“MotherFreakingHood!”

This particular production, a musical with the music and lyrics written by the playwrights is about 2 hours in length and has 15 musical numbers to propel the story along. The story is about three women who meet in the oby/gyn office as they all find out they are pregnant. Each lady is in a different position. Rachel ( Tafadzwa Diener) is a first-time mom, Angie Miller ( Jaqueline Jones) a second-time mom, and last comes four-time mom , Marcia Burger (Leah Morrow).

During the scenes, smoothly directed by Heidi Van, we the audience travel through time as the kids grow and experience the changes that take place as their kids evolve and leave the nest.

At today’s opening matinee, I was one of three men in the audience. The women were laughing louder than I was ( which many would say is hard to do, as I am known as a laugher), many recalling their own childbearing days as well as raising their own kids. The things they do and talk about are very real. Having a child take a personal item and make their school project is not out of the norm. In this case, it is mom’s vibrator converted to make a skateboard move on its own! That truly had women falling from their seats.

These three ladies are wonderful in bringing their characters to life. Many of us have witnessed Morrow in this theater before as for many years she was part of “The Christmas Schooner” an annual holiday show at The Mercury. I also recall seeing her do some kids shows at Navy Pier and Marriott where I noticed how expressive she was. Her face is amazing in how she reacts to the story itself and the other characters. In this one, she plays off the audience as well. Keep an eye on her.

The fourth actress in this all-female show is Maya Rowe who plays every other character and does so with great comic timing and I have to say, perfection. From nurse to a teacher, to a doctor, or whatever character is needed,, you will meet a new person each time, and it will take looking at your program to know that there are not 8 women in the show. The music direction is by Linda Madonia and unless you are at table L, you will have no problem with hearing every word of the music and dialogue.

While the show is terrific as is, I feel that if they want to go further with it, it might be more effective to trim down to 90 minutes with no intermission. The break in the story tends to make the audience have to get back into it and while the opening number of the second act is cute, “Have You Seen My Baby part 3” and there are some other cuts that would not have any impact on the story or the joy that the audience felt. Van also did the set design and choreography. Cat Davis did a great job with the lighting and the sound (Seth Thomas Scott) was perfect. Anna Gorsuch handled the many wigs (Rowe has a great many changes). I do not see a note about costumes and props, but whoever handled those items did so with professionalism.

While “Mother Freaking Hood” is perfect for a ladies night out, there is no reason that a couple cannot enjoy watching together. Just thinking about my experiences raising my kids, these scenes brought back many memories. I was a single parent raising two kids for several years, so I was never a mother,but  I did share many of the stories and experiences they had, without the childbirth of course.

This delightful musical comedy is only playing thru June 11th ( the theater has been booked, so unless they find another venue?) with performances as follows: