Thomas Beard in Person

Originally a concept album, Marlo Thomas's Free to Be . . . You and Me became a zesty icon of the revised cultural values emergent in the early seventies. The all-star cast, which included Mel Brooks, Roberta Flack, Tom Smothers, Dionne Warwick, and Michael Jackson, inspired candid quips about such touchy topics as self-image, divorce, race, and gender politics. No child of the seventies could be properly reared without exposure to this pop pep talk that was peppered with songs like "Boy Meets Girl," “William Wants a Doll,” and “Parents Are People.” Upon discovering several 16mm copies of Free to Be . . ., curators Thomas Beard and Nick Hallett enlisted a bevy of none-too-bashful present and post-boomers to rework or restage the original's all-too-memorable segments. Just remember: it's alright to cry.