Review: BABY: NEW CAST ALBUM RELEASE PARTY Presents Beloved Broadway Score at The Green Room 42

One of the regrets of New York theater is that there's just so much going on that some things slip through the cracks. I have no idea how I didn't hear about Out of the Box Theatrics' 2019 and 2021 off-Broadway productions of Baby, the 1983 Maltby & Shire musical (with book by Sybille Pearson), but I'm so glad I got the chance to see the cast perform selections from the show this Monday, February 13th, at The Green Room 42. They gathered to celebrate the release of their new cast album, which came out on Tuesday, February 14th.

If you're not familiar with Baby, it's not your fault - for some reason, the show has mostly remained in obscurity, except for some small regional productions. However, you should rectify that immediately - Baby has some real gems in it. (You can hear some selections from the new cast album here.) Together, Maltby and Shire wrote a wealth of musical theater, of which Baby is probably their best known work.*

When Baby first hit the Broadway stage in 1983, it was fresh, original and very of the moment. It follows three couples grappling with the arrival of a pregnancy: a middle-aged couple who was looking forward to finally having an empty nest and are less than thrilled to find out they're expecting again; a couple with trouble conceiving that's finally been blessed with a pregnancy; and two kids in college who decide to keep an unplanned pregnancy. The show still has the same incredible score (lyrics by Richard Maltby Jr., music by David Shire) but a lot has changed regarding parenthood, fertility and pregnancy in the past 40 years.

The score to Baby is one of the reasons why Liz Flemming, Producing Artistic Director and founder of Out of the Box Theatrics, decided to spearhead this revised version. The other reason is that she wanted to update the book to highlight families like hers, with hereditary disabilities. What does it mean for someone to carry a pregnancy, knowing their child may inherit their disability? Flemming, who has low vision, cast herself and Johnny Link, who is hard of hearing, as the couple in college, played by Liz Callaway and Todd Graff in the original. Out of the Box Theatrics is a company dedicated to "lifting the voices of marginalized communities through the stories it tells." The book and lyrics were revised with close input from Richard Maltby, Jr. In this version, the couple dealing with fertility issues becomes a lesbian couple, and minor updates are made to the lyrics to place the show in the 21st century ("Margaret Thatcher" becomes "Margaret Atwood" and other celebrity names are changed in "I Want It All," where the three pregnant women discuss everything they refuse to sacrifice after the baby comes).

It's a treat to hear a familiar score re-interpreted with new voices and new arrangements, especially one that gets played as infrequently as Baby. For afficionados of the original Baby, the musical transitions have been restored to this recording. Throughout the concert, the cast of this revival demonstrated the depths of their talent. Maltby and Shire's score has a lot of emotional complexity to it, and every member of the intimately small cast nailed it. All six principals joined together on "Baby, Baby, Baby," sung to their respective expectant babies. Jewell Noel, Christina Sajous, Julia Murney, Robert H. Fowler, Fleming and Link all have outstanding voices.

Andrew Morrissey on piano and Jared Decker on drums provided musical accompaniment for the concert, while host Ethan Paulini interjected occasionally to ask the actors to talk about the experience of working on the revised show. It was also lovely to see a special appearance by Richard Maltby, Jr. who talked about what it was like going back through the show and working with a new slate of actors and a modernized script.

It takes some suspension of disbelief to imagine Baby in the 21st century. In 1983, a 19-year-old college student getting pregnant and choosing to keep her baby was unusual; in 2021, it becomes almost downright crazy, and maybe a bit darker, in the light of Roe v. Wade being overturned (something that, in fairness, had not, yet, officially happened when this production was performed in 2019 and 2021). Some of the lyrics don't quite make sense anymore in the 2020's. Just as one example, in the song "At Night She Comes Home to Me," Danny, the college student, sings:

"I dyed my hair blue for my rock group once
People said that's nice
I put on some bright green eye shadow once
Not one friend looked twice

I walked into class with a ring through my nose
People said 'how chic'
Then I say with a kid you get married
People say, 'ugh, what a freak.'

What's going on here?"

Does Danny, who was born nearly 20 years after the original production closed, really think anyone would be shocked by a college student wearing a nose ring? If anything, I think it's much more shocking these days to see a couple not yet out of college getting married and having a baby. However, musicals have always withstood some suspension of disbelief, and regardless of the script, the score and the sentiment are still as infectious and heart-warming as they ever were.

*Editor's Note: Reference to Maltby & Shire's book musicals.

Get the Out of the Box Theatrics album here: http://yellowsoundlabel.com/album/baby-new-off-broadway-cast-recording/

You can hear samples from each track here: https://music.apple.com/us/album/baby-new-off-broadway-cast-recording/1667657591

Find out more about Out of the Box Theatrics on their website. You can also follow them on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter @ootbtheatrics

Find out what's playing at the Green Room 42 on their website. You can also follow them on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter.

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