The Show

Limerick-loving, greeting card writer Anne Stein and tradition-bound, dermatologist Clay Cabbage fall madly in love. Anne is so in love that, after Clay proposes, she refuses to see him until their wedding day, terrified she’ll do or say something that will make him change his mind (Anymore). Anne and Clay marry and settle in Chicago. They soon have two perfect kids, irrefutable proof that Anne and Clay were meant to be (We Made Kids). Everything — their love, their kids, their careers — is new and exciting.

Fast forward 20 years. The kids are gone, Anne and Clay can do their jobs in their sleep, sex is infrequent and uninspired, and the little idiosyncrasies they once found charming are no longer so charming (Behind the Wheel). Contemplating the future, Anne realizes she needs more, beginning with more passion in the bedroom (Main Line Philly Sex). When Clay says he’s giving all he’s got to give, Anne accepts a job with a greeting card company in Milwaukee, hoping her absence will reignite Clay’s passion (My Mini4).

Clay tries to convince himself he’s not the problem (It’s Normal). Meanwhile, off in Milwaukee, Anne fantasizes about having an affair (No, I Don’t (Yes, I Do).

Anne and Clay miss each other. Clay never misses Anne more than the night their son Blake, who is spending his spring break with Clay, fails to come home until dawn (Waiting Up).

A few months later, their daughter, Amanda, gives birth to Elle. Anne and Clay fly to California to meet her (“Elle”). Their love for Elle brings Anne and Clay closer. When Amanda brings Elle to Chicago for Thanksgiving, Clay is determined to be Elle’s favorite grandparent (The Baby Likes Me Best).

Anne has been waiting for Clay to beg her to come home ever since she went to Milwaukee. Clay hasn’t because he’s been afraid of what will happen if things aren’t better in bed. But after Amanda and Elle return to California, Clay can’t bear to watch Anne leave for Milwaukee, so he proposes a series of weekend dates. Anne is overjoyed. Her plan worked! Or maybe it didn’t. The dates are wonderful, yet Clay always comes up with a reason they can’t make love (Dating).

Anne is frustrated. Then, on her way to work one day, Anne bumps into Stu, a guy she used to date before she met Clay. Stu lives in Milwaukee! They go to dinner, and Anne has a great time. Terrified, she gets in her Mini and rushes home to Clay . She tells him about Stu. When Clay barely reacts, Anne begs him to show he cares (Fight for Me). When he can’t, Anne divorces him.

Alone in the family home, Clay peruses photos of his kids when they were young, and reflects back (Fatherhood).

Time passes. One day, Clay asks Anne to meet. He tells her he, too, has found a new love. Anne, now happily married to Stu, is devastated. She tells Clay she needs time to get used to the idea. When Clay adds that his new love is also named Stu, Anne realizes she’ll need a little more time than she’d thought (How Do You Measure a Marriage?).

Eventually, Anne and Clay meet again. Their marriage may be over, but they’re best friends who share a history, children and an abiding love. They agree they have nothing to regret (Do It All Again).

Bonus track: (Blind Date), the story of Anne and Stu’s initial meeting, back when they were kids.

The Backstory

Danny and I first started writing together in William Finn’s lyric writing class at NYU Tisch’s Graduate Musical Theater Writing Program in 2016. In the spring of our second year, Bill offered us two nights in “Mr. Finn’s Cabaret” at Barrington Stage Company that summer. 

Danny and I were thrilled, but what to write? About a month later, Bill told us; He said we should write what “only Lauren could write,” a show about a long relationship, since, at the time, I had been married longer than most of my classmates had been alive. Bill also gave the show its title: Regretting Almost Everything.

We spent most of the summer working and writing in Bill’s living room. After a week of rehearsal, the show went up in August 2017. It featured Anne L. Nathan as Anne, and Jeff Blumenkrantz as Clay. I narrated. Danny played drums and guitar. Our classmates Benji Goldsmith, Jacob Fjeldheim, and Emily Chiu comprised the rest of the on-stage orchestra. It was a beautifully collaborative experience.

Unbeknownst to us, the cabaret reviewer and photographer, Stephen Sorokoff, was in the audience. He gave Regretting a glowing review and, on the strength of that review, we were invited to do the show again at 54 Below in April of 2018.

In the intervening years, we expanded Regretting into a full-length, two-person book musical.  When we decided to make this album, we had no idea what we were getting into. However, now that it’s done, we can state unequivocally: We don’t regret anything! We hope you enjoy listening to it as much as we enjoyed making it.

Boundless gratitude to Kathy Sommer and Matt Anthony (Alchemy Music) for their kindness, patience, skill and care, Rachel Sheinkin and Clifford Lee Johnson, III, for their guidance, and our friend and mentor William Finn, whose faith in us has kept us writing.

— Lauren Taslitz