Each month, Jason Fortner spotlights one or more musical theatre composers and/or lyricists, offering his own unique perspective on the songwriting legends of musical theatre. Send your comments/questions on this column to happgood@aol.com.

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Since the online publication of this column is between Mother’s Day and Father’s Day, I thought we’d delve into the idea of parenting and the Broadway musical. Mothers & Fathers play a crucial part in our lives, and Broadway musical writers have often brought them to the stage. (And while there is only one way to spell Father, Broadway writers have written the word "Mama" in a variety of spellings, so I'll endeavor to use the author’s intended spelling in each of the following examples.)

Our first song is from the musical I CAN GET IT FOR YOU WHOLESALE, by Harold Rome & Jerome Weidman. In it, not so lovable leading man Harry Bogen sweeps his devoted Mother off her feet with the song Momma, Momma, telling her all the things his newfound wealth can buy her. Later, when things are bleak, Mother tries to make things better with the poignant Eat A Little Something. Another loving son, Tony Esposito in Frank Loesser’s THE MOST HAPPY FELLA seeks advice and comfort by singing to his Mamma, Mamma up in heaven throughout the show. (Good thing there’s not a PSYCHO THE MUSICAL…well not yet, anyways!)

Another great musical Mother moment happens in the London production of SNOOPY, the second musical dealing with the Peanuts gang. In this show Snoopy belts out Mother’s Day, a Jolson-esque ditty about finding his Mother, and if he did then "every day will be Mother’s Day." Larry Grossman & Hal Hackady created a marvelous, tuneful score for SNOOPY, as they did for an earlier musical they wrote centered around a Mother, MINNIE’S BOYS. This rarely produced musical tells the story of the Marx Brothers in their early days as traveling Vaudevillians with overbearing stage mama Minnie, played by the late Shelly Winters, pushing them to fame and fortune. This is a score full of musical gems, from the oft-used audition favorite Mama, A Rainbow to the title tune Minnie’s Boys.

Of course, pushy stage mothers are nothing new to the stage, as exemplified by Mama Rose in the Jule Styne/Stephen Sondheim/Arthur Laurents classic GYPSY. From the first shout of "sing out Louise" in the back of the theater to the final minor truce between Rose and Louise at show’s end, this musical landmark packs a powerful punch that’s both for and against strong family ties. Rose’s utterance of the words "mama; mama" during her musical nervous breakdown Rose’s Turn have produced many a frisson among theatergoers over the years, regardless of the grande dame playing the role. Another more recent backstage family based musical would be RUTHLESS!, a cross between The Bad Seed, All About Eve, and a Shirley Temple film gone bad created by the talented team of Marvin Laird and Joel Paley. This show is clever, tuneful and fun, with numbers like Tina’s Mother and Parents & Children that drive home the familial bond that can drive us all to acts of mayhem.

Sweeter, but still persuasive, is Mama Mizner in the Stephen Sondheim /John Weidman musical BOUNCE, the epic tale of brothers Addison & Wilson Mizner’s search for gold, fame, love and happiness. In a cut number, Addison dreams of designing A Little House For Mama while Papa Mizner, on his musical deathbed, urges his sons to get out there and get the Gold before he kicks the bucket. Speaking of Papas and riches, none did better on Broadway than Mayer Rothschild, the proud patriarch in the Jerry Bock/ Sheldon Harnick/ Sherman Yellen musical THE ROTHSCHILDS. In this epic show, the family progresses from poor inhabitants of the Frankfurt ghetto to running the richest banking houses across Europe. In his moving anthem Sons, Mayer sets the plan in motion to build a banking empire.

Of course, many people compared THE ROTHSCHILDS with FIDDLER ON THE ROOF, largely due to the fact that Bock & Harnick wrote both scores dealing with Jewish families, but both shows are brilliant on their own. In the rousing opening number for FIDDLER, Tradition, we get to meet the proud Papas, the hardworking Mamas, the loyal Sons and the hopeful Daughters. This classic musical raises many questions about the struggle of upholding family traditions and bending with the world's changes. Some of these same thoughts pervade in INTO THE WOODS, a breathtaking reworking of classic fairy tales by Stephen Sondheim and James Lapine. Almost everyone in the show has family issues, and in the darker second act the characters reflect on the roles and responsibilities of parents and children. The incredible Children Will Listen ties it all up, not necessarily into a neat bundle, but into a hopeful one.

Throughout Broadway history family ties have abounded in show characters. One of the highlights in the second half of the musical WORKING is the poignant number Fathers & Sons, a minor masterpiece by Stephen Schwartz. Like Cat’s In The Cradle by Harry Chapin (and featured in the off-Broadway Chapin revue LIES & LEGENDS) , it’s a lament on the awful toll time can take on father/son relationships. Less heartbreaking and much more fun is the Fatherhood Blues number from the Maltby & Shire musical BABY. Of course, this being a show about three couples having babies, songs about motherhood and fatherhood abound, but I think The Story Goes On is one of the best examples of great storytelling in modern theatrical song. Pregnancy itself is featured in many a musical, often driving the plot. It’s Julie’s impending motherhood that drives father-to-be Billy Bigelow to commit a crime in Rodgers & Hammerstein’s CAROUSEL, it’s Rizzo’s false pregnancy that causes great angst in Jacob & Casey’s GREASE, it’s Lady Larkin’s secret pregnancy that prompts the presentation of Princess Winifred in Mary Rodgers/Marshall Barer/Jay Thompson/Dean Fuller’s ONCE UPON AMATTRESS, it’s the impending motherhood of DESSA ROSE in Flaherty & Ahrens musical that keeps her away from criminal execution and it’s Mary’s unexpected announcement of "expecting" that stops the impeachment and saves the presidency in the Gershwins’ OF THEE I SING!

Yes, babies and parents are featured all over the Broadway musical spectrum. The musical STOP THE WORLD-I WANT TO GET OFF, by Bricusse & Newly, begins with the birth of the leading character Littlechap and features several numbers about the consequences of unwanted pregnancies, parenting and children. And while we’re on the subject, poor distraught Sarah buries her newborn baby alive in Your Daddys Son in Flaherty & Ahrens epic RAGTIME, but thankfully the baby survives the ordeal. Later in the same show, Mother & Tateh sing about Our Children, a song title that also served as a duet years before in the Charles Strouse /Lee Adams/ Mel Brooks musical for Ray Bolger entitled ALL AMERICAN. And though some parents speak & sing lovingly of their children, in CARRIE, written by Michael Gore, Lawrence D. Cohen & Dean Pitchford, Mrs. White and her daughter engage in a battle of wills (and telekinetic powers) that results in catastrophic results!

But perhaps our best example of the power of family values comes from the musical SOUTH PACIFIC, by Rodgers & Hammerstein. In this show, Lt. Cable is furious at the opposition he faces in loving a Tonkinese girl, and lashes out about the prejudices a family can instill in their children in the deceptively simple Carefully Taught. Here’s part of the brilliant lyric:

You've got to be taught before it's too late,

Before you are six or seven or eight,

To hate all the people your relatives hate,

You've got to be carefully taught!

These lyrics pack a punch, and caused many people to pressure the authors (and original novelist James Michener) to drop Carefully Taught from the show. The authors stood their ground and the song stayed.

So, that about wraps up this family outing. As Harold Rome wrote in the musical FANNY, Be Kind To Your Parents. Enjoy these lyrics as you think about your own family ties:

Be kind to your parents, though they don’t deserve it

Remember they’re grownups, a difficult stage of life

They’re apt to be nervous, and over excited

Confused from their daily storm and strife.

Just keep in mind, tho’ it sounds odd I know

Most parents were once children long ago. Incredible!

So treat them with patience and sweet understanding

In spite of the foolish things they do!

Some day you may wake up and find

You’re a parent too!