The first sketch in “Rated P for Parenthood” — one of those small-scale, audience-friendly, ninety-minute Off Broadway revues formulated with an eye to sitdown engagements across the land — features a new mother who has mass e-mailed a birth-photo that includes a clear shot of, and I quote, “her hoo-ha.” One can imagine regional theaters full of older auds screaming with laughter at talk of “hoo-has” and “daddy doing pushups on mommy’s stomach.” Whether they will sustain a show at Gotham’s Westside Theater is another question.
Authors Dan Lipton and David Rossmer (music and lyrics) and Sandy Rustin (book and lyrics) are alumni of another Off Broadway revue, “Don’t Quit Your Night Job.” The material here is on the generic side, with cliches to spare: Only one of the thirteen songs, “Morning Love Song,” stands out.
Otherwise, we get items like a mom singing “my son is smarter than me” and two moms singing “I am in lust with my son’s soccer coach.” There is also one touching sketch, midway through, about two dads on playground duty.
The four hardworking actors do an impressive job, called upon to play parents, children, doddering grandparents and more. Joanna Young, Chris Hoch and Courtney Balan are personable and versatile, with David Josefsberg proving especially adept. The three-piece band, however, seems unengaged.
