[NEohioPAL] Review of "I Love You Because"

[Bob Abelman]

Easy to like, hard to love musical comedy

 

Bob Abelman

News-Herald, Chagrin Valley Times, Solon Times, Geauga Times Courier

Member, International Association of Theatre Critics 

 

This review appeared in the News-Herald 2/6/09

 

 The romantic musical comedy I Love You Because, which opened last weekend at the 14th Street Theatre in downtown Cleveland, covers very familiar territory.  And not necessarily in the way its creators intended.



The plot concerns two twenty-something brothers, who dive headfirst into the New York City dating pool and surface with girls who could not be more mismatched.  Amidst a flurry of song and dance self-disclosures, with titles like "We're Just Friends," "The Perfect Romance" and "Maybe We Just Made Love," the intimate ebb and flow of their respective relationships are laid bare and explored in detail.  In the end, the brothers fall in love with these girls and all is right with the world.  



During the show's off-Broadway run in 2006, composer Joshua Salzman and lyricist Ryan Cunningham suggested that their production is a modern-day telling of Jane Austen's classic novel Pride and Prejudice.  That is, the featured characters fall in love because of, not in spite of, their significant differences.  Perhaps, but this is not what inspires that distinctive aftertaste of familiarity.

 

No, the waft of déjà vu that emanates from the stage is grounded in this show's blatant lack of originality. I Love You Because is as frantic and formulaic as a TV sitcom-a Friends with benefits.

 

Its small cast, minimal staging, pop-inspired playlist, and focus on the cycle of a relationship have an all-too-recognizable theatrical lineage as well.   I Love You Because is essentially I Do, I Do, The Last Five Years and dozens of other slice-of-life, cabaret-style romantic musical comedies that have graced the stage. 

 

Sure, there are differences.  Tom Jones and Harvey Schmidt's I Do, I Do is a sentimental exploration of a 50-year marriage told sequentially.  Jason Robert Brown's The Last Five Years dissects a bitter 5-year marriage by having the wife traveling backwards in time from the end of the relationship and the husband traveling forward from when they first met.  I Love You Because is saccharine-saturated fare that tends to go nowhere fast.

 

What its storyline lacks in innovation and what its fairly unremarkable songs lack in sophistication, this 14th Street Theatre performance of I Love You Because more than makes up for in entertainment value.  This is a very enjoyable, highly professional production, due exclusively to the creative team of local artisans that pieced it together.

 

Stage wizard Victoria Bussert's fun and fastidious direction and choreographer Martin Céspedes' trademark flair keep this production in a constant state of overdrive.  It has incredible momentum, facilitated by a tight three piece band under the direction of Matthew Webb, so there is never a dull or empty moment from start to finish.  The intimate stage, framed with Russ Borski's clever glass brick set design, is used to its fullest and is populated with talent galore.   

 

The immediately likable-OK, adorable-six-member cast comes complete with an abundance of comic instinct, attention-absorbing stage presence, and phenomenal voices.  Collectively, they lift the material to a higher plane and sell it as if it were beachfront property. Jodi Dominick and Jessica Cope as the girls, Corey Mach and Matt Lillo as the boys, and Kyle Primous and Ursula Cataan as an assortment of interesting New York denizens also bring their own distinctive qualities to their roles.  They transform fairly one-dimensional caricatures into richer characters.

 

With Valentine's Day quickly approaching, first-daters, those in a 5-year relationship and those celebrating a 50-year marriage may be looking for a fun, effortless and effervescent evening's entertainment.  They will find it in the cozy 14th Street Theatre. 

  

I Love You Because runs through May 17 at the 14th Street Theatre at Playhouse Square in downtown Cleveland.  For tickets, which range from $39.50-$44.50, call (216) 241-6000 or visit www.playhousesquare.org.

 
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