New Musical THE BABIES Coos Off-Broadway Starting Tonight

If you were ever a baby, had a baby, or just acted like a baby, The Babies is the musical for you. Going from the womb to preschool, the babies sing and dance and tell you what they really think. A musical from the folks who gave you classic television like "The Brady Bunch" and "Gilligan's Island." The Babies has book by Lloyd J. Schwartz (who will also direct), music by Matt Dahan (who will serve as musical director) and lyrics by Lloyd J. Schwartz & Anthony Gruppuso, with musical staging by Gene Castle.

The World Premiere production of The Babies will begin a open-ended Off-Broadway engagement tonight, October 13th, at St. Luke's Theatre (308 West 46th Street, between 8th and 9th Avenues). Lloyd J. Schwartz ( "Gilligan's Island," "The Brady Bunch") directs a cast that stars Anthony Gruppuso, Jayme Lake, Barbara Mallory, and Parnell Damone Marcano. Opening Night is set for Thursday October 27th.

Performances for The Babies will be Thuesday evenings at 7pm, Friday evenings at 8pm, and Saturday & Sunday matinees at 2PM. The show runs 90 minutes without an intermission. Tickets from $39.50 (including a $2.00 Facility Fee.) are available at Telecharge.com or by calling 212/239-6200. For more information, visit www.2acrosstheplay.com.

Besides his extensive career in all media, Lloyd J. Schwartz and his father, Sherwood Schwartz, were one of the only... if not the only... father-son producing teams in television. The younger Schwartz began his writing career with "Love: American Style" and "Alice." By that time he had already been a dialogue coach on the series "It's About Time" and "Gilligan's Island." When that position opened on "The Brady Bunch," he signed on. During the five-year run of that iconic series, Schwartz moved to associate producer, director and producer. At age 25, he was the youngest producer in network television. After "The Brady Bunch" he became a network executive at ABC and supervised four of the top five shows in the country: "Happy Days," "Laverne and Shirley," "What's Happening!!" and "Three's Company." Schwartz then became the producer of "What's Happening!!" and created "Harper Valley P.T.A." with Sherwood for television. This was followed by a tenure as head of comedy development at Paramount TV. Lloyd and Sherwood wrote Gilligan's Island: The Musical for the stage which has had sixty productions nationally and internationally and completed a national tour in 2009 and continues to have productions around the country and internationally. Yet another version of Gilligan was the high-rated "The Real Gilligan's Island" for TBS in 2007 for which Lloyd was co-creator and executive producer. A feature film version of "Gilligan's Island" is still in the works at Warner Brothers with Lloyd as executive producer. Interspersed with all of his Brady and Gilligan activities, he served as executive producer and wrote episodes of "The A Team," "Love Boat," "Baywatch" and other series. In the feature world, Lloyd has produced The Brady Bunch Movie and A Very Brady Sequel. Most recently, Lloyd adapted the play Viagara Falls as a screenplay which will go in front of the cameras in 2017. Lloyd has had 34 produced acclaimed plays which have played across the country and around the world, been published and won numerous awards. With his wife, Barbara, Lloyd co-founded The Storybook Theatre of Los Angeles thirty years ago, and has written, composed, and/or directed 18 of their original productions. He and his wife have been honored by the U.S. Senate, the U.S. House of Representatives and the City of Los Angeles for their contributions to the youth of Los Angeles. Los Angeles Magazine named Storybook Theatre the best children's theatre in the city.

For more information, visit www.thebabiesmusical.com.