FREE TO BE . . . YOU AND ME
When it was first published in 1974, Free to Be . . . You and Me was lauded for its freshness and intelligence; it revolutionized juvenile literature. In the foreword to the original edition, Marlo Thomas wrote about how she was looking for books to read to her young niece: “I found shelf after shelf of books that told boys and girls who they . . . ought to be, but seldom who they could be. I wanted a book to celebrate all the possibilities.” Thomas enlisted the help of her friends and colleagues in order to create such a book. The result was a “children’s book” containing works by Carl Reiner, Judith Viorst, Shel Silverstein, Herb Gardner, Sheldon Harnick, and many other respected “adult” authors.
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Directors Gretta Assaly and Douglas Love have staged a nimble, fast-paced show that held the attention of all but the youngest audience members. The spoken duet, “The Pain/The Great One,” is especially innovative: it points up the parallels between Richard’s and Victoria’s complaints about siblings by placing them on opposite ends of a seesaw. Set designer Miriam S. Hoffman and technical director John Imburgia have assembled a dazzling display of revolving panels that can change the locale in the twinkling of an eye. Jon Welstead’s musical arrangements update the early-70s songs to give them a nice, contemporary Top 40 feel.
