Customer Reviews

Baby (1983 Original Broadway Cast)

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

In the mid-eighties the economics of Broadway really began to take its toll on smaller intimate musicals. "Baby" was a casualty of this sad state, closing with fewer than 250 performances. The best thing about "Baby" is the music by Richard Maltby and David Shire (who also wrote the musical version of "Big" in the 90's). The CD features Liz Callaway singing "The Story Goes On," which she later records again on her other CDs. Liz Callaway alone is enough reason to buy "Baby". But there are also the wonderful performances by the rest of the cast. Particularly exciting is the song featuring three pregnant women, "I Want It All."

This was out of print for a while and seems to be hard to come by every once in a while. Snap this one up while you can.

Okay, so I'll be honest: BABY, when staged, is a bizarre show. It waltzes breezily in and out of the lives of three multi-generational couples as they stumble down the road to parenthood. Oddly, the CD feels more lucid than actually watching the play, primarily because of the excision of various odd bits of dialogue and very odd scene changes.

The music here ranges from soaring torch-songs (Story Goes On) to rock ballads (I Chose Right) to touching duets (With You) to well-written comedy (Ladies Singing Their Song) to down-right badly written numbers such as Fatherhood Blues (which, despite the title, has not one ounce of bluesy feel, which may have well been the point, but was not carried across, and instead plays like one long song from a bad episode of Barney).

The cast is good, but not great; then again, this is a show from one of the transitional seasons on Broadway (when shows started moving away from crooners toward smaller voices) and it shows. Breakouts include Liz Callaway, who has gone on to garner a bit of fame on her own, and Todd Graff, both of whom were nominated for a Tony for this show (though listening to the CD, you won't understand why). Other members of the cast are okay, despite the total lack of vocal emotion of one cast member in particular.

This is a good CD to have simply because of the odd subject matter and presentation (the show starts out with a "Look Who's Talking"-esque sperm-meets-egg sequence). Those who are looking for under-appreciated music would also enjoy this CD as almost all of the above songs deserve a better (or SOME) reputation in musical theatre circles. But one might look for Maltby & Shire compilation discs instead as some of the performances here are mousy, despite the fun, if rather dated and schmaltzy, orchestrations by Broadway guru Jonathan Tunick.

Overall, I'd recommend this CD to die-hard musical buffs, but not to those who still think My Fair Lady starred Audrey Hepburn.

BABY is a wonderful musical with a strong score, a good book, and some of Broadway's best performers, including Liz Callaway. The songs range for great duets like "Two People in Love" and "What Could Be Better?" to soaring ballads like "The Story Goes On." This has just been released commercially in the US on JAY Records. Buy it!

BABY is definately a seventies musical about three couples in various stages of having a baby: Couple 1: The college girl and musician with an OOPS! pregnancy, COUPLE 2: The ones trying desperately to get pregnant but they are having trouble getting her pregnant, and COUPLE 3: The retired couple with another OOPS!

With a few catchy songs and a small band for back up (kind of like LITTLE SHOP OF HORRORS in that way), it's high on the CUTE factor. Songs you might recognioze from this show are I CHOSE RIGHT, PATTERNS, THE STORY GOES ON, not to mention a few cute ones like FATHERHOOD BLUES, I WANT IT ALL, and my personal favorite, WHAT COULD BE BETTER, a hysterical duet between Couple 1 trying to picture how their child is going to look.

If you are a musical theater fan, songs in this show are definately worth learning and dedicating to your loved one (esp. I CHOSE RIGHT). If you ONLY tend to like the hard core stuff like LES MISERABLES and PHONTOM OF THE OPERA (you know, the ones with huge orchestras and casts), this may not be for you. This is more for the LITTLE SHOP OF HORRORS and PIPPIN fans.

My favorites, to give you an example of my taste, are: LES MISERABLES (like everyone else), SWEENEY TODD, and CHILDREN OF EDEN (the new show just begining to surface in the states by Stephen Schwartz, creator of PIPPIN and GODSPELL).

A great show makes a great CD. I will never understand why this show didn't become a hit! I saw this show at a local amateur theater and have loved it ever since. Maltby and Shire are the best composer and lyricists to never have a successful B'way show. This score is great- Fatherhood Blues, I Want It All, The Story Goes On, The Ladies Singing Their Song- These are unforgetable and deserved to be heard. Get this gem!

I wasn't familiar with this musical, until I saw a local production of the show few years ago. It quickly became one of my favorite musicals. The songs were very catchy and most of the songs have perceptive and touching lyrics that deal primarily with relationships.

The story is about three couples who have to deal with the prospect of having a baby. One is a college couple (Lizzie and Danny) who just move in together. The other one is a middle-aged couple (Alan and Arlene) who were looking forward to a life without the kids after sending their youngest kid to college. And the last one is a couple (Nick and Pam) having a hard time conceiving. The opening song "We Start Today" brilliantly set upped the premise of the show. All the situations of the three couples were introduced in that song.

"What Could Be Better" is cute and fun song that has an upbeat melody and playful lyrics. Liz and Danny enthusiastically imagine how that "tiny mix up" would be their baby or as they call it a "genetic duet" and a "two part invention". I was surprised that the three "Romance" numbers by Pam and Nick weren't quite as enjoyable in the recording compared to hearing the songs sung in the show.

Another witty song is "I Want It All" where all the three women sang their hearts out about how they want everything. Pam was hysterical with her obsession with motherhood as well as Arlene, the veteran among the three, anticipating the hard work of taking care of a baby. "I Chose Right" is one of the most romantic heartfelt love songs I've heard. Danny sang this to Lizzie before leaving for his band tour. It was a simple song yet it speaks volume about how Danny feels for Lizzie.

Act 1 ended by the powerful "The Story Goes On". This song happened after Lizzie felt her child's first kick. The maternal feelings that eluded her in the first few weeks of her pregnancy finally sink into her consciousness.

"The Ladies Singing Their Song" opened the second act. This is about Liz's observation of how people even those she doesn't know seem to be obsessed with her belly. Other highlights include "Two People in Love" which was sung by Danny and Lizzie in their first meeting after Danny left for the band tour. This is probably the fluffiest song in the album. The lyrics didn't do justice to the very upbeat and catchy music. But this is such a fun song you won't mind the trite lyrics.

"With You" is the duet of Nick and Pam reassuring themselves that a baby doesn't define their relationship. The important thing is that they love each other, with or without a baby in their future. "Easier to Love", Alan's solo, is about how a parent-child love is so much easier because your kid always sees you in your best light. But a love shared between two lovers is much tougher because you see each other eye to eye. You see the person, warts and all. "And What If We Had Loved Like That" is sung by Arlene and Alan reminiscing how their relationship worked out the way they planned yet something still went wrong with their relationship. Then all three couples were joined together for a triumphant finale with their newfound and much healthier perspective with their lives, their relationships, and of course about BABIES.

Grade: A

The music may be a little dated...it sounds like someone just got a Casio keyboard and decided all these sounds would be fun...but the lyrics are great. "The Story Goes On" and "With You" are two of the best songs in the show. "Patterns" and "Easier to Love" are great, too. My whole problem with the cd is the man they brought in to play Nick, the middle couple who is trying to have a baby, with horrible results. You could drive a truck through his vibratto. Liz Callaway was nominated for a Tony Award for this and with reason. She sings wonderfully. I just wish that Baby came at a better time in the musical theatre history. Maybe the music would've survived the dating it receives.

Baby came out in the middle of a strike on Broadway and as a consequence its run was short but as a musical, Baby is fairly strong. I'm not a great lover of Broadway musicals but in the late eighties, my wife Esther and I tried out for a local production of Baby. Unfortunately for me, I came down with laryngitis two days before auditions --even though I'd played Pseudolus for the director the year before, with eight feature songs in the show and seven in the first act, he didn't cast me for the older couple's husband. Instead, I ended up with sixteen lines of dialogue and half a chorus of solo, plus beefing out the chorus on other songs. Esther, however, was cast, and she was glorious. I especially liked the song "Patterns" where she reflects on being forty-five and pregnant again. It was a beautiful song and hearing my lovely wife sing it brought me almost to tears. A lot in Baby is hackneyed, but the best parts of it are glorious.

Excellent, Fabulous, Superb!!!
Great songs, witty and wise, from a wonderful play, sung by a phenomenal group of singers. Liz Callaway is particularly brilliant!

Saw the broadway cast a couple days before opening and thought it was a sweet, warm hearted musical that would have played better off-broadway in a smaller venue. Have seen it several times since on smaller stages and was right. Much better as an intimate show than on a large broadway stage. Still, has a delightfully charming score, hits the nail on the head about fears of childbirth. Liz Callaway is wonderful. She should have become bigger on the NY stage. Very enjoyable CD.