Review: Baby It's You!

Baby It's You! 

Wednesday June 8, 8PM show

Tickets:

$65 at the TKTS booth in Time Square. Seats were great, third row, 2 from the aisle.

Why I Saw It:

My mother had seen it earlier this week and recommended it for the sake of seeing it. Having just arrived home from Florida (literally, brought my luggage into my apartment and headed to time square for Mormon lotto) I wanted something "light" and not too brainy. I also love Beth Leavel just because, and loveeeee Christina Sajous because not only was she in American Idiot and fierce as the original Extraordinary Girl, but she also went to PLAYWRIGHTS. not just tisch, playwrights.

Theater info:

The Broadhurst, 44th Street between 8th and Broadway

1 Sentence Plot:

All the music you know, and the story you didn't know behind the making of the Shirelles.

Expanded Plot:

Bored Jewish housewife Florence Greenberg takes interest in a black female singing group at her daughters high school and is determined to make these girls famous. This show tells the story of the band, the Shirelles, rise to fame and how Florence's previous life deteriorates because of it. Of course with points made about race. It also gives an interesting overview of the music industry in the late 50's and early 60's right before the new wave of rock and roll via the hippie generation occurred.

Overall Performances:

Beth Leavel is amazing it whatever she does. She has such a level of commitment to a role and a show that she could otherwise lack interest in. Since the show mainly centers around her, she truly carries the show, and knows how to carry a show. The 4 females who create the Shirelles have fantastic voices, and don't really get to showcase their acting skills because of the nature of the show. Christina Sajous is fierce. She just is. 

Music:

Like many musicals of today, this show is a jukebox musical containing no original music. Taking the style of Jersey Boys more so than Mamma Mia, the songs used relate to the music they were creating at the time, and are often them performing the shirelle songs in concert. I always say I don't like Jukebox musicals, but then I realize that I do like a few jukebox musicals in actuality. As far as the genre goes, this doesn't bother me on principle as much, since the songs utilized are not just for the sake of plot and story telling, but are literally the songs that were being sung at that moment. This does touch however on my overall issue with the show of why does this exist? why was this necessary for the broadway stage?

Choreography:

The beginning choreography was a mess for bigger numbers. In the smaller numbers that were just the girls, it stuck to the general pattern, a la The Four Seasons, of the simple gestures while singing. While its nothing new and not inventive, it also suits the show and is not overly choreographed.

Design overall (yup, decided to conglomerate them. sue me):

The design relied heavily on media. oh media. yes, I am a media designer (or someone who has designed projections for a handful of student shows...) but I truly think it is a lazy way of getting a message across. The media did however make the show have a scrapbook feeling of nostalgia and looking back as a story telling device. the set was minimal, and the blanks were filled in via projection-- projected fridge and new york city landscapes.

 I love that the band was on stage, it gave the show less of a plastic fake feeling with the real music being played in my plain sight. 

Who I recommend this for:

my mother. people who grew up with the music. I was by far the youngest in the audience (which side note, hasn't happened in a while. but back when I was little my parents took my brother and I to shows with relatively mature content, which caused audience members to question my parents parenting skills. I turned out fine. I swear). The entire audience was fighting the urge to sing along and squealing with each new song that they recognized and was a trip down memory lane. For me, a 21 year old who knew a decent amount of the songs from oldies radio stations and choir, did not feel as sentimental about the show  

Final Thoughts: I'm not quite sure why this musical was created and brought to the stage. While the story is interesting and worth telling, I am not sure Broadway was the way to tell it. This story serves this new broadway obsession with creating musicals for people my mothers age that takes out the issue of knowing the songs or liking the music. During intermission the person behind me said "the music is good" and i wanted to look at her and say "ARE YOU KIDDING ME?"

Baby It's You is not a terrible show, as the show progressed I found myself invested in the story and really caring about the characters and the outcome. Even so, I couldn't quite shut up the voice inside my head saying "this is on broadway, but brilliant creative shows close in less than a year?"

My big question, whats opening on broadway for me. my age bracket. a show that doesn't rely heavily on nostalgia.

I'm not the only 21 year old out there seeing musicals, am I?