Article by Eder Guzman
“Urban Momfare” is wonderfully dry and satirical musical play about a group of 5 affluent mom’s superficial concerns about raising children in New York City. Their headline is “Strap on your stilettos ‘cause this is war” is right on target. The play stars the magnanimous Christine Toy Johnson, who, along with Christina Little, has some of the funniest lines on the play.
The whole cast plays up the constant superficial and veiled battle between moms, to see whose child is the most gifted, by any means necessary. Any little bit counts, and the exaggerations of each baby’s talents highlight our perceptions wealthy mothers in New York. There are many small and obvious references to neighborhoods all over New York, and the audience got a big laugh when the play equated ending up in Bronxville to failure. The setting is the Upper East Side, a liberal and intellectual haven. It is “littered with museums”, great schools are nearby, and the best part is how close it is to Central Park.
These characters that Christine and Christina play, as well as Sandi DeGeorge, Antonieta Corvinelli, Tiffan Borelli, are mostly stay at home moms who exist to live through their children. When they are not busy being helicopter parents, they participate in the donor class of society. Christina Little’s character Kate is the youngest mom, who tries to take in as much advice from the other mom’s as possible. Christine Toy Johnson’s character Debbie is the biggest know-it-all of the bunch, and the most empathetic to Kate’s worries. They all try to outdo each other when they are welcomed to the “Music for gifted and talented babies” class. Debbie is proud of her son and his name, Josh Nakamura Greenberg, which is announced which such enthusiasm it’s ridiculous. Some babies are already jazz scatting, and even playing the harp at an advanced level. They gossip about the nannies and how close they are to them, played by Antonieta Corvinelli and Cheryl Howard. The nanny is basically the third parent in a desperate and dependent relationship. All goes awry when Kate has to tell Debbie that her “gifted” son has anger issues, thereby making him “special”. Meanwhile, Tiffan Borelli’s character Ellen gets divorced, and is confronted by
Kate as well. In the end, with the children grown, they realize how much they miss each other. They come together like soldiers returning home from war, remembering the small moments of happiness they shared together. It was a great play, and I advise everyone to go see it at the FringeNYC Encore Series. Cor more: http://www.sohoplayhouse.com/
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