CMU School of Drama


Monday, September 15, 2014

Prop baby goes from CLO to Broadway

Pittsburgh Post-Gazette: Once upon a time there was a baby doll who was adopted by actors. He traveled the country, enchanting everyone he met. Fans followed his every move on social media and eventually on Broadway. And, as with so many great names of musical theater, the legend was born right here.

“I have a Pittsburgh story for you,” was how Matthew Gardiner began the tale.

3 comments:

Sasha Mieles said...

Honestly, this seems like a typical day in the life of a drama student at CMU. The fact that this is a new story is flabbergasting to me. In 33, we literally have a headless baby doll that we take care of for fun. That being said, it is really nice that people can appreciate the ridiculous things that we do. No one ever finds out about how we name our tools, and props, or how much we care about these inanimate objects. This article is still slightly ridiculous, though.

anna rosati said...

This is so absurd. I love it. As silly as it seems, it must be so exciting to send a piece of your theater off to such great heights, even if it's something as small as a prop baby. The article does a great job of explaining the significance of the baby, however. It is almost as if this object is an actor itself. By being the right weight and having a more realistic feel, it is giving the (human) actor something to play off of that does not feel as false or made-up. It's kind of crazy to think that the CLO's prop baby is a scene partner for many a Broadway star! If the baby can do it, so can we!

Alex Fasciolo said...

This story is the embodiment of the history that objects have. Where something comes from, who it used to belong to, and how it came to be what it is today can be very interesting stories. The average person doesn't look at a baby doll and think about what its history is, but this little guy made it to Broadway all because some people loved him enough. Another thing that strikes me about this story is the size of the professional theatre community, which must not be that large if a Chucky looking baby doll can make it to broadway in such a fashion. I would hope people can find themselves following a similar path that this prop baby did.