Babies, a new British coming-of-age musical, will play a strictly limited six-week season at London’s The Other Palace from 31 May to 14 July 2024.
Casting for this ‘fresh, heart-wrenching musical about identity, friendship and growing up’ is as follows: Ashley Goh (Alex), Bradley Riches (Toby), Grace Towning (Cover Leah/Grace/Becky), Jaina Brock-Patel (Becky), Lauren Conroy (Jasmine), Lucy Carter (Lulu), Max Mulrenan (Ben), Morgan Philips (Alternate Toby, Cover Jacob/Ben), Nathan Johnston (Jacob), Rowan MacPherson (Cover Jasmine/Alex/Lulu), Viola Maisey (Grace) and Zoe Athena (Leah).
With music and lyrics by Jack Godfrey (42 Balloons, This is a Love Story) and book by Martha Geelan, this fully realised production of Babies follows hot on the heels of their sell-out concert series in November 2023 at London’s Lyric Theatre. Four of the tracks from the infectious pop-rock score including ‘Baby, Baby, Baby’, ‘Hot Dad’, ‘Someone Else’ and ‘Without Saying Goodbye’ are available to stream and have already been played over 100,000 times.
Writers Jack Godfrey and Martha Geelan said: “We feel very proud and excited to be part of the impressive wave of new musicals in the West End this year. Babies is about what it is to be young right now, what it is to be questioning the future, how it feels to try and get everything right. We hope it speaks to audiences of all ages; all lived experiences. We hope there’s something in there for everyone.”
The full creative team includes Jack Godfrey (music and lyrics), Martha Geelan (book and director), Joe Beighton (orchestrations, vocal arrangements and music supervisor), Alexzandra Sarmiento (choreographer), Jasmine Swan (set and costume designer), Paul Gatehouse (sound designer), Will Hayman (lighting designer), Lauren Hopkinson (musical director), Harry Blumenau CGD CDA (casting), Molly Stacey (associate director), Martyn Sands (production manager) and Sarah Booth (props and costume supervisor).
The journey of Babies began in early 2021 when Godfrey and Geelan submitted one of the songs titled ‘Hot Dad’ to British Youth Music Theatre (BYMT) for inclusion in the New Music Theatre Award, which it went on to win. As a result, the writing duo was commissioned to finish the musical with the introduction of a wider creative team, including music supervisor, orchestrator and vocal arranger Joe Beighton (Six) in preparation for an initial run at the New Wolsey Theatre in Ipswich. The show played three performances at that venue with a cast made up of more than 30 talented emerging performers from the BYMT programme in August 2021. Indigo Productions and Crossroads Live then joined the project as commercial producers, with the production still partnered with BYMT. Development workshops were held in 2022 and 2023 prior to an appearance at West End Live and the series of concerts in the West End at the Lyric on in November 2023.
“The year above got pregnant so we’re doing this instead!”
Summer is done. Year 11 is here. Being a child is out. Being a grown-up is in. Time for more parties, more responsibility and, oh yeah…becoming a parent to a plastic robot baby simulator.
After a rise in pregnancies among the year above, the school’s sex education department is compelled to take action. Fuelled by a blistering pop-rock score, Babies follows nine classmates as they take on their most important school project yet: keeping a fake baby alive for an entire week. As the pressures of teenage life collide with the demands of parenting, the students are forced to ask themselves: what is it I really want? Who is it I really want to be?
All 900 tickets for the first three performances are priced at £20 per ticket.
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