Once upon a time, long, long ago in the American theater, boys met girls instead of boys. These boys and girls -- back then we called them "couples" -- would flirt, fight, and sing about everything in witty couplets. It was all very quaint and familiar, mildly pandering to cliches but generally honest -- and invariably hopeful -- about the nature of twosomes. Since boy/girl musicals have little place on the Rialto these days, we've had to settle for a spate of musical revues, most of them about the singles scene.
The Playbill cover for the sweetly titled, I Love You, You're Perfect, Now Change, shows the four person casting falling about, enjoying each other's company. It's a fitting photo, because director Joel Bishoff needs an exceptionally likable quartet to bring off Jimmy Roberts' conventional tunes and Joe DiPietro's eager-to-amuse lyrics. (Only recently did the long-running show lose its last-remaining original cast members to the L.A. company.) All four performers change costumes in record time to play yuppie singles, aging marrieds, intrusive friends, studs, dweebs and weirdos. It's all in the service of a lighter, more generalized take on territory covered by I Do! I Do!, that is, the love/hate aspects of falling in love.
To director Bishoff's credit, small comic touches make the difference throughout the show, such as the way a mother who discovers her son won't be marrying his girlfriend, hurls his engagement gift to the floor.
While some bits are sillier than they are savvy (a Jacoby & Myers lawyer does a pitch about suing your marital partner if he/she fails to satisfy in the sack), I Love You, You're Perfect, Now Change is that rare Off-Broadway throwback: a date show for breeders. I like it, it's imperfect, now check it out for yourselves.
