Baby

Musical Theatre @ George Square    6 - 31 August @ 19.30    Cambridge University Players/BATS

Baby (Cambridge University Players/BATS) is a musical from 1983 about three couples on the threshold of parenthood. It takes place on a college campus. The dean and his wife, who have already got grown-up children, have mixed feelings about going through it all again. Danny and Lizzie are music students and are at odds about whether they should get married or not. Pam and Nick, sports coaches, are already married. They are thrilled at the prospect of a baby.

It’s a straightforward set-up and, although there are complications along the way, this is a happy show, about attitudes and situations most of us of a certain age will recognize.

The problem for a company bent on reviving this musical is that David Shire’s music, though certainly foot-tappable, is rather square, and when it’s wedded to Richard Maltby Jr.’s conventional lyrics, considerable chutzpah is needed from the performers to bring the show to life. The Cambridge team sing well and their five-piece band are fine, but the production lacks exuberance.

Danny (Dan Garsin) sings as if he means it, and ‘I Want It All’, which spreads contagiously among the women, is sung with passion. The bright light that greets the newborn baby is a lovely idea.