Show Synopsis:
Three couples - Lizzie and Danny the unmarried college students, Alan and Arlene the joyous empty-nesters, and Nick and Pam the eager wannabe parents - discover that they're having babies. Each couple navigates different reactions and experiences that accompany the pregnancy. Lizzie and Danny disagree over whether they should get married, Arlene is terrified of the idea of a new baby, and Pam cannot wait to be a motherhood to affirm the femininity that has eluded her since childhood. All three women meet at the doctor's office and bond and disagree over their experiences and plans. Nick consoles Danny, who wants to marry Lizzie and be a good father though Lizzie does not want to be married. Pam discovers that she is not pregnant and Danny take a job with a punk rock group to make ends meet for his child. Alan knows that Arelene is hesitant to have another child and starts look for an abortion doctor while Nick and Pam keep trying to get pregnant and Danny goes on his summer tour, but then Arelene decides to keep the baby. At six months, Lizzie balks at the anecdotes women feel compelled to share with her about their own pregnancies, and Arlene is starting to have doubts about herself. In the fall, Danny returns from his tour and he and Lizzie reaffirm their love for each other, as do Pam and Nick and Alan and Arlene. Lizzie has the baby and Danny is overcome with emotion.
Character:
Lizzie, a junior college student who dreams of being an actress but is also exceptionally excited to be a mother; unprepared for what is to come but absolutely trusting of her boyfriend.
Song Context:
Lizzie feels the baby move for the first time, and although she and Danny are far apart, she feels ready for what is to come. She feels that she has a strength from the females in her ancestry who have gone through the process of pregnancy before, and is ready to become a mother.
Fun Facts:
1) This musical originated in a conversation between composer David Shire and his brother-in-law Francis Ford Coppola, when Coppola told Shire that small plays about personal and real emotions of real people were the future of theatre. Coppola told Shire to write about the most meaningful fact in his life, which happened to be the birth of Shire's son Matthew.
2) Shire told BSOSpirit.com that he considered Baby his "best complete show, and very personal." He won a Drama Desk Award and was nominated for a Tony Award for the score.
3) Liz Callaway originated the role of Lizzie on Broadway and n an interview with Talkin? Broadway, she said that Lizzie was ?such an interesting role to play. How many times do you get a part that you get to experience nine months of pregnancy on stage, and all that goes with that, plus a relationship?? Callaway was nominated for a Tony Award for her performance.
"So this is the tale my mother told me,
That tale that was much too dull to hold me,
And this is the surge and the rush she said would show
Our story goes on.
Oh, I was young. I'd forgot how things outlive me.
My goal was the kick that life would give me
And now like a joke something moves to let me know
Our story goes on,
And all these things I feel and more.
My mother's mother felt and hers before --
A chain of life began upon the shore of some dark sea has reached to me
And now I can see the chain extending.
My child is next in the line that has no ending,
And here am I feeling life that her child will feel when I'm long gone
And thus it is our story goes on
And on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on.
And all these things I feel and more,
My mother's mother felt, and hers before.
A chain of life began upon the shore of some primordial sea has
stretched through time to reached to me
And now I can see the chain extending.
My child is next in the line that has no ending
And here am I feeling life that her child will feel when I'm long gone.
Yes, all that was is part of me as I am part of what's to be
And thus it is our story goes on
And on and on and on and on."