Theater review: Nothing is off limits in sassy 'Mom's the Word'

With Mother's Day around the corner, Actors Theater of Minnesota couldn't have timed the remounting of its 2001 production of "Mom's the Word" better. This down-and-diaper-pail-dirty celebration of motherhood probably wouldn't suit the saccharine sentiments of a Hallmark moment, but its zinging reality will resonate with any mother in the crowd.

Created by an ensemble of six performers, "Mom's the Word" is an amalgam of sketches, monologues, songs and dance numbers that detail the ins and outs of motherhood, often to raucously hilarious effect. From the trauma of childbirth to the overload of child-care literature, from leaky breasts to leaking diapers, no aspect of mothering is too intimate to be off-limits here.

The show is well suited to the Lowry Theater's cabaret-style setting. The action unfolds briskly on Tamatha Miller's simple set of platforms and giant wooden blocks, against a backdrop that includes a huge blow-up photo of a drooling infant. It opens with a litany of birthing horror stories and those all too unwelcome comments ("You're not due for three months? My God, you're the size of a barn!"), interspersed with nursery rhymes and lullabies. It shortly skews into one of the jazziest renditions of "Wheels on the Bus" you could ever hope to hear.

Director Peter Moore maintains a sprightly, well-modulated pace as the sketches and monologues flow seamlessly from one to the next. Most of these pieces are geared toward creating laughs and knowing groans from the audience, but there are poignant moments, as well. A recurring monologue, delivered with touching vulnerability by Emily Fradenburgh, revolves around the pain of watching a premature baby struggle for life in an incubator.

Mo Perry gives an amusingly over-the-top portrait of a cool hipster whom childbirth turns into a raging mother tiger, while Dawn Brody is hilariously nonplussed as a potty-mouthed mother embarrassed by her toddler's equally earthy language. The strong cast is rounded out by Elizabeth Mary Hawes, Amy James Armbrust and Christine Karki.

There are the occasional weaker moments in this production. A quiet reflection on the joys of motherhood toward the end of the show, for example, feels contrived in comparison to the fresh sassiness that precedes it. The highlights of "Mom's the Word" more than make up for any shortcomings. A couple of toe-tapping dance numbers in which all six women pirouette, spin and juggle with baby dolls are worth the price of admission in themselves.

Lisa Brock is a Minneapolis writer.