The mating game. There have been so many movies, songs, films and theatre productions about it. Stage West’s production I love you, You’re perfect, Now change is a musical revue about everything from the first date, to getting married, to finding love after your spouse passes. This musical, with book and lyrics by Joe DiPietro and music by Jimmy Roberts is an honest look at finding this thing we call love.
The first act of the show deals with finding and keeping love as well as getting married. Actors Daniel Greenberg, Kyla Musselman, Andrew Scanlon and Caitlin Stadnyk play various roles in each musical story, showing their ability to portray anyone at anytime. The first musical number ‘Cantata for a first date’ was a funny look at skipping the first date. And the second date. And basically the entire relationship. Right off the bat Stadnyk and Greenberg demonstrate their powerful voices. The first act’s stand out songs were ‘Single man drought’ because we’ve all been on that date and ‘I will be loved tonight’ because it’s a sweet story of a couple who have been dating for a while and she commits to making him his favourite meal (lasagna), that she has to google to learn how to make. The song that was a bit flat was ‘Hey there, single Gal/Guy where the parents are buying engagement gifts for their son, only to have their son announce that he and his girlfriend are breaking up. The entire musical number seemed a bit forced for all involved.
The second half deals more with marriage and kids and growing older. The song ‘Always a bridesmaid’ resonated for sure, especially about always buying dresses that you never wear again. The very first dating video of Rose Ritz was fun and explored dating after divorce and ‘I can live with that’ is about finding love at funerals.
I love you, You’re perfect, Now change has a great story arch even though you don’t follow the same characters and it makes for a fun and charming production. The band including Ian Robertson on keyboards, Jeremy Coates on bass and Jonathan D Lewis on violin really adds something special to the production. Anton de Groot’s set design is quite innovative with mobile doors on stage that each actor uses in their musical numbers, and frames on every inch of the stage. They are in the backdrop, on the pillars, everywhere. They are quite pretty, especially when lit with lighting design by Ian Martens, but don’t really fit into the production readily.
Stage West’s production of I love you, You’re perfect, Now change features some story-lines that resonate and some that fall flat, but it overall is a good production with great singing.
Stage West’s I love you, You’re perfect, Now change runs until November 12. More information is available online.