Image from Hello! My Baby's 2010 presentation at the Festival of New American Musicals.
The final show of Goodspeed Musicals’ 2011 season will be Hello! My Baby, which constructs a fresh “all-American musical valentine” (to quote the press release) out of such hallowed hits of the early 20th century as “Ain’t We Got Fun,” “and “Stairway to Paradise.” The book’s by Cheri Steinkellner, author of the recent Goodspeed offering Princesses, and the music (both the arrangements of the classic songs and some new compositions) will be handled by Georgia Stitt. The work-in-progress was presented earlier this month as part of the Festival of New Musicals at the Village Theater in Seattle, and was performed by teenagers at the Festival of New American Musicals in L.A. in 2010.
Naturally, the Goodspeed got Ray Roderick, the man they’ve come to trust with all their 1920s or ‘30s-styled musicals—Singin’ in the Rain, 42nd Street and, from this very same season, the wondrous My One and Only—to direct. They also got My Own and Only’s choreographer, Kelli Barclay, on board.
I had a line on this news a couple months ago, but held my tongue. I saw Stitt (a wonderful pianist and arranger whom Goodspeed audiences have previously experienced as the Music Director for The Baker’s Wife in 2002), accompany a bunch of top-notch cabaret singers at a private event in Los Angeles. (Thank you, NEA/Annenberg Fellowship!) Chatting with the performers afterward, the Goodspeed gig came up. I figured it would be announced any day, but the theater sent out the press release just last week.
The show runs Nov. 3-27 at the Goodspeed’s Norma Terris Theatre in Chester.
The songs in Hello! My Baby have been covered over the years by everyone from Al Jolson to the cartoon frog in “One Froggy Evening” to Alice Cooper. The show has ringers such as The Gershwins popping up in its hit-filled score, plus Tin Pan Alley heavyweights like Walter Donaldson and Richard Whiting. But look for Hello! My Baby to do a neat resuscitation job on lesser-known early 20th century hitmaker Joseph McCarthy, whose “You Made Me Love You,” “I’m Always Chasing Rainbows” and “Alice Blue Gown” are all featured.