Blackbox Scores Again with Baby With the Bathwater

by Mark Ginocchio

The Olmsted Theater's Blackbox produced another successful show with Christopher Durang's Baby With the Bathwater, directed by Adelphi senior Tim Pappalardo with assistant direction by senior Erin Hadley. The show, which was the Blackbox's follow-up to October's highly successful Big Fat Naked Truth, ran from December 6-7.

Baby With the Bathwater's humorous content was in stark contrast to the highly dramatic The Big Fat Naked Truth but still can be deemed a worthy successor to the October masterpiece that was actually performed four more times in November. I attended the 7:00 performance on December 6 and enjoyed the production thoroughly, often laughing myself silly at points.

Baby with the Bathwater is a story of two parents, John and Helen (Robby Grossman and Christian Goldsmith) who are truly inadequate parents, raising their little boy "Daisy" (Steven Cohen) as a girl and causing much confusion and "insanity" along the way. The play follows the development of Daisy and the people he/she encounters growing up, each character appearing more insane as the next. Finally, Daisy, who at this point in the production calls himself Alexander, is able to settle down with a nice young woman (Teri Lea Yoest) and experience some sanity in his life. Maybe.

There were certainly some points of brilliance in this production. Robby Grossman and Christian Goldsmith played off each other wonderfully as Daisy's parents. The opening scene of the play which has the two parents arguing over whether they should call their child a "baked potato" or not stands strong in my mind as a well-worked, dynamic scene. The "happy couple's" nanny, played by Michelle Traina, was able to get under the audiences' skin very easily with her incessant cooing and shrilling and her performance should too, be commended. Other standout performances include the two women in the park, played by Jessica Clunn and Nina Aquilar whose chemistry and delivery were truly something special. The scene inside the office of the sexually confused principal Mrs. Willerbee (Nicole Roy) also stands out in my mind as a great scene. The wonderfully over-dramatic monologue of Natalie Vincent was incredible and even elicited some applause from the audience after she was finished. Finally, there was Steven Cohen, whose portrayal of the poor confused child Daisy was simply incredible. The scene, which focused on Daisy's "issues," inside the psychiatrist's office, was a true showstopper. The success of this scene should also be credited to "the voice" spoken by Ben Gooch.

Overall, Baby with the Bathwater provided some quality laughs throughout the one hour and fifty minute performance. Some scenes were apparently weaker than others, but the scenes that worked, worked incredibly. I also feel that the simplicity of the set worked well with the intimacy of the Blackbox. It was a night of quality theater and I honestly look forward to seeing the work of this young cast (it consisted entirely of sophomores) in the future as they continue to grow as actors within Adelphi's theater department.