Free to Laugh with “It’s OK To Do Stuff”

With its songs and stories of individual expression and diversity, Free to Be…You and Me made a strong impact on my childhood in the ’70s. Marlo Thomas’s star-studded music and video production (which included the talents of Mel Brooks, Diana Ross, and Alan Alda, to name a few) continues to speak to kids, today. Its impact goes beyond making all kids feel included in a sometimes fractured world — it has inspired a bunch of talented contemporary comic writers to produce It’s OK to…Do Stuff. As a huge Free to Be… fan I am equally offended and entertained by this parody. This is what happens when we grow up in the “land that I see where the children run free” and end up fans of things like Avenue Q. Produced by Rob Kutner and the Levinson Brothers, and aimed at parents — and their snarky adolescent kids — it features Steven Page (formerly of the Barenaked Ladies) on  “Be Yourself…Unless” and Kimmy Gatewood and Colin Hanks (“Divorce Makes a Family Twice as Big”), among other notable contributors.