'Baby' still delivers after 2 decades

[marykeb2]

'Baby' still delivers after 2 decades#0

Posted: 2/12/06 at 10:47pm

https://www.broadwayworld.com/l.cfm?id=102040
I liked this show too. I always find myself agreeing with Chris Jones' reviews.

[musicaltheater1]

re: 'Baby' still delivers after 2 decades#1

Posted: 2/12/06 at 11:00pm

I'd like to see this revival someday. Lea Salonga sang "The Story Goes On" from "Baby" in her Carnegie debut. It was an amazing rendition. I believe she also played the lead in a local production in Manila. The cd is now available in the US:



Baby - Lea Salonga

"I love acting. It is so much more real than life." Oscar Wilde
"After silence, that which comes nearest to expressing the inexpressible is music." Aldous Huxley

Updated On: 2/12/06 at 11:00 PM

[AuditioningWaitress]

re: 'Baby' still delivers after 2 decades#2

Posted: 2/12/06 at 11:18pm

BABY is amazing! The Paper Mill Playhouse cast was amazing! Michael Rupert has been putting some tracks from it on his MySpace page...Now you can hear him along with Chad Kimball and Norm Lewis sing "Fatherhood Blues"...I hope is comes back to Broadway again soon too!

EDIT: Now with "The Plaza Song" with Carolee Carmello
Link to "The Plaza Song" Updated On: 2/17/06 at 11:18 PM

[andyf]

re: 'Baby' still delivers after 2 decades#3

Posted: 2/13/06 at 12:28am

The production at Papermill really was amazing; I'm sad I only got to see it twice.

The cast was phenomenal and the changes they made to the book turned the show from one I hated into one I really loved; I thought the changes really helped round out the show. In addition to the book changes, I really liked the new song a lot; it was nice to see that moment from all the women.

Andrew, tonight isn't about you! It isn't even about me!!! - [FD]

[Jon]

re: 'Baby' still delivers after 2 decades#4

Posted: 2/13/06 at 4:40am

Unfortuntely, the folks at Theatrre at the Center in Munster were unable to get their hands on the rewritten version and the new song.

I'm a good friend of the director and a couple of the cast members. They did the best they could with a very flawed piece of material. Jessie Meuller, while quite charming as the youngest mother-to-be, had absolutely no "power belt" on "The Story Goes On".

[AuditioningWaitress]

re: 'Baby' still delivers after 2 decades#5

Posted: 2/13/06 at 4:46pm

Too bad they didn't get to use the new book or the new song..."End Of Summer" was such a beautiful song...Both LaChanze and Carolee were amazing in it.

[BobbyBubby]

re: 'Baby' still delivers after 2 decades#6

Posted: 2/13/06 at 4:50pm

I think this show has a good score, but an awful book that they never seem to be able to fix. The problem for me is, Lizzie and Danny are two of the most self-absorbed characters in musical theatre history, and it is hard to like them or accept the fact that they are the ones who get a baby in the end. The Papermill cast was superb though, except for the Danny and Lizzie, who had no chemistry and were vocally all over the place.

[AuditioningWaitress]

re: 'Baby' still delivers after 2 decades#7

Posted: 2/13/06 at 4:52pm

I agree Bobby...Although I did love Chad Kimball as Danny.

[BobbyBubby]

re: 'Baby' still delivers after 2 decades#8

Posted: 2/13/06 at 4:52pm

He was alright, though he had no chemistry with the awful Lizzie.

[AuditioningWaitress]

re: 'Baby' still delivers after 2 decades#9

Posted: 2/13/06 at 4:56pm

I agree that there was no chemistry, I wasn't impressed with the Lizzie at all, it would have been nice to see what Nikki James would have done with the part...But I still loved Chad in "Fatherhood Blues and I loved his "I Chose Right".

[BobbyBubby]

re: 'Baby' still delivers after 2 decades#10

Posted: 2/13/06 at 5:01pm

For me, Chad is a little too, er, flamboyant to be a believable heterosexual.

[AuditioningWaitress]

re: 'Baby' still delivers after 2 decades#11

Posted: 2/13/06 at 5:07pm

He didn't for me, but I was raised by a gay father, so what do I know!!!

[BobbyBubby]

re: 'Baby' still delivers after 2 decades#12

Posted: 2/13/06 at 5:08pm

Raised by a gay father? I'll pretend to act surprised.

If I think someone is flaming, that's saying a lot!

[AuditioningWaitress]

re: 'Baby' still delivers after 2 decades#13

Posted: 2/13/06 at 5:13pm

Yeah, I know...I knew so much more about showtunes then all the other first graders!!! : )

[Runner1B]

re: 'Baby' still delivers after 2 decades#14

Posted: 2/14/06 at 10:47pm

I'd like to see it revived, also. I saw the original about 15 times.

[InfiniteTheaterFrenzy]

re: 'Baby' still delivers after 2 decades#15

Posted: 2/14/06 at 10:59pm

I love this show so much that it hurts.

[title of show] on Broadway. it's time. believe.

[IMissNYC]

re: 'Baby' still delivers after 2 decades#16

Posted: 2/14/06 at 11:02pm

Ooh! I am dying to see this show. I love the CD! I have never come across a production.

[Runner1B]

re: 'Baby' still delivers after 2 decades#17

Posted: 2/14/06 at 11:07pm

Perhaps Maltby, Shire and James B. Freydberg can start the wheels turning for a Broadway revival?

[InfiniteTheaterFrenzy]

re: 'Baby' still delivers after 2 decades#18

Posted: 2/14/06 at 11:15pm

Glad to see some Maltby love on the boards... all the Ring of Fire hating was making me sad for him

[title of show] on Broadway. it's time. believe.

[BobbyBubby]

re: 'Baby' still delivers after 2 decades#19

Posted: 2/14/06 at 11:31pm

I've seen 3 productions, including the great Papermill mounting, and I'm afraid the flaws in the book are too large to be fixed. Remember that a great cast recording does not always mean a great overall show.

[Runner1B]

re: 'Baby' still delivers after 2 decades#20

Posted: 2/14/06 at 11:45pm

I'm surprised that Liz Callaway didn't become a bigger Broadway star.

[Mister Roberts]

re: 'Baby' still delivers after 2 decades#21

Posted: 2/17/06 at 1:06pm

I've seen the show 3 times with Lea Salonga and David Shannon in the lead roles when it was staged here in the Philippines a couple of years ago. And it's one of my favorite shows.

[Josh Freilich]

re: 'Baby' still delivers after 2 decades#22

Posted: 2/17/06 at 2:40pm

Big Baby fan in the wings!! I saw it at Paper Mill, and I loved it. My parents remember seeing it originally in 1984, and seeing it at Paper Mill brought back everything for them. My mom remembers how scared she was that she wasn't going to have a baby. Then 3 years later, GUESS WHAT HAPPENED, BABY!! They thought their favorite actor was Norm Lewis. Mine were Norm and Michael Rupert!! Hope to play for it in the future.

"How could she just suddenly, completely disappear into thin water?" - The Little Mermaid

[AuditioningWaitress]

re: 'Baby' still delivers after 2 decades#23

Posted: 2/17/06 at 5:43pm

For anyone who didn't hear it before, "The Plaza Song" with Carolee Carmello and Michael Rupert from Paper Mill's BABY is now back up on Michael's MySpace page.

http://www.myspace.com/michaelrupert