By Dale King
If you could capture TV’s Love American Style, move it intact to a theatrical stage and add some upbeat music with snappy, imaginative lyrics, you’d be close to recreating the funky and offbeat relationship comedy, I Love You, You’re Perfect, Now Change.
Based on a book by prolific playwright Joe Di Pietro, with music by Jimmy Roberts and lyrics by Di Pietro, I Love You… takes a skewed look at dating, romance, marriage, lovers, husbands, wives and in-laws, told in a series of vignettes connected by a progressive theme. The 1996 comedy that played off-Broadway for 12 years continues at the Stage Door Theater in Coral Springs through Sunday.
A stellar cast of only four does yeoman duty to make this production work. After each skit, the stage goes dark, but there is clearly activity by people setting up the next scene. Actors usually run backstage to slip quickly into another outfit for their next stint on stage. It seems like a lot of work, but, ultimately, the performers seem cool in their roles that vary considerably.
For some reason, DiPietro gives none of the performers an identity. They are known simply as Man 1 (Brad Rakushin), Man 2 (Michael Linden), Woman 1 (Shenise Nunez) and Woman 2 (Jill Taylor Anthony). All are talented troupers with excellent voices and fine stage presence.
The show is reminiscent of the Allan Sherman compilation, Hello Muddah, Hello Faddah, which played here last year. While the Sherman show traces the life of a man and woman from childhood through marriage to old age, I Love You… does the same for anyone — and everyone — who ever endured a first date, waited for a callback, got married, had a baby, tried to wedge sex and child-rearing into the same evening and, finally, dealt with old age.
There are plenty of skits — 11 in Act I, nine in Act 9 — with songs to match. In “Cantata for a First Date,” the full cast has to undress and dress in their finest on stage while singing about — and preparing for — a first date. The song gets the show moving on a rapid comic note, and even more toe-tapping tunes follow.
“Single Man Drought” gives Anthony and Nunez a chance to bewail the scarcity of single men. Anthony offers a flip and funny assessment of hideous bridesmaids’ dresses in “Always a Bridesmaid.” In the song “Tear Jerk,” Linden laments being dragged to a “chick flick,” then doesn’t understand why he ends up crying.
One of the funniest combos is a segment called “Satisfaction Guaranteed,” a commercial parody by the law firm Jacoby & Meyers & Masters & Johnson that promises couples better sex through contractual agreements. “If you’re partner doesn’t get you off, we’ll get you money,” says Linden as the legal huckster.
While the bit shows a couple moving suggestively under a comforter on a bed, the play only hints at sex, but doesn’t present much that would offend sensitive audience members.
DiPietro is known more for craftsmanship than dirty talk or actions. A couple of his works, The Last Romance and Over the River and Through the Woods, have played at the Stage Door and Delray Beach Playhouse this year and last. Roberts’s perky music aptly matches the lighthearted nature of the comedy.
The play is just a tad dated, rarely if ever dipping into the high-tech social media pool of the 21st century. Still, most of the material remains timeless in its easygoing look at the American mating game and marriage which has remained pretty much unchanged over the years.
Comedy is the goal of this show. But Rakushin delivers the most moving, non-humorous song of the evening, “Shouldn’t I Be Less in Love With You?” He portrays a middle-aged man who observes his wife (Anthony) over morning coffee and realizes that, despite life’s troubles, he is exactly where he wants to be with the one person he loves as much now as ever. It’s a lovely, underplayed moment.
“Funeral” is a close second on the sentimentality scale. The song sweetly observes two older people (Linden, Anthony) as they become attracted to each other during a wake.
Dan Kelley directs this entertaining ensemble and also provides musical staging. Pianist Elijah Gee and violinist Silvana Lanfredi more than adequately crank out the background tunes. Larry Bauman designed the many, many costumes needed for the players to switch from character to character throughout the show.
I Love You, You’re Perfect, Now Change plays through Sunday at the Stage Door Theater, 8036 W. Sample Road, Coral Springs. For tickets, call 954-344-7765.