That Parenting Musical

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That Parenting Musical like the title says is a musical revue about the highs and lows of being a new parent, but most of the comedy is about the lows. Written by real-life Dad and Mom team, Graham and Kristina Fuller, the show is a diverting, light-hearted look at the time in a couple’s life from pregnancy to the children starting school. Under Jen Wineman’s polished direction and choreography, the six-member, high-powered cast is always entertaining both singing and dancing, and while the jokes are often groaners, the show remains pleasant and cheerful if not original or fresh.

The show is narrated by Brian Owen in one of those Masterpiece Theatre British accents which makes everything sound more important. Young Mom (McKenna Ogrodnik) and Dad (Dwayne Washington) discover that she is pregnant. They are thrilled but wonder how their lives will change – which, of course, it does. First off they enroll for birth classes which do not prepare them for two children, a non-binary boy (Max Crumm) and a girl (Vidushi Goyal) with the second child blues – not the one single offspring that they were expecting. Next, they are needing new wardrobes, she in yoga pants and he in cargo pants.

Then there is the need to baby proof everything (song cue: “The Most Dangerous Thing in the Room”) and deal with childhood illnesses, finding a sitter, and needing some quiet time to unwind. When they finally get out for a Date Night without the kids, their friends (Natalie Bourgeois as Single Friend and her date Todd, played by Owen) are annoyed that they are always on their baby monitor checking up at home. As the kids get older, there is the problem of traveling on airplanes which turns out to be a nightmare. Dad has to learn how to be alone with the children when Mom is out and attempts to be “Cool Dad.” The children have to learn to deal with play dates and low self-esteem. The show ends when the older child reaches the heights of first grade and the younger child starts kindergarten.

The show is written with a certain age group in mind using such buzz words as “power through,” “leveling up,” “doing full 40” and playing “Head’s Up.” The three women (OGrodnik, Bourgeois and Goyal) make a memorable girl’s singing group (à la the Andrews Sisters) but Owen’s Dad jokes are from hunger – though they may be intended to. The babies (Crumm and Goyal) are amusingly played by adults who have very grown-up opinions about everything very quickly. While all of the performers double in more than one role, Owen demonstrates his versatility playing seven characters from the narrator to the doctor to the gate agent.

The amiable score with arrangements by Dan Graeber and the Fullers has clever lyrics and songs inspired by Stephen Sondheim, John Kander and Charles Strouse. The wittiest one is a parody of Gilbert and Sullivan’s “I Am the Very Model of a Modern Major General,” here called “Toddler Travel Travesty.” “Child-Free Life” takes its cue from the more sophisticated “The Glamorous Life” from A Little Night Music. Even Les Miserables has a tribute in one of the songs as does Annie.

Tim Mackabee’s set design is a huge children’s nursery with cabinets and toys in candy colors packed to the rafters. The back wall has lively children’s crayon pictures. The costumes by Tina McCartney are even more colorful putting Child 1 in rainbow stripes and Child 2 in a tie-dyed t-shirt surrounding a heart. The lighting design by Alan C. Edwards has the outline frame of the house change colors with the mood of each scene. Jessica Paz’s sound design is crystal clear.

While That Parenting Musical will not tell you anything you didn’t already know, it is a pleasant and undemanding way to spend an evening. The six attractive performers four of whom appear continually as other characters are good company and keep the show moving. That Parenting Musical is the latest in the series of cabaret style revues around a single theme. It is obvious Graham and Kristina Fuller are fully versed in their subject matter.

That Parenting Musical (through November 3, 2024)

Theatre Row, 410 W. 42^nd Street, in Manhattan

For tickets, call 212-714-2442 ext. 45 or visit http://www.TheatreRow.org

Running time: two hours and five minutes with one intermission