Infinity Theatre Company’s Baby
With Baby, Infinity Theatre Company surpasses the high expectations raised over five years of bringing professional New York City productions to Annapolis each summer. This show delivers on its billing as a smart and energetic musical comedy with a pop rock score and immensely likable story. If you last saw it in the 20th century, you’re in for some surprises. The 1984 Tony-nominee was reworked in 1999 with new songs and significant plot twists that make it less idealistic than the original.
Parenthood is an equal opportunity job — until it’s not. Thus, in a college town we have three diverse couples who all find at the same time that they are expecting. Two aren’t prepared, while one has been trying for years. You can guess which one is the false positive.
Lizzie (Lauren Wright) and Danny (Nick DeVito) are undergraduate music majors who have just moved in together when they face the biggest decisions of their lives: to have or not to have it, to marry or not to marry. Arlene (Joy Hermalyn) and Alan (Erick Pinnick) are empty-nesters celebrating their 20th anniversary when she conceives during a champagne-fueled night of passion at The Plaza. Again the question arises: to have or not to have it? When she ultimately miscarries, there’s a new question: to remain or not to remain married? Then there are Pam (Erin Wegner Brooks) and Nick (Jon Reinhold), two athletic coaches who are desperate for a baby yet suffer the insult of infertility on the heels of her false alarm. For them the question becomes whether their marriage can endure the lack of a child.
Chances are you don’t know the music yet, but you’ll leave humming three choruses: the driving feminist anthem I Want It All; the head-bopping Fatherhood Blues; and the hilarious Ladies Singing Their Song, featuring a Vaudevillian parade of intimate strangers who offer unsolicited advice and labor horror stories.
Each song is memorable in the hands of this stellar cast. Wright’s The Story Goes On, a wondrous look at the cycle of life, will have you cheering. DeVito’s proposal, I Chose Right, will leave you breathless. Pinnick will make you laugh with recognition in Easier to Love, his wise juxtaposition of marital and paternal love. Hermalyn, who bears a striking resemblance to Bette Midler both vocally and physically, delivers a powerful and searching ballad, Patterns, about the many ways long-term marriages avert crisis with convention.
Hometown girl Wegner Brooks inspires hysterics and tears in her gymnastic song cycle Romance, segueing from romantic Tango to defeatist rant as she submits to the rules of love by the book. The voice you will yearn to hear more, from the first smooth jazz strains of Baby, Baby, Baby, is the rich baritone of Reinhold, a Robert Goulet for the new age. Equally unforgettable is his stirring duet with DeVito, At Night She Comes Home to Me.
When is the right time to have a baby, to get married, to separate? These are the eternal questions. But in the end, it’s all about the couple, not the kids.
As Lizzie collects teddies for the nursery, Pam collects teddies for the bedroom. Whichever you are, if you’ve ever experienced or pondered having a baby, this fabulous show will appeal to you.
Appropriate for ages 14 and above. Baby by Sybille Pearson, David Shire and Richard Maltby Jr. Directed by Igor Goldin. Musical director: Jeffrey Lodin. Set: Paul Tate de Poo III. Costumes: Tristan Raines. Lights: Jimmy Lawlor. Sound: Wes Shippee. Pit Band: Jeffrey Lodin, Laura Brady, Tom Harold and Ahren Buchheister. With Sam Hood Adrain, Alex Smith, Ana Marcu, Jacob Shipley and Emily Freeman.
Playing 2 & 7pm Th; 8pm Sa (and F July 31), 2pm Su, thru Aug 2. Children’s Theatre of Annapolis, 1661 Bay Head Rd.
$20-$36; rsvp: 877-501-8499; infinitytheatrecompany.com.