By Jenn McKee
Since the long-running off-Broadway musical revue "I Love You, You're Perfect, Now Change" – now being presented by HappenStance Productions at Novi's Andiamo Theatre – focuses on relationships, let me put my response to the show in these terms: Did you ever go on a date with someone who was nice enough, and who tried hard to win you over, but who just didn't do much of anything for you? Well, I'm really sorry, self-consciously-long-titled-show, but I'm just not that into you.
And I won't use the old saw, "It's not you, it's me" – because that wouldn't be true. The fault squarely lies with the show's narrow, bland material, rather than with the four hard-working performers (Maxwell Bolton, Jennifer Graham, Kristin Hardy, and Aaron T. Moore) who do their level best to breathe life into some rather tired dating/marriage/parenting cliches.
Moore may well be the production's MVP, making a song about a guy being dragged to a chick flick better than it has any right to be; and delivering the goods on the show's most genuinely sweet and heartfelt song, "Shouldn't I Be Less in Love With You?"
Similarly, Graham gets to make use of her considerable comic and vocal skills on "Always a Bridesmaid," among others, while also offering a poignant moment as a divorcee struggling to make a dating video. And Bolton and Hardy both sing well and commit completely to each character they play. So I ultimately came away from "I Love You" feeling like this quartet of performers simply deserved a better show.
But what's "I Love You" like? Well, serviceable, largely jokey musical numbers that are just this side of catchy – with book and lyrics by Joe DiPietro and music by Jimmy Roberts – follow a bunch of different characters through a loose arc of adulthood, spanning from the first dates of young singledom to an elderly man and woman meeting cute at a funeral.
Of course, in order for most jokes to really connect, they have to be both familiar and a little surprising. "I Love You"'s humor is heavy on the former, light on the latter. There are folks lying about their interests on a first date; a woman who's waiting for a man to call her; a guy who hates shopping with his wife; a man who just wants to watch the football game; two super-nerds on a date; a young couple that's so over-the-moon about their new bundle of joy that their well-meaning, single friend feels alienated; and a couple scrambling to have sex while constantly being called away by two kids.
Multicultural relationships? Those who love being single? Gay and/or lesbian couples? Love outside the parameters of the middle class? In the safe, white-bread world of "I Love You," such nuances don't exist, and the show is the worse for it.
Plus, there may be a little something lost when the show is done beyond Manhattan's borders, since "We Had It All" features a woman who's so busy that she wants to skip the first date, and the whole relationship, just to save time. Certainly, Midwesterners are familiar with over-packed schedules and stress; but the character doesn't quite have the same resonance and impact that it does in the city that never sleeps.
Christina Johnson's direction is fine, despite occasionally awkward staging; and music director R. MacKenzie Lewis has done some really good work with the performers (though the sub who played piano for Friday night's performance clanked some notes here and there).
Overall, though, the problem is that while the show strives to be loved comfortably, like a partner at the apex of a courtship, it instead resembles an early date; for the audience's laughter and the applause on Friday felt far more polite than spontaneous.
REVIEW:
'I Love You, You're Perfect, Now Change'
Andiamo Novi Theatre, 42705 Grand River Ave., Novi. Wednesday-Sunday through April 9; no performances on March 31 or April 10. $30-$35 for show only; $79.95-$89.85 per couple for dinner & show packages. 248-348-4448. http://www.andiamonovitheatre.com.
