[3] The musical then opened Off-Broadway at The Public Theater on November 14, 1989 and closed on December 17, 1989.

The cast featured Lillias White, Cleavant Derricks, Victor Trent Cook, Rufus Bonds, Jr., James Stovall, and Alix Korey.

[5][6][7] The musical ran at Finn's Barrington Stage Company's Musical Theatre Lab from August 14, 2014 to August 31, 2014, with a new book by Finn's The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee collaborator Rachel Sheinkin.

[8] The cast featured David Benoit, Lance Fletke, Alan H. Green, Demond Green, Anne Kanengeiser, Theresa Kloos, Alix Korey, Andrea Leach, Michael Mandell, Christina Acosta Robinson, and Aaron Serotsky.

[9] Hennie, a pregnant woman who works in the soup kitchen, decides not to give birth until children have a better world.