I’ve been absolutely dying to see
the musical Baby It’s You! for a while now, and was thrilled when I
finally got tickets to see the show. It tells the story of Florence Greenberg,
a Jewish New Jersey housewife-turned-music industry mogul. After discovering an
African-American four-member girl group at her daughter’s school, she names
them the Shirelles and produces their first record. This becomes the initial
step of Florence Greenberg’s successful career as a music executive and record
label owner, and the beginning of a long road of choices she must make.
The musical explores many
feminist themes; Beth Leavel, who plays Florence,
even said that “it’s a great woman’s story…Florence…followed her passion. And I’m so
inspired by that.” Crystal Starr Knighton, who plays a Shirelle, said, “Florence was amazing. I
mean, to have a woman back then, when men ruled everything, just take center
stage and say ‘look, this is what I’m gonna do,’ and bringing us four ladies
and making us into the first girl group, she has an amazing story.”
When the
audience is first introduced to Florence,
she’s in the kitchen with her husband Bernie, who can’t understand his wife’s
desire to do anything more than drive him to the train and take care of their
daughter and blind son. Despite Bernie’s disapproval, Florence creates her first record company,
sells it, and establishes a new one. Florence’s fate was that of most career women
in the 1960s (and unfortunately, the 2000s also), as she was forced to choose
between attending recording sessions and being with her family. Her son spent
time with her by writing songs for the Shirelles, but her daughter was often
neglected. Bernie also resented Florence’s
newfound passion and the attention it took away from him.
Racial tensions were also
apparent throughout the show, often intertwined with women’s issues. Early in
the Shirelles’ career, Florence
partnered with Luther Dixon, a successful African-American songwriter, and became
romantically involved with him. When he first approached her about writing for
the Shirelles, he explained that no one would take Florence seriously because
she was a woman, just like his talents were dismissed because of his race;
between the two of them, they could make up for the discrimination. When Bernie
found out that the two were more than just business partners, he called Florence and said, “With
all the yiddels in the business, you had to pick a shvartza?”
When the Shirelles were on tour
and performing in pre-civil rights south, they were forced to stay in a hotel
on the seedy side of town rather than the fancy hotel across the street from
the theater. When Florence
heard, she moved to their hotel, despite Luther’s hesitation. “If it’s good
enough for them, it’s good enough for me,” she explained.
When I found out that Baby
It’s You! got poor reviews, I was shocked. I absolutely loved it, and the
audience seemed to feel the same way as I did - at the end of the show, the
cast sang a few oldies, and everyone was dancing in their seats. New York
Times theater critic Charles Isherwood dismisses the musical’s premise as
yet another Broadway show for baby boomers, comparing it to a “PBS pledge-night
special…devoted to oldies but goodies,” among sarcastic quips and rare
compliments. I checked out Isherwood’s remarks on Million Dollar Quartet,
another Mutrux/Escott jukebox musical about 1960s singers, and his comment was
“It…recalls PBS documentaries…but the sometimes canned storytelling gets the
job done.” Why is it that a play about four male singers can be PBSesque, but a
play about four female singers and their female agent not? I doubt that
Isherwood was purposely being sexist - he does say that the musical “at least
offers a distaff twist” and calls Florence
a “proto-feminist heroine.” However, it still bothers me that Caucasian men can
be celebrated on Broadway, but African-American and Jewish women are shunted to
the side.
Again, I thoroughly enjoyed Baby
It’s You!, and wish it was staying on Broadway longer - it’s only playing
until September 4. Get your tickets before it’s too late!
No comments:
Post a Comment