Babies, subtitled ‘a new musical’ and now in residence at The Other Palace after last year’s workshop performances.
Jack Godfrey (who is also composer/lyricist of 42 Balloons, another smart new musical) has teamed with Martha Geelan (book and direction) on this occasion.
Nine Year 11 teenagers are taking on a week-long project to care for fake, digital robot babies, who gurgle, feed, cry and react like the real thing.
As they find out what it really like to become a parent, we find out more about each of them as the show evolves.
It still runs at 100 minutes, but now with an added interval that isn’t really needed. I found that it affected the pace of the longer first half, but these choices are very much personal preference.
Ashley Goh, Jaina Brock-Patel, Lauren Conroy, and Lucy Carter return from the Lyric’s concert version – Morgan Phillips, who was a glorious Toby there, is now alternate to Bradley Riches.
New to the class, alongside Riches (a charming crowd-pleaser), are Zoe Athena and Nathan Johnston, plus Max Mulrenan (ArtsEd) and Viola Maisey (Mountview), 2024 graduates making their professional debuts.
It’s a tight team who delivers all the storylines you might expect from 15/16 year olds at school. There’s Athena’s Leah, tough on the outside, but carrying a family burden beyond her years.
Loved-up Ben (Mulrenan) and Becky (Brock-Patel) take their twin ‘babies’ seriously, but her daily live streams are increasingly fake. Conroy’s Jasmine and Maisey’s Grace are wildly ambitious while needing a friend.
Riches’s Toby, happily gay, and Johnston’s footie-mad Jacob find cautious common ground, while Goh’s Alex accepts their binary difference (and ‘hotness’).
This leaves Carter’s Lulu, a scatty delight who snatches some of the best comic lines. Babies isn’t just smart, it is funny and surprisingly poignant.
On the surface, the appeal of this musical seems to be to millennials who like Heathers. No bad thing, but I think it has more universal themes of confusion, experimentation, and confidence that will reach a wide audience.
Godfrey’s songs are poptastic throughout, with “Hot Dad” and “My New Best Friend” standing out alongside the earworm “Baby Baby Baby” (which also stands for the show’s hashtag).
Lauren Hopkinson leads a five-piece band of keyboard, drums, bass, and two guitars. Positioned either side of Jasmine Swan’s scaffolding set, they complement rather than dominate the sound.
Geelan’s direction takes advantage of the stage’s shape, with action taking place at either side as well as in the middle and up on the scaffolding, which doubles as cliffs by the water and places for solitude and confidence.
Babies, now all grown up and taking its first steps forward as a full production, is a sharp and intelligent piece that brings something different to the musical stage.
You can catch it at The Other Palace now – tickets here.
*****
Image credit: Matt Crocket