Interludes

THE HANGOVER REPORT – A wonderfully game cast valiantly animates the cliché-ridden new musical THAT PARENTING MUSICAL

• By drediman
• September 13, 2024
• No Comments

Last night, the new Off-Broadway musical That Parenting Musical opened at Theatre Row. Written by the husband-and-wife — or, more appropriately, the mom-and-dad — team of Graham and Kristina Fuller, the show is in essence a musical fantasia following one couple’s journey through the difficulties, exhilaration, joys, and insanity of the singular experience of parenthood, particularly during the tenuous period between the onset of birth and early elementary school.

Unfolding against the backdrop of Tim Mackabee’s eye-catching set-within-a-set, That Parenting Musical has been structured as a sort of vaudeville that discretely tackles, number by number, the various issues concerning parenthood. In summary, the work has been conceptualized as a silly parody that resides somewhere between song cycle and traditional book musical. The appealing score is a patchwork concoction that takes inspiration from a whole host of musical styles, from Broadway to various pop music stylings. While efficient in its coverage of themes and occasionally amusing, the approach yields cartoonish characters and situations that largely come across as predictable and clichéd.

My misgivings aside, I applaud the wonderfully game cast — Natalie Bourgeois, McKenna OGrodnik, Max Crumm, Vidushi Goyal, McKenna OGrudnik, Brian Owen, and Dwayne Washington — for valiantly animating the musical. Their performances are comically sound, and each brings their own distinctive charm and vocal color to the material. As directed and choreographed by Jen Wineman, That Parenting Musical pops with color and undeniable exuberance.

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THAT PARENTING MUSICAL
Off-Broadway, Musical
Theatre Row
1 hour, 50 minutes (with one intermission)
Through January 19