Motherhood the Musical

Who’d have thought you could stroll along the front at Australia’s premiere ocean beach and come across a gem of a show like Motherhood the Musical? Four cracking girls give their all at the Bondi Pavilion: 20 songs in 80 minutes, covering pregnancy, flabby boobs, leaking tubes and motherhood in general.

Directed by Ruth Fingret and produced by David Spicer, the show packs a punch, perhaps related to the fact that every woman is faced by this dilemma, the certainty that their lives will be changed forever. Men are forced into the background, hesitant and uncertain. Except as jokes, they hardly exist. 

Writer and composer Sue Fabisch is a resident of Nashville, USA, and the show has been produced all over the world since its arrival in Fort Lauderdale in 2010, including several in Australia.

Only days before her first baby is due, Amy (Rebecca Spicer) is visited by three friends for a baby shower. There’s Barb (Christie Koppe), Brooke (Manon Gunderson-Briggs) and Tasha (Chloe Angel), and they each bring their story and key song. For Barb its ‘I’m Danny’s Mom’, the only way the world will ever see her. For Brooke, smart and besuited, ‘It’s Not Happening’, the usual comment on her husband’s approaches. For Tasha ‘Every Other Weekend’ tells of her former husband’s regular visits to see their children.

As Amy, Rebecca Spicer is warm and convincing. She is doing all the right things, including dealing with her pressing mother, played by Monique Lewis Reynolds, who sings her one number, ‘Grannyland’, very well. Nevertheless, she’s a bit of a ring-in, and the rest of the cast have to go into stasis while she performs.

Musical Director Mary Lennon sits at a piano stage right, playing beautifully, though she is replaced with a backing track whenever the score requires drums. Daniel O’Shea’s lighting design is, well, extravagant.

Frank Hatherley

Images: Lightbox Photography