[NEohioPAL] REVIEW: I Love You, You're Perfect, Now Change, in North Canton

[Tom Wachunas via NEohioPAL]

The Delicious Indelicacies of Looking for Love
By Tom Wachunas
 
     When Frank Sinatra cheerily observed in a 1955
chart-topping hit, “Love and Marriage go together like a horse and carriage,” marriage
as a societal institution was regarded, if still only in theory, as fairly unsullied
and holy ground.  What the song didn’t tell us was that carriages will
lose wheels just as horses will go lame. Old Blue Eyes himself could well
attest to that. And were they alive today, such 1950s television champions of
“normal” family life as Ozzie and Harriet, the Cleavers and the Father who knew
best would no doubt feel like strangers in a strange land. 
    Long before 1996,
when Joe DiPietro (lyrics) and Jimmy Roberts (music) premiered their
off-Broadway musical comedy I Love You,
You’re Perfect, Now Change, societal ideas about the nuclear family and the
practices that sustained it had already undergone drastic changes, for better
or worse. ‘Be fruitful and multiply’ had morphed into the more complicated
pluralism of ‘be useful and multitask.’  The generally clever writing – often bordering on pure kitsch - is
alternately sardonic and sobering in its examination of the mating game/marriage
zeitgeist. While gender stereotypes are skewered with humorous abandon, there’s
not much to digest in terms of life-changing profundity. It’s simply not that
kind of show.
    It is nonetheless
a remarkably intimate (aided in this case by the cozy, rural lodge feel of the
performance facility) and entertaining collection of vignettes and songs about
relationships between men and women. They traverse a broad social arc from lust,
dating disasters and successes, real love and marriage in Act I, to break-ups,
babies, parenting frustrations, and aging in Act II.
    This delightful musical revue, with
fleet-fingered piano accompaniment by Elaine Wedges, was produced by Kevin and
Marilyn Wells (Kevin also directed). They form half of the four-member cast
which also includes Andrew Donaldson and Alison Matis. It’s an astutely
directed ensemble of actors/singers who are equally adept at balancing
high-flying comedy - performed with cabaret-style verve – and genuine, palpable
emotionality.
   As collections of
songs go, there aren’t any especially “classic” soaring anthems of love or loss
here so much as ephemeral melodic glimpses of  moods and situations. That said, a few are
truly inspired gems of tenderness. Alison Matis mesmerizes with the sweet,
introspective “I Will Be Loved Tonight.” Equally captivating is Andrew  Donaldson as he assesses his decades-long
marriage in “Shouldn’t I Be Less In Love With You?”   
    Among the many high points of hilarity is the
“Tear Jerk” scene, wherein Kevin and Marilyn Wells are munching popcorn and
watching a chick-flick, much to Kevin’s dismay. Despite his macho resistance to being drawn into her teary attention to the syrupy drama, his focus is progressively
rerouted and he breaks down into unabashed weeping. 
   The proceedings
come full circle in the closing scene, wherein Kevin and Marilyn appear again,
this time as a widower and widow meeting by chance in a funeral parlor. As they
gently chat about their respective pasts, and wryly compare notes on getting
old, they agree that their lives are now a moment-to-moment proposition. Could
a date be forthcoming?
   Sometimes falling
in love is an irrational act, and marriage might seem a seriously silly attempt
to reconcile opposing forces. Then again, it might be infectiously healing. And
as the funeral parlor song says, I can live with that.
 
    I Love You, You’re Perfect, Now Change, at
Fieldcrest Estate, 1346 Easthill (55th Street) S.E., North Canton.  Shows May 17, May 23 and 24 at 8 p.m. Tickets
$12.50 adults, $10.50 students. Available at www.eventbrite.com, 330-933-0216, and the door. Recommended for ages 15 and older. 
    For other
commentaries by Tom Wachunas on the arts in the greater Canton area, please
visit his blog, ARTWACH, at www.artwach.blogspot.com         
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