Richard Uhrlaub’s For the Record(s) Tells a Very Personal Story in Song

It’s the mid-90s, and Joshua Greenman (Gabe DeRose) is on an emotional journey. His adoptive parents Eliana (Taylor Simon) and Fred (Josh Ilan) have given him a good life and a loving home. But they didn’t tell him he was adopted until he was 11 years old, and then only because Joshie (as his mom calls him) was getting teased at sleepaway camp as the rumor leaked out. This triggers an identity crisis and sends him on a mission to find out who he is and who gave him away, and why. But answers are hard to come by in a complicated world, as Joshua learns all too quickly.

For the Record(s) is a deeply resonant musical about a sensitive subject from someone who understands. An adoptee himself, Richard Uhrlaub, MEd (book, music and lyrics) is a renowned adoptee advocate, speaker, and legislative advocate; he is also a contributing author and collaborator for Finding Our Place: 100 Memorable Adoptees, Fostered Persons and Orphanage Alumni.

“I try not to think about her,” Joshua initially says regarding his adoptive mother. “She didn’t want me anyway, so what’s the point?”

But in a devastating flashback to 1967, we learn that this wasn’t true. The play is constructed in a way that allows the audience to find out the full truth before Joshua does, which creates tremendous dramatic tension and great sympathy for the confused young man and the characters that inhabit the story. His teenage birth mom Blanca Gonzales (Lauren Cristina Updyke) wants to keep the baby but is pressured not to by the authority figures around her. To add to the heartbreak, the father, Joey (Michael Norman) is being sent to Vietnam, and has no legal right to the baby as the couple are unwed.

And Joshua’s suggestion that he doesn’t think of his birth mom proves untrue as well:

“What does she look like, is she OK?” he sings. “Would she remember me if we met today?”

Joshua has joined a support group where he bonds with Link (Christopher Cheng), an adoptee of Korean descent who is in danger of being deported to a country he’s never set foot in. The dynamic Riki Stevens in Germaine, who counsels and helps Joshua and the adoptees as what she calls a “Search Angel.” Sabrina Acosta is Consuela, the grandmother Joshua never knew he had, who welcomes him home in a tear-jerking scene. Paul Fraccalvieri, also an adoptee, plays Father Kilpatrick, and Heidi-Liz Johnson is Sister Magdalene; Maija Johnson and Daniel Calderon round out the exceptional cast.

The relationship dynamics and emotions surrounding this delicate situation are handled with sensitivity, and the complexity of the circumstances and the people facing them are realistic, clearly the work of someone who’s lived through them. Joshua and both his sets of parents are all confused and devastated by events, and all are portrayed with sympathy. The problems of navigating the adoption system and the rulings of the United States courts are also a powerful part of the narrative. Thus, For the Record(s) is not only a riveting theatre experience, but an education on what real-life adoptees and all involved on a familial and legal level genuinely go through.

The 18 songs accompanying the story add to the emotional weight, and are beautifully rendered by the leads and ensemble. They are also tremendously catchy; highlights are the opening soul number “Baby Fever” and the gospel rouser “Testify.” The drama is peppered with humor and warmth as well, giving the characters a three-dimensionality that adds depth to the already emotional story.

The musical arrangements are by Dan Sander-Wells, who performed keyboards at the reading, accompanied by Will Shishmanian (guitar), Ryan Blivohde (drums) and Keaton Viavattine (bass and orchestration).

The play was given a staged reading (directed by Abigail Rebekah) at The Producers Club in spring 2026 in cooperation with the New Step Theatre Festival. It provided a terrific preview of what will no doubt be a memorable theatrical experience once fully realized, and a deeply moving experience for anyone who has searched for a sense of both self and genuine connection.

To learn more about For the Record(s), visit https://www.ftrmusical.com.