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The Kid Comes to Life
Dan Savage’s weekly column begins anew as a musical
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What happens when a sex advice columnist and his bookstore barista boyfriend decide to have a baby? The Kid, The New Group’s first musical since Avenue Q, goes through the entire adoption process in song with a production based on Dan Savage’s autobiographical book, The Kid: What Happened After My Boyfriend and I Decided to Go Get Pregnant.
Dan and his much younger boyfriend Terry decide they want to give up their DINK (double income, no kids) lifestyle for a baby two years after meeting at a club. As Savage puts it in his weekly column, Savage Love, his relationship with Terry is a one-night stand that never ended. The Kid details the process of the couple’s open adoption, in which the birth mother chooses her adoptive parents from a pool of pre-screened couples and gets to have regular visits with her child.
The creative team of Andy Monroe, Michael Zam and Jack Lechner began the process of turning Savage’s memoir into a musical comedy early in 2006. Zam says that all three writers loved the book, especially the voice of Dan Savage. “Without the specificity of Dan’s voice and character,” Zam said, “the story just doesn’t matter.”
In mid-2007, Amy Schiffman of the Intellectual Property Group introduced the production to Scott Elliott, founding Artistic Director of The New Group and The Kid’s director. “I was immediately taken with it,” Elliott said. He said he was instantly drawn to work with the three writers.
According to Elliott and Zam, Savage thought they were crazy when they first contacted him about the production, but Zam said, “He liked what we sent him. He’s been very generous about this project.” Both men say that Dan was nervous when he first saw himself portrayed by the writers, but, as Elliott said, “He fell in love with it.”
The Kid officially opens on May 10 at 7:00 p.m. at The New Group at Theatre Row (410 W. 42nd St.). For more information, visit www.thenewgroup.org.