Does human emotion go any deeper than the bond between mother and child?
Not according to Heather Blackthorn, who lost her own mother a little more than two years ago. Naturally, Mom was very much on Blackthorn’s mind as she developed a cabaret-style lineup of Broadway songs for “Call Your Mother,” Pacific Stageworks’ upcoming Mother’s Day weekend revue.
“I felt like it was something she would be very proud of, and would appreciate that the songs range from humorous to heartbreaking,” Blackthorn said. “We really wanted to focus on moms and kids from many different perspectives.”
For example, there’s “When You’re Good To Mama,” a winking warning from the boss jailbird to all her underlings, in the musical “Chicago”; there’s the blatant confession of “Don’t Tell Mama,” from “Cabaret,” sung by a nightclub chanteuse whose mother apparently thinks she’s locked away in a convent; there’s the desperation of moms trying to figure out what their young-adult children are up to, in “Voicemail No. 5,” from “Rent”; and there’s the shameless tear-jerking of “Sunrise, Sunset,” sung by parents who are simply watching time pass and children grow up, from “Fiddler on the Roof.”
Nineteen songs in all, drawn from musicals as classic as “Annie” and “Gypsy” and as up-to-date as “Waitress” and “Dear Evan Hansen” (winner of the 2017 Tony Award for Best Musical), will be performed by a small cast that ranges in age from 14 to older than 50, Blackthorn said.
