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Silly Love Songs
Good music and staging enliven familiar situations in
I Love You, You're Perfect, Now Change.
What is love? Is it grand, all you need, pointless heartache, or all that and more? Maybe it's simply a modern-day marketing ploy to move everything from music to bars of soap. Who knows? Calling love easy, predictable, or logical certainly makes no sense. But with affairs of the heart, almost any adjective or descriptive turn of phrase rings as true as another. I Love You, You're Perfect, Now Change tackles romantic love's wonder, complexity, and confusion with laughter and song. In other words, it has fun with that crazy little thing we can all relate to. Short vignettes -- some musical, others skits -- take the place of a linear, cohesive whole. The actors (Todd Hart, Neil Mowles, Lois Sonnier, and Jenny Thurman) switch partners, roles, and names throughout. The point perhaps is that since the entanglements of love apply equally, it's best to universalize rather than focus on the unique situations of set characters. The creation of man and woman sets off the battle of the sexes and establishes love's choppy waters from the get-go. Jumping a few thousand years forward, various couples move from first date to death. No, not on the same night -- it just feels that way sometimes. In between, sex, parents, and babies complicate matters. Most of it works. The unrelated parts relate. Cheery fun drives the musical so that the cynicism never becomes so deep that it curdles things. A love-is-good vibe flows throughout without forgetting liberal doses of confusion and frustration. The play both is and isn't a romantic valentine. In other words, I Love You will instantly grab the Julia Roberts-romance crowd, while its charms will quickly lighten up those who prefer deeper, darker fare. The show tunes and humor map love's uneven topography. Such material ought not to amount to more than strung-together clichés. Actually, the very over-familiar nature of the material works to its advantage. Sure, it's easy to dismiss women waiting for phones to ring or bored-to-death men stuck holding the purse while their girlfriends traverse the mall as overdone and obvious. Yet it's obvious because most of us have been there. More help comes from the players' acting and singing as well as clever staging. "On the Highway of Love," for instance, features parents and kids driving to grandmother's house. Filled with men who won't ask directions and women who backseat drive, the piece works thanks to hilarious lyrics and staging: rolling office chairs in unison across the stage to indicate the traveling car. "Tear Jerk" finds a guy regretting his date's chick-flick choice, longing for gunplay, wrecked cars, and hot babes in skimpy outfits. Soon enough, the guy grows teary-eyed over the onscreen mush, facing the embarrassment of crying in front of a woman he hardly knows. Another song, "Single Man Drought," captures first-date nervous small talk and little white lies, staccato background music echoing tension and silent jitters. In a singles group, a sentenced-to-life inmate (prisoner number 90210) scares unattached thirtysomethings straight into marriage. Parental expectations, love post-romance, single friends enduring baby talk, and slide shows of Junior receive their proper send-ups. Since sex comprises a big chunk of love, the language and references get bawdy at times, though not actually blue. The play is PG-equivalent, objectionable only for small children and the overly sensitive. Music and dialogue share stage time almost equally. The music is great fun. Selections range from the basic Broadway show-tune stuff to Cole Porterish to rousing Grease-like pop. There are even a couple of bluesy, gospel-tinged numbers thrown in. The actors all have strong, fine singing voices and skillful, inventive dance moves. Pianist Jeff Lankov and violinist Chris Smith sit onstage. Their musicianship complements the play, as do their often-priceless reactions. Smith especially seemed bemused by the action around her throughout. Act 2's initial music, "Cantata Reprise #2," has nothing to do with the play proper but drew applause for virtuosity and the couple's playful, phony-smug interaction. The songs work perfectly within the play, causing laughter, moving the story along, and keeping the audience going, but they don't really work outside the play. There are strong performances but no standout grabber à la Les Miserables' "On My Own" to hook the audience. People will no doubt retain numerous funny scenes and lines the next day but won't catch themselves humming any of the tunes. That's a small point, though. The only other flaw is a toward-the-end part concerning a couple of widowed seniors meeting at a funeral. Standing alone, the scene works. Fleshed out, it could even make for an interesting separate story. Stuck as it is within this play, however, the piece slows the pace considerably, especially coming so close to the end. All the same, I Love You, You're Perfect, Now Change is a blast. It puts a fresh spin on the familiar topics of love (both important and insignificant) without growing too serious. A crowd pleaser, it rises above empty froth (something most of this summer's movies can't claim) and balances humor and romance in a way that ought to appeal both to men and women. Due to its popularity and sellouts, Circle Theatre has extended the run through August 11. This may be the next Forever Plaid.
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