Full Synopsis

Full Synopsis

Act One

A young couple, unmarried college students, Danny and Lizzie, are moving into their basement apartment off-campus ("We Start Today"). Danny is partially deaf, and Lizzie is legally blind.

The oldest of the three couples, Alan and Arlene, both middle-aged, just returned from a trip for their anniversary. Arlene is recovering from too much champagne the night before. Reflecting on their middle age and their grown children, they, too, can now look forward to the future.

The third couple, both 30-year-old gym coaches, Nicki and Pam, in their bedroom. Nicki has a tray of insemination materials for Pam, who is starting to give up hope on conceiving.

The rest of the ensemble comes back onstage as life goes on. Then, we hear the sound of an embryo's heartbeat. Lizzie, Arlene, and Pam are astonished upon learning the big news from a nurse. Each moves to her partner. The young college couple is stunned. The oldest pair is dubious. The jocks are joyous.

Danny and Lizzie discuss taking the step of getting married. He reasons that they should. Lizzie counters that marriage goes against what they believe in.  As they weigh their options, they think about how their baby would be "our first collaboration" ("What Could Be Better?"). In self-congratulatory fashion, they contemplate what musical talents, what looks, what brains the little one might inherit from two perfect specimens like themselves.

Alan and Arlene, dressed in jogging outfits, are exercising. They attempt to recall the night that they celebrated their anniversary with champagne (a whole bottle?) Well, she remembers, bottles number "one and two / I do recall / Three and four I don't recall at all." Alan is joyful and finds the prospect of a new family exciting. Arlene is concerned, perhaps a bit horrified, because of her age ("The Plaza Song").

Nicki and Pam are pleased and giddy about their conception success ("Baby, Baby, Baby"). Lights come up on Alan and Arlene dancing the cha-cha. Danny and Lizzie join in the song.

The scene shifts to the doctor's office, where all three expectant mothers meet. Pam is eagerly enjoying her pregnancy. They exchange details on themselves and their partners. Lizzie has every practical step of the way mapped out so her career won't be deterred. Pam and Arlene join her in sharing their hopes and aspirations for their pregnancies and beyond ("I Want It All").

As future parents, Nicki consoles Danny, who wants to marry Lizzie, and advises him to give her air and give her space ("At Night She Comes Home to Me"). Danny itemizes his "history" of playing punk rock, dying his hair and wearing a nose ring, but now, when he expresses his desire to marry Lizzie for the child's sake, he's considered peculiar and out of step. The scene ends with a quick cut to an angry Pam slamming her basketball down after being told that she's not pregnant after all. Crushed, she melts into Nicki's arms.

Danny pleads with Lizzie for them to marry. When she refuses, he realizes that he must take the job that he was offered with a punk rock group (which he hates) in order to support them and their child out of wedlock.

Once again, the student chorus chimes in and comments on the passage of time. Now it's May.

Pam and Nicki are talking to their doctor about trying in vitro. Nicki confesses that she feels a little left out in the conception process but is determined to support Pam through it. The doctor takes Pam to get started.

Danny bursts onto a baseball field during a warmup with Alan, Nicki, and other faculty members, wearing a punk costume and announcing that he has joined a band for a summer-long gig that will allow him to make "big bucks" for his kid. As Alan and the other faculty members tell Danny about the joys and woes of fatherhood ("Fatherhood Blues"), Nicki gets excited and hopeful about having a kid of her own.

Despite his happiness at the prospect of being a father again, Alan understands Arlene's hesitancy of going through with the birth at their age. After raising three daughters, she wants a chance now just to be a couple again, to sell their house, and maybe get her Masters degree. Alan agrees to find a doctor for an abortion and to sell the house.

At a bus stop, Danny and Lizzie say goodbye as he leaves for his summer tour with the band.... Mr. Hart, a real estate broker, evaluates Alan and Arlene's home.... Nicki and Pam are keeping their passion aflame while going through in vitro ("Romance"). With his goodbye, Danny slips a ring onto Lizzie's finger ("I Chose Right"). She's not marrying him, but he's marrying her. Arlene announces to the realtor that the place is not for sale after all and that they'll need the extra space for the baby.

We see Lizzie at the mirror in her room, observing her growing belly. She stops, amazed, as she feels... "It moved!" She calls Danny and her mother, but both calls go to voicemail. Alone now, she sees that she has to face this on her own ("The Story Goes On").

Act Two

Mid-August. Lizzie, five-months pregnant and showing every moment of it, is confronted by women whom she meets on the street and who feel obligated to tell her about their own pregnancies, deliveries, and children — all in graphic detail that is rather off-putting for Lizzie ("The Ladies Singing Their Song").

Arlene, also five-months heavy with child, seriously looking inside herself, contemplates her life; expressing her fears, having her doubts, losing her nerve, but telling herself that she is fine ("Patterns").

Pam and Nicki, in their bedroom, get ready for another hormone injection ("Romance –  Reprise"). The scene fades and comes up again on the pair, this time in the hopsital after Pam has gone through fertilization. They are both exhausted and impatient from the process. Tensions run high, and a fight ensues.

The ensemble reflects on the season at hand, autumn.

After having dinner with Arlene on their porch, Alan sits alone and contemplates how much simpler it is to love children than to love one's spouse. The demands between husbands and wives are so much more complicated because they see each other so clearly, whereas the children look upon their parents with admiration and a sense of awe ("Easier to Love").

Pam runs into Lizzie on campus and tells her that Arlene lost the baby. Lizzie visits Arlene in her hopsital room and comforts her.

Lizzie greets Danny at the bus stop as he returns from the tour. The scene shifts to Lizzie and Danny's apartment. She places his hand on her belly to allow him to feel the baby kick. After much back and forth, they decide to get married. No matter how uncertain the road ahead is, they will face it together ("Two People in Love").

As they leave the hospital, Alan and Arlene reassess their marriage ("And What If We Had Loved Like That"). They decide it's time to separate for a bit.

After going for a run, Pam tells Nicki she can't do in vitro anymore. Nicki tells her that she's all she needs to feel complete ("With You").

Arlene is staying at her daughter's place. Alan calls her and tells her he wants to make her fall in love with him again. He asks Arlene out on a date.

Lights come up on Danny and Lizzie. He is reading from a baby manual. Suddenly, she feels that she is going into labor. ("Finale: The Story Goes On (Reprise)") Alan and Arlene appear onstage, planning their date. Pam and Nicki appear in bed, deciding to try conceiving again. Meanwhile, the nurses and doctor who are urging Lizzie to "push." Blackout. The sound of a baby crying.