Yesterday was Valentine’s Day. You might be tempted to think that this celebrated day for lovers is bound to be one of the busiest days for procreation. Alas, it ranks 136th according to a 2019 study. But that decision as to when to try to have a baby is a profound one that transcends holidays. It’s a relationship-defining decision for every couple. Which made it perfect fodder for a musical as composer David Shire, lyricist Richard Maltby, Jr., and book writer Sybille Pearson realized.

Their musical, Baby, opened on Broadway in 1983 and received 7 Tony Award nominations including two for Maltby who also directed the production. In 2021 Out of the Box Theatrics produced a revival of Baby. Before it went into production, Maltby and Shire revised their musical to have a more contemporary perspective on parenthood.

To celebrate the musical’s 40th Anniversary, Yellow Sound Label has recorded that production. The new recording features revised lyrics and songs that had never been previously released.

Last week I spoke with Maltby about revisiting his baby, the tradition of re-working plays and musicals and how his perspective on the show may have changed over the four decades since it was first performed. What follows are excerpts from our conversation that have been edited for length and clarity. To see the full interview, please go to our YouTube channel.

How did it feel going back and becoming reacquainted with Baby?

When the recording was made and I listened to it for the first time it was like listening to the show for the first time. I kept thinking the lyrics are really good. If you work on a show you go past all the things that maybe are any good and you just concentrate on things that need to be fixed. You don’t pay attention to what an audience is actually following, which is, God willing, the the lyrics.

You don’t come on the show with the freshness that an audience brings to it. What’s remarkable and wonderful and scary about an audience is that they take what you give them. They’re interested in what you tell them to be interested in. If the lyrics are attractive or special they’re taking that in and on their way to understanding and enjoying the story. You forget that sometimes.

Given the intimate nature of the story I’m assuming the audience told you quite a lot when it was first performed.

Baby is an unusual show in that it’s about this incredibly intimate issue about a married couple. It goes to the primal thing that ties one person to another and forces you to go and confront what it is that makes that relationship. Or why you chose that person, what you really feel, what you’re afraid of and you dare not ever speak about it. But maybe forces you to speak about it.

I’ve always felt that we asked the cast of Baby to be more emotionally naked on the stage than any other show. Musicals tend to be a kind of fantasy of one sort or another. Some are real fantasies, but they’re all somewhat romanticized. This show forces you to actually go into the deepest part of yourself. I’m always pleased to hear how much being in a production of Baby has changed people because you suddenly realize you can go on stage and actually use that part of yourself which you are usually never asked to.

Was it deeply emotional for you to have to come up with what would be appropriate for these characters? I would assume you have to put yourself in their shoes.

There were several moments, quite a number actually, where we as writers hit some kind of a logjam. The answer always was that we were writing in a musical comedy way. We were not going into the service of the song. Why is this wrong? What do we know about the characters? We started by mentioning their age and suddenly realized we were that age. We were always thinking of this couple as the older couple. I was thinking of them basically as my parents. But no, they were a little over 40. You don’t feel old. You feel incredibly young. You feel energized. You don’t feel in any way defeated or downtrodden or that age has gotten to you in some way. We went into what we actually thought about our own marriages and our own lives and the issues and the problems that we had. Suddenly the song could get written.

Both of us being people who would rather be comfortable in a relationship than actually address something that might be a real issue, you know, that hurt our marriages. But it was certainly something we knew profoundly. The answer to the question is yes, we did absolutely go into ourselves all the time. 

Was there a point at which something gets too close to home that it becomes uncomfortable either for a creator or an artist or is that just something you have to face if you’re going to create?

In any relationship, in any marriage, I would say there is some mutually decided upon area you don’t go to. There’s something you just leave alone. Something you’re afraid of. Something that you think is going to be so dangerous. The advent of a child makes you consider that you actually have to go in there and get there. That was true for all of the characters.

We specifically went out of our way to pick three couples that were in good relationships. We wanted to have people who belong together. If we had a relationship that was not a good relationship, the baby comes along and destroys that. No big surprise. Fact is that it is just as daunting, even more so, for a couple that thinks they are fine together and that everything is great. 

This new recording is actually not the first revision you’ve made to the show. Baby was revised for Paper Mill Playhouse in 2004. How have your own personal life experiences changed from when you first wrote it to when you revised it 19 years ago to when it was most recently revised? 

We were writing out of ourselves and we were three authors were white folks. And there wasn’t a Black voice on the stage there. One of the things about writing about who you are using yourself is that you therefore use yourself.

The Paper Mill production was racially mixed. That transformed the show in a wonderful way. What was interesting is you didn’t have to rewrite anything. Gay marriage changed the universe. It seemed that we needed to bring that into it.

Back when it opened my gay friends [had] like two reactions. One was the gay man who said, “I don’t care about children. I don’t care. This doesn’t touch me at all.” The other group was sad about being gay that they wouldn’t have children and so they wouldn’t have families like that. They missed that. I thought, Oh my God, we’re going to have to rewrite the whole score for that. But it turns out that the dynamics of the stories remain the same regardless of the details of the plot.

If you look at the revival of The Music Man that just closed some changes were made to the book. For Funny Girl Harvey Fierstein made some updates to the book. Aaron Sorkin is doing a new book for Camelot. What is your view on the importance of updating works of art to fit contemporary times? If the creators are not around to do that is it important for others to come in and adapt them for their times? 

Well that is all it has ever been. I’m sure it was true of the Greek theater. After you had a show that was a big hit in Athens, you decided to play in Sparta. Somebody in Sparta decided to change the second act. 

They didn’t have lawyers then who could prohibit that from happening.

The restoration comedy plays in the Cromwell period would be done with half the plot removed. It has always been been the case. Shakespeare was cut left and right in different versions. I did a production of A Long Day’s Journey Into Night in which we cut 45 minutes out of the play. I swear to God you didn’t notice they were gone.

But I also think the original is like Silly Putty – you can do whatever you want and you’ll let go and it’ll slowly go back to its original shape. Doesn’t matter how you change the ending of My Fair Lady, My Fair Lady will exist in its full version with that ending. Kiss Me, Kate! will exist with that ending. Every company will have to deal with whether they want that ending or another kind of ending. I don’t know what Aaron Sorkin is going to do with Camelot because that book really did need to be fixed. That didn’t need to be updated. It just needed to be made to work. If there’s anybody who could do that it’s Aaron Sorkin.

Listen, there are a lot of classic musicals that have either racial issues, racism of some sort or sexism or one sort. Sexism, certainly, because the premise of musicals was sexist. I mean, girls were babes. Girls were chorus girls and guys had all the funny elements. A certain amount of updating is to take care of stuff like that. You can’t do Thoroughly Modern Millie with the two Chinese comedy people. You can’t do the Chinese people in Anything Goes. Shows like Showboat you have to look at the original script and change a bunch of things. I think it’s okay so long as it is really thought through by a writer. If you just take something out because you don’t like it, it tends to fall apart, right? Not every character in a musical has to be likable.

Then there’s the whole idea that a lived-in experience is required for an actor to be able to play a role. I think diminishes the power of what acting is, doesn’t it?

I totally agree with you. I don’t really want to get into the the the idea of rehearsals being a safe place for actors. When did that ever start? When has a rehearsal ever been a safe place for an actor or anybody else? The whole point of rehearsal is that it’s not a safe place. It’s a place where you take terrible risks and humiliate yourself in pursuit of something.

Look at look at the rehearsal process that the Joe Gideon puts his dancers through when he’s trying to figure out a musical number in All That Jazz. That’s the process.

That is the process.

Since I brought up a reference to a Bob Fosse movie. You obviously did quite well [as director] with Fosse. His musical Dancin’ is coming back to Broadway this season. Clearly Bob Fosse’s legacy is going to continue for a long time. Have you thought about where your own legacy is going to be in 40, 50 years?

It crosses my mind every now and then. It’s funny, I had an exchange with Sondheim the year before he died when I was sort of complaining about that, saying, “Gee, I don’t know. I look at my work and how good is it?” He wrote me a bunch of very lovely notes saying, “It’s not your job. It’s your job to be as as truthful as you can be.” Then he proceeded to quote a line from an obscure musical that David and I wrote when we first came to New York – which is how we met Steve. He said, “Not a day goes by that I don’t remember that line of the lyric.” It was very moving because, of course, Steve thinks that with the legacy he’s got. He was thinking the same way. What does it add up to? How good am I?

One of the nice and horrifying things about musicals is that you’re a beginner on every show and no matter what you think, you learn from the last one. If you try to apply that to the next one, it won’t work. You have to kind of reinvent the wheel on every show if you’re doing it right. That means it’s terrifying and that means you’re scared and that means you feel inadequate and hopeless. And that’s fine. That’s just exactly what you should be. 

To watch the full interview with Richard Maltby, Jr. please go here.

Main Photo: Richard Maltby, Jr. at the opening night of Baby (Photo courtesy Yellow Sound Label)

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This weekend I have a great mix of classical music, jazz, plays and a new musical revue celebrating composer Jerry Herman (Hello, Dolly!). Once you catch up on my reminders you can add opera and musicals to the list!

So let’s get right to it. Here are the Best Bets at Home: January 8th – January 10th:

CLASSICAL MUSIC: Close Quarters #5 – Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra – Available Now

LACO continues their series of unique films that include performances of chamber music works. In Close Quarters #5, the music of Juan Pablo Contreras, Jimmy López and Jessie Montgomery is performed. Surrounding the performances is the story of a young woman on New Year’s Eve who finds herself alone after leaving a party and unsure of how she’s going to get home.

Contreras, whose work Pueblos Mágicos is the last piece performed in the film, curated the program. López’s Ccantu for solo piano opens the film. Montgomery’s Voodoo Dolls is between the two. All three pieces are terrific. I took particular joy in Pueblos Mágicos.

James Darrah directed the 42-minute film. The script was written by Christopher Oscar Peña and beautifully captures that emotional roller coaster that one experiences when left alone and is having to find acceptance and strength to move beyond. Note that there is strong language in the film.

AUDIO PLAY: The Nomad Project – Coeurage Ensemble – Available Now

Los Angeles-based Coeurage Ensemble has launched a very interesting series called The Nomad Project. The project consists of 10 stories based in Los Angeles and runs approximately 10-12 minutes.

Each of the stories is written to reflect a specific area of the city. By specific I mean down to GPS coordinates. This allows listeners to either listen from the comfort of their home or travel to those coordinates to hear the stories played out. Amongst the locations are Hollywood Boulevard & Western Avenue; the Walt Disney Concert Hall; outside the Faultline Bar; Sun Valley and more.

The playwrights who have created audio plays for The Nomad Project are Boni B. Alvarez, Kate Bailey, Mark Brown, Meghan Brown, June Carryl, Aaron Fullerton, Tom Jacobson, Ann Kimbrough, Roger Q. Mason, Shahrook Oomer and Yael Zinkow.

There’s no cost to listen to these audio plays. Donations, of course, are always welcomed.

MUSICAL: Closer Than Ever – MNM Theatre Company – Now – January 10th

When Closer Than Ever opened in 1989 at the Cherry Lane Theatre, it charmed critics and went on to be named the 1990 Outer Critics Circle Award Winner for Best New Off-Broadway Musical. The completely sung-through show features songs by Richard Maltby, Jr., and David Shire (Baby, Starting Here Starting Now).

Closer Than Ever examines adult life vis-a-vis songs about marriage, divorce and second marriages, mid-life crisis, growing old and more. Maltby and Shire based the songs on the lives of their friends.

Florida’s MNM Theatre Company has produced a streaming version of this musical that will be available through Sunday.  Aaron Bower, Johnbarry Green, Shelley Keelor and Elijah Word star. Jonathan Van Dyke directed.

Tickets are $20 and allow for 48 hours of streaming.

PLAY: Making Friends – IAMA Theatre Company – Now – January 18th

Seems like everyone is angry these days. Count amongst them Tom DeTrinis, who describes himself as a rage-aholic. In his one-man show, DeTrinis expunges some of that rage in very humorous was as he rants about transgressions from his childhood, his dislike of Rodgers & Hammerstein and particularly his disdain for New York City (rather ironic since he’s from NYC).

He portrays many of those who have offended him during this 67-minute show directed by Drew Droege. Note that this show contains adult material and language. Tickets start at $15 based on your ability to pay.

JAZZ: Chris Botti – SFJAZZ – January 8th – 8:00 PM EST/5:00 PM PST

This week’s Fridays at Five concert from SFJAZZ dates back almost exactly one year. On January 10th, 2020, trumpeter Chris Botti performed at the venue. That concert will be streamed only once at the time listed above.

Botti is a Grammy Award winner and best-selling artist who, in addition to his own albums, has collaborated with Joshua Bell, Tony Bennett, Michael Bublé, Lady Gaga, Yo-Yo Ma, Joni Mitchell, Paul Simon, Sting, Barbra Streisand and more.

To view this concert you must have either a monthly membership ($5) or an annual membership ($60).

CLASSICAL MUSIC: Teatro alla Scala Orchestra – January 9th – 2:00 PM EST/11:00 AM PST

The orchestra from Milan’s fabled La Scala has a streaming concert on Saturday. The program will feature performances of Johannes Brahms’ Symphony No. 3 in F major, Op. 90 and Antonin Dvorak’s Symphony No. 7 in D minor, Op. 70. Leading the orchestra is conductor Lorenzo Viotti.

The concert will be available for viewing on the Teatro alla Scala website, their YouTube channel and their Facebook page.

If you can’t see the concert as it happens, they usually remain available for a few days afterwards.

CLASSICAL MUSIC: Anne Akiko Meyers and Fabio Bidini – The Sorting Room Sessions at The Wallis – January 9th – 11:00 PM EST/8:00 PM PST

Violinist Anne Akiko Meyers and pianist Fabio Bidini team up for this intimate recital of music by French composers. On the program is Charles Gounod’s Ave Maria; Maurice Ravel’s Sonata No.2 in G Major and Jules Massenet’s Meditation from Thaïs.

Meyers has released over 30 albums. Her most recent recording is Estonian Lullaby which features the music of Arvo Pärt and was released earlier this year.

Italian pianist Bidini has released 13 albums and in addition to his performance career, teaches at Los Angeles’ Colburn School

Tickets are $25 and allow for 24 hours of streaming.

JAZZ: Exploring Billie’s Influence – 92nd Street Y – January 10th – 3:00 PM EST/12:00 PM PST

Grammy Award-winner Christian McBride hosts a conversation about the legendary Billie Holiday with Dee Dee Bridgewater, Dianne Reeves and Cassandra Wilson.

All three women have recorded albums as tributes to Lady Day. Let’s be honest, what female jazz singer can ignore the enormous impact Holiday had on all singers?

Will there be any singing? It doesn’t appear so from the website, but given the enormous talent on stage, this will be a riveting conversation with our without performances.

Tickets are $15.

JAZZ: Neal Caine Quartet – Smalls Live – January 10th – 5:00 PM EST/2:00 PM PST and 7:00 PM EST/4:00 PM PST

Jazz bassist Neal Caine is not only one of jazz music’s finest bass players, he’s also one of its most in-demand. Caine has performed and/or recorded with Jon Batiste and Stay Human; Brian Blade; Betty Carter; Harry Connick, Jr. Big Band; Benny Green; Dr. John; Elvin Jones Jazz Machine; Diana Krall, Branford Marsalis; Delfeayo Marsalis Quintet; Ellis Marsalis Trio; Wynton Marsalis;

If you haven’t heard his 2005 album Backstabber’s Ball, you should check it out.

Joining him for these two sets at New York’s Smalls are Donald Edwards on drums; Jerry Weldon on tenor sax and Anthony Wonsey on piano.

If you can afford to make a “reservation” for either performance, those funds go to the venue and the musicians. Otherwise, you can find the performances streaming live on Small’s website.

CLASSICAL MUSIC: Piano Sonata by Philip Glass – CAP UCLA – January 10th – 6:00 PM EST/3:00 PM PST

The world premiere of composer Philip Glass‘ first piano sonata took place in 2019 in Germany. The piece was performed by pianist Maki Namekawa who asked the composer to write the sonata for her.

She returns to the work in this special filmed performance that was recorded live in Austria for CAP UCLA.

The sonata came into being after a conversation Namekawa and her husband, Dennis Russell Davies, had with the composer in the back of a restaurant in 2017.

Zachary Woolfe, in his New York Times review of the sonata’s first American performance by Namekawa in 2019, said, “For all the work’s switches of mood — between major and minor, churning and calm — the stakes feel low, though not unagreeably. Even when it’s headlong, as in the chugga-chugga perpetual motion of the third movement, the work is light, even superficial, a revue of Glassian riffs that’s pleasant and passing. While it’s imposing, at nearly 30 minutes, the sonata feels larky.”

MUSICAL: You I Like, A Musical Celebration Of Jerry Herman – Pasadena Playhouse/PlayhouseLive – January 10th – February 7th

Jerry Herman was the Tony Award-winning composer of such musicals as Hello, Dolly!, Mame, Mack and Mabel and La Cage aux Folles. He passed away in late 2019. This revue of his music was created by Andy Einhorn and had its first performance at New York’s 92nd Street Y early last year. Einhorn has reworked the show and it was filmed by Pasadena Playhouse for their Playhouse Live programming.

Starring in You I Like are Ashley Blanchet (Frozen), Nick Christopher (Hamilton), Olivier Award-winner Lesli Margherita (Matilda The Musical), Andrea Ross (The Sound of Music) and Ryan Vona (Once). Einhorn serves as music director and our guide through the show. (Next week look for my interview with Einhorn!)

Songs from all those musicals listed above are in the show as are some rarer songs from his early work like Parade and Milk and Honey. There are also songs from his lesser-known musicals such as The Grand Tour.

On the virtual opening night there will be a Q&A with Bernadette Peters (who appeared in the recently revival of Hello, Dolly! and also Mack and Mabel) and David Hyde Pierce (also in Hello, Dolly!) with Einhorn and Pasadena Playhouse’s Danny Feldman.

Tickets are $29.99 to watch the virtual opening. All other viewings will be $24.99.

That’s my list of the Best Bets at Home: January 8th – January 10th. But, of course, there are a few reminders:

David Bowie fans will not want to miss his musical Lazarus, which is being made available for three performances this weekend from DiceFM. For full details go to my preview here.

New York’s 9th annual Prototype Festival launches this weekend with an intriguing program of new works. My preview has full details.

The Public Theater’s Under the Radar Festival has begun and I have a full rundown of the programming available.

The operas available this weekend from the Metropolitan Opera from this week’s Epic Rivalries theme. They are Cavalleria Rusticana by Pietro Mascagni and Pagliacci by Ruggero Leoncavallo on Friday; Gaetano Donizetti’s Maria Stuarda on Saturday and Giuseppe Verdi’s Il Trovatore on Sunday. You can find full details here.

Here’s to taking a break, enjoying some great performances and recharging ourselves!

Enjoy the Best Bets at Home: January 8th – January 10th and enjoy your weekend.

Photo: Lesli Margherita, Andrea Ross, Ryan Vona, Nicholas Christopher, Ashley Blanchet, and Andy Einhorn in You I Like: A Musical Celebration of Jerry Herman (Photo by Jeff Lorch/Courtesy Playhouse Live)

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Miss Saigon sets the story of a young girl who falls in love with a soldier in Vietnam. Kim (Emily Bautista at most performances; Myra Molloy at others) works for an insidious man at a club named The Engineer (Red Concepcíon). He puts on a “contest” called Miss Saigon with the winner to be the prize for a Marine. One of those Marines, Chris (Anthony Festa) becomes smitten with Kim and after a night of sex (her first time), he offers to bring her to America. When he leaves Vietnam, due to the imminent fall of Saigon, he goes without taking her. She holds out hope that he will one day return for her and honor his promise.

Three years go by and lot has changed for both Chris and Kim. When they are reunited those changes lead to a tragic ending that won’t be revealed here. (Not everyone knows Madama Butterfly – no reason to give it all away.)

The original production opened in London in 1989. It was soon followed by a Broadway production in 1991. In both productions, Lea Salonga played Kim and Jonathan Pryce played The Engineer. They both were awarded the Olivier Award and the Tony Award for their performances. In the 2017 revival, Eva Nobelzada (who is currently in Hadestown) played Kim and Jon Jon Briones played The Engineer.

Musical staging and choreography for this production is by Bob Avian, who collaborated with Michael Bennett on A Chorus Line, Dreamgirls and more. He was the original choreographer of Miss Saigon.

Laurence Connor is the director of this production, as he was of the revival. He was also the director for new productions of Les Misérables and The Phantom of the Opera.

It should be noted that Michael Mahler is also credited with additional lyrics.

For tickets at the Pantages go here.

Tickets at Segerstrom Hall had not gone at sale at press time.

Main Photo: Anthony Festa & Emily Bautista in “Miss Saigon” (Photo by Matthew Murphy)

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