Baby It's You panned

DEDICATED TO THE SONGS WE LOVE: The reviewers were underwhelmed by the Broadway musical Baby It’s You, the story of Scepter Records founder Florence Greenberg and her hit group The Shirelles, which opened last night at the Broadhurst Theatre. N.Y. Daily News theater critic Joe Dziemianowicz dubbed the show, which features more than three dozen early-’60s hits, “the Lawrence Welk of jukebox musicals… ‘Walk on By’is my advice for this production, considering that the songs are so blandly performed they don't make an impression.” In the Post, Elisabeth.Vincentelli placed the blame on Colin Escott and Floyd Mutrux, “the team responsible for “the lame rockabilly fest” Million Dollar Quartet. Their new musical, she writes “wavers uneasily between Greenberg's life story and the Shirelles' career arc. As such, the show is neither fish nor fowl, but neither is it as foul as its authors' pedigree would suggest. Opportunistic is a better word: Many of those hits exemplify a kind of pop craftsmanship that peaked in the early '60s, and they still sound fantastic. It's easy to see why you'd want to put them onstage. They just deserved a better showcase.” (4/28a)