher education and research, which grants academic degrees in a variety of subjects. A university is an organisation that provides both undergraduate education and postgraduate education...
juniors who have just moved in together. Athletic Pam and her husband, Nick, a sports instructor, have had some trouble conceiving. Arlene, already the mother of three grown daughters, is unsure of what to do, contemplating abortion
Abortion
Abortion is defined as the termination of pregnancy by the removal or expulsion from the uterus of a fetus or embryo prior to viability. An abortion can occur spontaneously, in which case it is usually called a miscarriage, or it can be purposely induced...
while her husband Alan is thrilled with the thought of a new baby. Throughout the show, these characters experience the emotional stresses and triumphs, the desperate lows and the comic highs, that accompany the anticipation and arrival of a baby.
Musical numbers
Act I- Opening/We Start Today – Danny, Lizzie, Alan, Arlene, Nick, Pam, People in the Town
- What Could Be Better? – Danny, Lizzie
- The Plaza Song – Alan, Arlene
- Baby, Baby, Baby – Nick, Pam, Alan, Arlene, Danny, Lizzie
- I Want It All – Pam, Lizzie, Arlene
- At Night She Comes Home To Me – Nick, Danny
- What Could Be Better? (Reprise) – Danny, Lizzie
- Fatherhood Blues – Danny, Alan, Nick, Mr. Weiss and Dean
- Romance – Nick, Pam
- I Chose Right – Danny
- We Start Today (Reprise) – Company
- The Story Goes On – Lizzie
Act II
- The Ladies Singin' Their Song – Lizzie, Women in the Town
- Patterns – Arlene
- Baby, Baby, Baby (Reprise) – Arlene*
- Romance (Reprise) – Nick, Pam
- Easier to Love – Alan
- The End of Summer - Lizzie, Arlene, Pam**
- Two People In Love – Danny, Lizzie
- With You – Nick, Pam***
- And What If We Had Loved Like That – Alan, Arlene***
- We Start Today (Reprise) – Danny, Lizzie, Nick, Pam, Alan, Arlene
- The Story Goes On (Reprise) – Company
"Baby, Baby, Baby (Reprise)" was replaced in the initial run and the original cast recording with the song "Patterns," wherein Arlene contemplates her circular life as mother and wife.
"The End of Summer" was written for the Paper Mill Playhouse production, and is now part of the newly revised score available for licensing.
"With You" and "And What If We Had Loved Like That" are in reverse order in the new libretto.
Productions
The BroadwayBroadway theatre
Broadway theatre, commonly called simply Broadway, refers to theatrical performances presented in one of the 40 professional theatres with 500 or more seats located in the Theatre District centered along Broadway, and in Lincoln Center, in Manhattan in New York City...
production, directed by Richard Maltby, Jr. and choreographed by Wayne Cilento
Wayne Cilento
Wayne Louis Cilento is an American dancer and choreographer. He is best known for originating the role of "Mike" in the Broadway show A Chorus Line, and later becoming one of Broadway's most prolific choreographers.-Early life:...
, opened on December 4, 1983 at the Ethel Barrymore Theatre
Ethel Barrymore Theatre
The Ethel Barrymore Theatre is a legitimate Broadway theatre located at 243 West 47th Street in midtown-Manhattan, named for actress Ethel Barrymore....
, where it ran for 241 performances and 35 previews. The cast included Liz Callaway
Liz Callaway
Liz Callaway is an American actress and singer, famous for providing the singing voices of many female characters in films, such as Anya in Anastasia, Odette in The Swan Princess, and Kiara in The Lion King II:Simba's Pride....
as Lizzie Fields, Beth Fowler
Beth Fowler
Beth Fowler is an American actress and singer.Born in Jersey City, New Jersey, Fowler was a teacher with a fondness for Broadway theatre when she decided to audition for Gantry in 1970. She was signed for the chorus and as understudy for the lead, but the show unfortunately closed on opening night...
as Arlene McNally, Todd Graff as Danny Hooper, Catherine Cox
Catherine Cox (actress)
Catherine Cox is an American actress. A regular on the Broadway stage in the 1980s, Cox's credits include the original Ethel McCormack in the production of Footloose, the musical Oh Coward!, for which she was nominated for a Tony Award for Best Performance by a Leading Actress in a Musical, and...
as Pam Sakarian, James Congdon as Alan McNally, and Martin Vidnovic
Martin Vidnovic
Martin Vidnovic is an American actor and singer.Born in Falls Church, Virginia, Vidnovic made his Broadway debut in the ill-fated Home Sweet Homer which, following a one-year tour, closed on opening night...
as Nick Sakarian. Set design was by John Lee Beatty
John Lee Beatty
John Lee Beatty is an American scenic designer. He was born in Palo Alto, California and grew up in Claremont. His father was dean of students at Pomona College and his mother had also work in academia. While he was English major at Brown University, he also directed, wrote, acted and drew posters...
, costume design by Jennifer von Mayrhauser, and lighting design by Pat Collins
Pat Collins (lighting designer)
Pat Collins is an American lighting designer.Collins made her Broadway debut with a 1976 revival of Threepenny Opera. Her additional New York City credits include Ain't Misbehavin, King of Hearts, I'm Not Rappaport, Execution of Justice, The Heidi Chronicles, Conversations with My Father, The...
.
The Paper Mill Playhouse
Paper Mill Playhouse
Paper Mill Playhouse is a regional theatre with approximately 1200 seats, located in Millburn, New Jersey, less than 25 miles from Manhattan. Due to its location, it can draw from the pool of actors who live in New York City. Its location, as well as its focus on producing large-scale shows, makes...
, Millburn, New Jersey
Millburn, New Jersey
Millburn is a township in Essex County, New Jersey, United States. As of the 2010 United States Census, the township population was 20,149.Millburn Township was created as a township by an act of the New Jersey Legislature on March 20, 1857, from portions of Springfield Township.Millburn also...
presented an updated version of the musical from March 31, 2004 to May 9, 2004. The cast featured Carolee Carmello
Carolee Carmello
Carolee Carmello is an American actress best known for her performances in Broadway musicals.She made her Broadway debut in a small role in City of Angels...
(Arlene), Chad Kimball
Chad Kimball
Chad Kimball is a Tony Nominated American theater actor. Kimball was raised in Seattle, Washington and graduated from Boston Conservatory with a BFA in acting in 1999. After moving to New York, he was hired for the Broadway musical, The Civil War, joining the show 3 weeks before it closed...
(Danny), LaChanze
LaChanze
LaChanze is an American actress, singer, and dancer. She won the Tony Award for Best Performance by a Leading Actress in a Musical in 2006 for her role in The Color Purple....
(Pam), Norm Lewis
Norm Lewis
Norm Lewis is an American actor and baritone singer. He has appeared on Broadway as well as in regional theatre.-Life:Lewis was born in Tallahassee, Florida and grew up in Eatonville, Florida...
(Nick), Moeisha McGill (Liz), and Michael Rupert
Michael Rupert
Michael John Rupert is an American actor, singer, director and composer.Rupert made his Broadway debut in 1968 in Kander and Ebb's The Happy Time where he received his first Tony nomination...
(Alan).
The Ohio premiere of Baby was the first production to use the new and updated score which was finalized for this production. It also contained an updated script with more modern references. The show ran March 2010 at TrueNorth Cultural Arts, Sheffield Village, Ohio. The cast was headed by Natalie Green (Lizzie), Shane Joseph Siniscalchi (Danny), Michael Dempsey (Alan), Bernadette Hisey (Arlene), David Robeano (Nick) and Maggie Stahl-Floriano (Pam) under the direction of Fred Sternfeld. The production won ten Cleveland Times Tribute Awards for Outstanding Theatre in 2010.
International
Baby was staged at the Meralco Theatre in Manila
Manila
Manila is the capital of the Philippines. It is one of the sixteen cities forming Metro Manila.Manila is located on the eastern shores of Manila Bay and is bordered by Navotas and Caloocan to the north, Quezon City to the northeast, San Juan and Mandaluyong to the east, Makati on the southeast,...
from August 18 through September 5, 2004. The cast included Lea Salonga
Lea Salonga
Lea Salonga-Chien is a mezzo-soprano singer and actress from the Philippines well known for originating the lead role of Kim in the musical Miss Saigon, for which she won the Olivier, Tony, Drama Desk, Outer Critics and Theatre World awards.She was the first Asian to play the roles of Éponine and...
in the role of Lizzie Fields and David Shannon as Danny.
A Brazilian production opened on May 15, 2011.
Critical reception
Frank RichFrank Rich
Frank Rich is an American essayist and op-ed columnist who wrote for The New York Times from 1980, when he was appointed its chief theatre critic, until 2011...
, theatre critic for The New York Times
The New York Times
The New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...
wrote, "At a time when nearly every Broadway musical, good and bad, aims for the big kill with gargantuan pyrotechnics, here is a modestly scaled entertainment that woos us with such basic commodities as warm feelings, an exuberant cast and a lovely score. Perfect Baby is not, but it often makes up in buoyancy and charm what it lacks in forceful forward drive... Sybille Pearson has chosen her characters as if she were a pollster in search of a statistical cross-section of modern (and uniformly model) parents. Worse, this writer... values hit-and-miss one-liners over substance... Miss Pearson is also fond of such plot contrivances as mixed-up lab reports, and, in Act II, the story runs out altogether. The last trimester for the mothers in Baby is as much of a waiting game as it can be in real life. Yet David Shire, the composer, and Richard Maltby Jr., the lyricist, rush to the book's rescue by addressing the show's concerns with both humor and intelligence... To keep up with the varied ages of the characters, Mr. Shire writes with sophistication over a range that embraces rock, jazz and the best of Broadway schmaltz... Mr. Maltby's lyrics are not just smart and funny, but often ingenious." He concluded, "If the virtues of Baby can't override all its hitches, so be it. In achievement, this show is a throwback to the early 1960s - the last era when Broadway regularly produced some casual-spirited musicals that were not instantly categorizable as blockbusters or fiascos. Those musicals - like, say, Do Re Mi
Do Re Mi (musical)
Do Re Mi is a musical with music by Jule Styne, lyrics by Betty Comden and Adolph Green, and a book by Garson Kanin, who also directed the original 1960 Broadway production. The plot centers on a minor-league con man who decides to go straight by going into the business of juke boxes and music...
or 110 in the Shade
110 in the Shade
110 in the Shade is a musical with a book by N. Richard Nash, lyrics by Tom Jones, and music by Harvey Schmidt.Based on Nash's 1954 play The Rainmaker, it focuses on Lizzie Curry, a spinster living on a ranch in the American southwest, and her relationships with local sheriff File, a cautious...
- weren't built for the ages but could brighten a theater season or two: They were ingratiatingly professional, had both lulls and peaks, and inspired you to run to the record store as soon as the original cast album came out. So it is with Baby, and wouldn't it be cheering if such a show could find a home on the do-or-die Broadway of today?"
Awards and nominations
Tony Awards- Best MusicalTony Award for Best MusicalThis is a list of winners and nominations for the Tony Award for Best Musical, first awarded in 1949. This award is presented to the producers of the musical.-1940s:* 1949: Kiss Me, Kate – Music and lyrics by Cole Porter, book by Samuel and Bella Spewack...
(nomination) - Best BookTony Award for Best Book of a MusicalThe Tony Award for Best Book of a Musical is awarded to librettists of the spoken, non-sung dialogue, and storyline of a musical play. Eligibility is restricted to works with original narrative framework; plotless revues and revivals are ineligible...
(nomination) - Best Original ScoreTony Award for Best Original ScoreThe Tony Award for Best Original Score is the Tony Award given to the composers and lyricists of the best original score written for a musical in that year. The score consists of music and lyrics...
(nomination) - Best ChoreographyTony Award for Best Choreography-1940s:* 1947: Agnes de Mille – Brigadoon / Michael Kidd – Finian's Rainbow* 1948: Jerome Robbins – High Button Shoes* 1949: Gower Champion – Lend An Ear-1950s:* 1950: Helen Tamiris – Touch and Go* 1951: Michael Kidd – Guys and Dolls...
(nomination) - Best DirectionTony Award for Best Direction of a MusicalThis is a list of winners and nominations for the Tony Award for Best Direction of a Musical. Prior to 1960, category for direction included plays and musicals.-1950s:Note: this category was for both dramatic and musical productions...
(nomination) - Best Featured Actor in a Musical -Graff (nomination)
- Best Featured Actress in a Musical - Callaway (nomination)
Drama Desk Awards
- Outstanding MusicalDrama Desk Award for Outstanding MusicalThe Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Musical was first awarded at the 1974-1975 Drama Desk Awards and has been awarded every year since. Before the 21st Drama Desk Awards, acting awards were given without making distinctions between roles in straight dramas as opposed to musicals, nor were there...
(nomination) - Outstanding OrchestrationsDrama Desk Award for Outstanding OrchestrationsThe Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Orchestrations is presented by the Drama Desk, a committee of New York City theatre critics, writers, and editors...
(Jonathan TunickJonathan TunickJonathan Tunick is an American orchestrator, musical director, and composer, one of twelve people to have won all four major American show business awards: the Tony, Oscar, Emmy and Grammy. He has also worked with all of the other eleven people. His principal instrument is the clarinet...
)(nomination) - Outstanding LyricsDrama Desk Award for Outstanding LyricsThe Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Lyrics is an annual award presented by the Drama Desk, a committee of New York City theatre critics, writers, and editors...
(nomination) - Outstanding MusicDrama Desk Award for Outstanding MusicThe Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Music is an annual award presented by the Drama Desk, a committee comprising New York City theatre critics, writers, and editors...
(nomination) - Outstanding Featured Actor in a MusicalDrama Desk Award for Outstanding Featured Actor in a MusicalThe Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Featured Actor in a Musical was first awarded at the 1974-1975 Drama Desk Awards and has been awarded every year since...
- Martin Vidnovic (winner) - Outstanding Featured Actress in a MusicalDrama Desk Award for Outstanding Featured Actress in a MusicalThe Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Featured Actress in a Musical was first awarded in the 1974-1975 Drama Desk Awards and has subsequently been awarded every year. In the 1993-1994 Drama Desk Awards the award was given under the name of Outstanding Supporting Actress - Musical...
- Catherine Cox (winner)
Todd Graff won the Theatre World Award
Theatre World Award
The Theatre World Award, first awarded for the 1945-46 season, is an American honor presented annually to actors and actresses in recognition of an outstanding New York City stage debut performance, either on Broadway or off-Broadway.-History:...