Young Voices, New Vision: Muny Kids and Teens Help Reinvent a Musical

Young Muny talent has stepped into the spotlight to help reshape a musical by acclaimed writer Cheri Steinkellner. Over two days in April, 18 Muny Kids and Teens were part of a workshop aimed at revising Hello! My Baby for contemporary audiences.

It’s a first-of-its-kind partnership seven years in the making. Tali Allen, The Muny’s director of education, first connected with Steinkellner while working at another theatre company.

“We’ve been trying to make this happen ever since,” Allen said. “When I came to The Muny, with the resources and support here, I finally thought, ‘OK, we can do this.’”

Originally conceived nearly 15 years ago as a jukebox-style musical using standards from the Great American Songbook, Hello! My Baby reimagines classic Tin Pan Alley tunes through the lens of youthful ambition, mistaken identity and gender disguise.

But like many musicals, it’s a living work — one that grows with time and culture.

“Our conversation around identity has grown so much bigger and more expansive,” Steinkellner said. “I thought back then I was just writing a fun trouser comedy — we put on the pants so we can do a different job. Now I realize there’s a different story that we can tell with this about identity.”

Hello! My Baby follows Betty, a factory girl in the early 20th century who becomes the best song plugger in New York City — by posing as a boy named Buddy.

Allen said it’s rare to find a musical built specifically for young performers.

“While I think this show will have great commercial success, young performers do not have a lot of access or familiarity to the Great American Songbook,” she said. “There’s not a lot of material for them to connect to because those musicals aren’t often produced at their high schools.”

The connection between performer and character was key for Steinkellner. She earned a Tony nomination for writing the book for the Broadway musical Sister Act and is an Emmy-winning writer best known for her work on the hit TV series Cheers.

“For as long as I’ve been doing Broadway theatre, I was also working with high school and middle school groups,” she said. “And I realized how difficult it is to find those shows where the young population can really immerse themselves in the characters. Yes, I have worked with sixth-grade Tevyes. But to write a cast of teen characters and give the kids a transformative experience of playing people with entirely different lives but entirely the same feelings felt really important to me.”

Steinkellner invited Will Roland to join the process at The Muny. He originated the role of Jared Kleinman in the Broadway company of Dear Evan Hansen and will star in Get Happy, another Broadway-bound musical written by Steinkellner.

Input from the Muny Kids and Teens has been invaluable to the process of reimagining Hello! My Baby, Roland said.

“The way that they have approached the material is so informative for us,” he said. “To have young voices reading this text is really helping us clarify who these people are.”

Steinkellner said the young performers’ instincts allowed her to edit the script in real time during the reading.

“In a great creative collaboration, I’ve learned that everything gets heightened and everything gets better,” she said. “And we’re really collaborating with the kids. They don’t know it, but as they speak, I’m hearing: ‘Oh, he stumbled over that, and he wanted to say this. I’m gonna write in the natural thing instead.’”

Will Schulte, 15, read the role of Junior Tierney at the workshop. The Muny Teen said he’s used to playing characters that others have tackled before — ones he can watch on YouTube — but this was an entirely new experience.

“I’ve never really been in a role where I’m the first one doing it,” he said. “It feels very significant that I’m the first one bringing it to life and being part of a show that hasn’t been created yet and maybe making it something for the world to see.”

Leia Rhiannon Yogi, 17, said the work of developing a musical isn’t how people might imagine it to be. She read the role of Betty Gould/Buddy O’Reilly.

“Being a part of the process of something that nobody knows about feels so special to me,” she said. “I know I’m a part of a growing process, and I’m so excited to see how it turns out.”

This script workshop, which ended with an audience of parents and Muny staff members, was a first for the Muny Kids and Teens, Allen said.

“They always say they like coming to The Muny because they’re learning, but it’s just all fun at the same time,” she said. “So that’s the medicine in the candy, you know? The education they’re getting in this process is invaluable, and they will carry it with them for the rest of their lives.”

Steinkellner is hopeful about where Hello! My Baby might go next.

“I’m setting an intention destination: I want this show on the Muny stage — with fireworks,” she said. “I’m just putting it in the universe. Let’s just see what happens!”

Muny Kids and Teens are the flagship programs offered by The Muny’s Crawford Taylor Education Initiative. Learn more at muny.org/education.

This article originally appeared in the spring 2025 edition of Behind the Booms, a publication for Muny Guarantors.