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| Cast of Love Me, Love My Children. |
LOVE ME, LOVE MY
CHILDREN [Musical/Advertising/Family/Youth] B/M/LY: Robert Swerdlow; D:
Paul Aaron; CH: Elizabeth Swerdlow; S: Jo Mielziner; C: Patricia Quinn Stewart;
L: Dahl Delu; P: Joel W. Schenker and Edward F. Kook; T: Mercer-O’Casey Theatre
(OB); 11/3/71-4/23/72 (187)
A hit in Toronto, this amorphous,21-song, and nearly bookless
show skipped musically through an assortment of styles, including both
classical and rock, received considerable approbation from the New York
critics, and had a decent run. The fluid staging and choreography enhanced the
various numbers dealing with a wide assortment of topical themes. Among them
were TV commercials, suburbia, critics, youth, and family.
These themes were woven into a thin story of Justine, a
small-town girl who runs off to the big city only to encounter here a group of
young people who introduce her to the ways of urban living, thereby driving her
back to the bosom of her family. Songs included “Don’t Twist My Mind,” “Fat
City,” “Deca Dance,” “Leave the World Behind,” “Critics,” “North American
Shmear,” and the title song.
Martin Washburn was delighted at the way the show profited
from “the power of the new theatrical values,” and felt it was all “quite
moving” in its ability to make “the space of audience and stage one emotional
whole.” The lyrics may have been “a trifle facile,” admitted John Simon, but
they did contain “a nice crunchy, aromatic quality, as of some unassuming dish
just out of the oven and totally toothsome.” Martin Gottfried praised the show
as “one of the most completely and precisely put together productions that I
can remember anywhere.”
Adverse opinions came from such as Clive Barnes, who had a
hard time enjoying the “moderately grisly evening,” as it was “one of those
creaking youth shows that appear to be geriatric before their time.” Most
critics liked all the performers, but the strongest singer was Salome Bey, who won an OBIE for Distinguished Performance. Among the other dozen onboard were Don Atkinson, Mark Baker,
Jacqueline Britt, Matthew Diamond, Ed Evanko, Sharon Miller, and Michon
Peacock.
