Baby Off-Broadway (Off-Off?)- Page 2

[ASOOS04]

Posted: 11/11/21 at 10:14am

I’m curious what you mean when you say you “loathe” the book. This is clearly a brand new revision. I’ve seen Baby before and this book has been completely overhauled. So you hated the old book or the new book cause I thought what they have done is pretty excellent. And important…without too many spoilers it has made these characters much more relevant to the 21st century.

[ASOOS04]

Posted: 11/15/21 at 5:02pm

this review puts it perfectly for me…I’m seeing it again next Monday and can’t wait!
 
from Mark Shenton, critic from London.

BABY IS RE-BIRTHED OFF BROADWAY While Broadway is embracing Off-Broadway shows on an unprecedented scale right now, my favourite show of my trip so far has been a trip to an off-Broadway loft space on West 36th Street (near the new Hudson Yards development) that seats just 60 people to see a rare revival of Maltby and Shire’s 1983 Broadway show BABY. that opened officially last night Following the travails of three couples trying to have a baby, Ethan Paulini’s production for Out of the Box Theatricals (where he is associate artistic director) gives it a bold make-over, with authorial approval (Maltby was there the night I was there) that includes one couple now being lesbian and another (pictured below in rehearsal) played by a legally blind woman (Elizabeth Flemming) and a partly deaf man (Johnny Link). This casting is as thrilling and revolutionary as we saw on Broadway a couple of seasons ago with the reinvention of Oklahoma! at Circle in the Square, whose casting included Ali Stroker as a a wheelchair-bound Ado Annie. Her real-life disability was simply integrated into the action, effortlessly and without comment; ditto here, the actors’ challenges are just part of who they are, uncommented on, as they shouldn’t be since they are no impediment to their charming and completely effortless performances. And yet here I am drawing attention to them; only because it proves how utterly UNREMARKABLE it should be. So a show all about the utterly normal human impulse to have babies — and the difficulties that sometimes come in its way — embraces yet more of those experiences in this tenderly beautiful production.

Updated On: 11/15/21 at 05:02 PM

[barcelona20]

Posted: 11/17/21 at 1:54pm

Anyone know how partial the partial seats are?

[JSquared2]

Posted: 11/17/21 at 2:07pm

barcelona20 said: "Anyone know how partial the partial seats are?"

Your chair only has 3 legs??  (Sorry, couldn't resist).

[mlledir]

Posted: 11/17/21 at 8:20pm

Saw the production today, and the performances are great, with Julia Murney being my absolute favorite - she gives her chaacter such nuance and depth, it was thrilling to be so close up.

I have a pretty random question: years ago I saw a concert of Baby in Newark, pretty sure it starred Jesse Tyler Ferguson, Nikki M James, and Norm Lewis, but for the life of me I can't remember who else was in it and it's driving me crazy!  Can anyone help my brain?? Thank you!

[ASOOS04]

Posted: 11/17/21 at 11:04pm

Sounds similar to the cast at Papermill with LaChanze, Norm Lewis, Carolee Carmello…

[mlledir]

Posted: 11/17/21 at 11:25pm

If this is the same cast, and I think it is, we're only one name away!!!

Thank you!

[muscle23ftl]

Posted: 11/18/21 at 12:16am

ASOOS04 said: "I’m curious what you mean when you say you “loathe” the book. This is clearly a brand new revision. I’ve seen Baby before and this book has been completely overhauled. So you hated the old book or the new book cause I thought what they have done is pretty excellent. And important…without too many spoilers it has made these characters much more relevant to the 21st century."

 

I don't like to do a lot of research on shows usually, because first off, there are so many that it would be a full time job and second, I like to be surprised. I don't want to have a preconceived notion of the show. I just don't care for babies or people who want babies to fulfill their lives. You should look for happiness within yourself. A baby, a dog, a snake or a mouse won't make you happy if you're not a happy person or a happy marriage or couple. I also find that when people end up having babies, they keep bitching and moaning about how hard it is...much easier not to have them and just be like me and go to the theater and hang out with your friends and enjoy life!

With that being said, Julia is so freaking amazing!!! She is first rate in every possible way. The entire cast is wonderful and the musicians too.

 

[BroadwayLuv2]

Posted: 11/19/21 at 12:17am

Are seats general admission for this show?  When I went to look at tickets it appears you can’t select seats.  

[ASOOS04]

Posted: 11/19/21 at 12:51am

Yes general seats are GA. The premium tickets are reserved seats. 

[teatime2]

Posted: 11/21/21 at 10:59am

I was incredibly disappointed by this production. I was SO looking forward to it after hearing amazing things. This production was amateurish at best. The acting felt hoakey... perhaps in a larger house, it would've read better than in a tiny room. The only couple I actively enjoyed sometimes was the middle couple. They read the "most real" to me. I'm ALL for updating text, but please try to make it not feel like an update. Some of the changes were just cringe-worthy, and I say that as a queer, disabled, non-binary person. If you are looking for a better show to see, go see Kimberly Akimbo. 

EDITED to add the fact that I'm also Disabled

Updated On: 11/21/21 at 10:59 AM

[ASOOS04]

Posted: 11/21/21 at 12:08pm

Wow! I could not disagree more! I identify as queer, disabled and female so I saw myself in virtually the entire show. I think identifying two disabled actors who are wearing their lived in experiences on their sleeves as “hokey” is a a little…ummm…I dunno…

[teatime2]

Posted: 11/21/21 at 2:52pm

ASOOS04 said: "Wow! I could not disagree more! I identify as queer, disabled and female so I saw myself in virtually the entire show.I think identifying two disabled actors who are wearing their lived in experiences on their sleeves as “hokey” is a a little…ummm…I dunno…"

Hi! I am also disabled, so I don't appreciate that comment in the slightest. I said acting as a WHOLE was over the top. Never did I once mention anything about the youngest couple. The inclusion of disabilities, specifically their disabilities, was my favorite part of the whole show. Don't say I said things that I never said. 

Updated On: 11/21/21 at 02:52 PM

[ThaDudeAbides]

Posted: 11/21/21 at 5:15pm

I saw the show on 11/12, and when the director gave the curtain speech with his back to the majority of the audience, I knew we were in for an interesting evening.

The production is NOT "site-specific". The walls and floor have been painted loony-bin white, and the space is like any other uncomfortable off-off-Broadway space you've ever seen your friend's Equity showcase in.

The whole thing is staged so that no one has a good seat. "I Chose Right" was performed behind the pole in the middle of the set, so my side of the audience couldn't see anything, and the other side of the audience saw Danny's back, possibly blocking the view of Lizzie. "I Want It All" is performed with the couch of the doctor's office facing a wall, where no one is sitting. Simply turning the couch around would have allowed for a full view for the whole audience. Inexplicable.

Julia is, in fact, fantastic. as is most of the rest of the cast. Major kudos to the sound designer and the band. Despite the space being as small as it is, the music was perfectly balanced with the voices, and there was never any kind of sound issue. 

But I cannot recommend the show, outside of the score being fantastic and some of the performances.

[VintageSnarker]

Posted: 11/21/21 at 7:27pm

ThaDudeAbides said: "The whole thing is staged so that no one has a good seat. "I Chose Right" was performed behind the pole in the middle of the set, so my side of the audience couldn't see anything, and the other side of the audience saw Danny's back, possibly blocking the view of Lizzie. "I Want It All" is performed with the couch of the doctor's office facing a wall, where no one is sitting. Simply turning the couch around would have allowed for a full view for the whole audience. Inexplicable."

That's so strange. I've been in that theater a few times and I can't remember ever having issues with sightlines.

 

[ThaDudeAbides]

Posted: 11/21/21 at 10:15pm

VintageSnarker said: That's so strange. I've been in that theater a few times and I can't remember ever having issues with sightlines.

"

Have you ever seen anything from this director?

[VintageSnarker]

Posted: 11/21/21 at 11:49pm

I don't think so... and you're making me question if I want to see this. 

[ASOOS04]

Posted: 11/22/21 at 12:34am

The couch is in the middle of the room and faces the other end of the room during that scene and the actors move all throughout the space facing all directions at different points while they sing the number. In the height of the number they are facing into the room in full view of the entire audience. The direction is one of the best parts of this production. All the reviews have praised the direction explicitly. 

Updated On: 11/22/21 at 12:34 AM

[ThaDudeAbides]

Posted: 11/22/21 at 12:46am

From Edge Media Network: "...Paulini is unable to fine-tune the production's style to fit the intimate space or subject matter. Awkwardly staged in a white room with the band on one side and audience members facing one another galley-style, actors are too often asked to gaze forlornly into the distance, which might work for Mother Abbess in an amphitheater production of "The Sound of Music" but looks here looks like bird-watching. A three-person ensemble (Jorge Donoso, Marisa Kirby, and Jewell Noel), tasked with moving the sole piece of furniture — a sectional couch — in various configurations, ramps up the wide-eyed earnestness and Paulini's unnecessarily flashy choreographed gesticulations."

NY Stage Review: "Director-choreographer Ethan Paulini keeps the action fluid, with the cast spinning through the small space and transforming the minimal-but-functional scenic design by Rien Schlecht." 

I guess that second one is kind.

I read three other reviews, and none of them mentioned the direction "explicitly". Please show me your sources.

[muscle23ftl]

Posted: 11/22/21 at 12:50am

barcelona20 said: "Anyone know how partial the partial seats are?"

I don't think they're really partial, you miss some parts when actors are looking the other way, but you can still get to see everything. It's a tiny theater, I wish I had skipped this show, it wasn't my cup of tea, even the perfection that Julia Murney is, couldn't save this.

[ThaDudeAbides]

Posted: 11/22/21 at 12:54am

Maltby was sitting directly in front of me, the night that I saw the show, so it's possible that the blocking was fixed in the subsequent three days. All I know is I was sitting center left as you enter the space, and the sightlines were atrocious from where I sat.

[BJR]

Posted: 11/22/21 at 8:23am

We get it, sightlines.

Can someone speak to the revisions? I've heard it was pretty extensively revised and I'm curious about the changes.

[broadwayindie]

Posted: 11/22/21 at 10:17am

I know people have complained about the sight lines. Where is the best place to sit? Is Premium seating worth it, or do sight lines from these seats still suck?

[ThaDudeAbides]

Posted: 11/22/21 at 11:54am

Do not pay extra for the premium seats. The is no difference. I was sitting directly behind the premium seats.