Ermanno Wolf-Ferrari / Baby
On this day in classical music: Ermanno Wolf-Ferrari’s one-act opera “The Secret of Susanna” received its premiere in Munich in 1909. The secret of its title refers to Susanna’s one vice — smoking. While the opera is rarely performed today, the lively overture is popular in the concert hall. Listen to Leonardo Catalanotto and the Orchestra del Teatro Massimo V. Bellini di Catania perform the overture to “The Secret of Susanna.” http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H0yoC6N3wGo
On this day in the musical theatre: Richard Maltby and David Shire’s musical “Baby” opened on Broadway in 1983. It’s the story of three couples (university students, young marrieds and a couple with three grown daughters), each of whom is expecting, and their reactions to the life-changing events that will ensue. The show never caught on with audiences and closed after a seven-month run. Listen to Beth Fowler, Catherine Cox and Liz Callaway perform “I Want It All” on the 1984 Tony Awards broadcast. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LMSPIPGdjHA
Musical musings: “When you’re pregnant, your emotions run all over the place,” says a mother-to-be in “Baby,” the new musical at the Barrymore. “Baby” runs all over the place, too, but never so far afield that it forsakes those intimate emotions. At a time when nearly every Broadway musical, good and bad, aims for the big kill with gargantuan pyrotechnics, here is a modestly scaled entertainment that woos us with such basic commodities as warm feelings, an exuberant cast and a lovely score. Perfect “Baby” is not, but it often makes up in buoyancy and charm what it lacks in forceful forward drive. Should you wish to avail yourself of the evening’s assets, be prepared for the drawbacks: You’ll have to put up with a jerry-built book littered with sitcom jokes. “Baby” also requires a fondness for its subject. This show is indeed about making babies, and it’s definitely not for anyone who believes that expectant parents should be seen and not heard. If the virtues of “Baby” can’t override all its hitches, so be it. In achievement, this show is a throwback to the early 1960’s — the last era when Broadway regularly produced some casual-spirited musicals that were not instantly categorizable as blockbusters or fiascos. Those musicals — like, say, “Do Re Mi” or “110 in the Shade” — weren’t built for the ages but could brighten a theater season or two: They were ingratiatingly professional, had both lulls and peaks, and inspired you to run to the record store as soon as the original cast album came out. So it is with “Baby,” and wouldn’t it be cheering if such a show could find a home on the do-or-die Broadway of today? – Frank Rich in The New York Times
