Crossroads Live (The Bodyguard, Annie, Chicago, Cats, The Drifters Girl ) and theatre development company Indigo Productions (led by James Lane and Ed McGovern) are thrilled to announce that Babies ,a brand-new British coming-of-age musical written by Jack Godfrey (42 Balloons, This Is A Love Story) and the show’s director Martha Geelan (who makes her debut as a musical book writer), will play three staged concert performances at The Lyric Theatre, Shaftesbury Avenue on 10th, 11th and 12th November 2023.
Summer is over. Exams are looming. But Year 11 are only talking about one thing: babies. Not real ones…but the plastic simulator dolls they’ve been tasked with looking after for a whole entire week.
With a blistering pop-rock score, this new(born) British musical follows nine students as they discover that becoming a parent means changing more than just nappies. Friendships are tested, dreams are questioned, and the true meaning of responsibility rears its terrifying head.
From Jack Godfrey & Martha Geelan, Babies is a joy-filled, heart-wrenching comedy about growing out of growing up.
Producer for Crossroads Live and Indigo Productions, James Lane said: “The mission with Babies has been to create a relatable window into the whirlwind experience of being a teenager in today’s world and to deliver a realistic depiction of school life and coming-of-age. We hope that everyone, in some way, can see both themselves and fragments of their own experiences in one, or maybe even a few, of the brilliant characters Martha and Jack have so wonderfully brought to life. This musical has had such a unique journey thus far – it will be a proud moment to welcome audiences to see it in concert on a West End stage.”
The story so far: In early 2021, Martha and Jack submitted one of the songs that features in Babies titled “Hot Dad”, to British Youth Music Theatre for inclusion in the New Music Theatre Award which it went on to win in 2021. As a result, the writing duo were commissioned to finish the musical with the introduction of a wider creative team, including Music Supervisor, Joe Beighton (SIX), in preparation for an initial run at the New Wolseley Theatre in Ipswich, where it played three performances with a cast made up of 30 talented emerging performers from the BYMT programme.
From that run onwards, Indigo Productions and Crossroads Live have joined the project as commercial producers, with the production still proudly partnered with BYMT and supporting the brilliant work of the charity. Development workshops were held in 2022 and 2023 prior to an appearance at West End Live and an initial release of four tracks from the musical that have already been played over 75,000 times.
