Scintillating, Sexy, and Hilarious ‘I Love You, You’re Perfect, Now Change’ Need Not Change a Thing!

I was thrilled to finally discover why I LOVE YOU, YOU’RE PERFECT, NOW CHANGE is off-Broadway’s second longest-running show. It’s also a popular international favorite, having played in over 35 countries and translated into at least 17 languages! This timeless musical comedy, which premiered off-Broadway in 1996, boasts book and lyrics by Tony Award-winning Joe DiPietro (famous for Memphis, Over the River and Through the Woods, and much more) with music by Jimmy Roberts (composer of The Thing About Men). The show was (likely) universally embraced for its bold and honest exploration of that most stressful, heartbreaking and heart-expanding universal human emotion: LOVE, the pursuit of love, and all the related relationship trials and joys that have obsessed man- and womankind since time immemorial. (There’s even a short opening scene where God presents Adam with Eve, and Eve presents Adam with her list of demands before any coupling can commence.) 

Then it’s off to today’s races with a series of vignettes (with theme titles projected overhead in chunky BOLD print) that have audiences grinning, cringing, and laughing out loud in recognition of all the fraught and funny love-seekers – from insecure young daters to a hesitant widow and widower slowly opening up to a second chance. 

Off-Broadway has nothing on newcomer-on-the-scene Off-Glades Theatre Company who’s presenting the musical at Boca’s lovely, comfortably smaller-sized (so everyone can see!) Willow Theatre at Sugar Sand Park through February 23. The company’s artistic/executive director, Broadway actress, acting teacher and coach Jodie Langel, directs the show and she’s perfect for the job as she’d starred in the musical for two years since its 10th anniversary off-Broadway run. If you head to the Off-Glades website, you can watch a video of I Love You’s composer reminiscing about how impressed he was with this “powerhouse” talent when she’d first auditioned, adding Langel’s serving as director in Boca “excites me because she knows the show inside and out.”   

Langel also appears to have followed composer Roberts’ lead in choosing four of our local best voice, acting, and comedic talents to play some dozen different roles each. Non-stop action that has the cast switching outfits, diction, even ages, presents an extraordinary challenge (and one that would solidify the acting chops and versatility of anyone’s resume). Yet these four incredible professionals under Langel’s direction made it all look easy. My deepest compliments to Hannah Hayley (Woman 1), Alex Martinez (Man 1), Nicole Roach (Woman 2), and Bruno Faria (Man 2). Their characters are called  various names in the scenes; when crediting them here, I’ll be using their first name instead of a number. 

Well-deserved credit also goes to busy local professional choreographer Melanie Farber, and stage manager Bryan Morris, aided by backstage crew Eiva Tinney and Mary-Page Hoffman. And special appreciation to music director and pianist Rick Kaydas and violinist Liubov Ohrimenco – both superbly accomplished and renowned professionals who played beautifully on their own and in constant accompaniment to all the songs. I admit, this LIVE MUSIC duo played a key role in my desire to review this production by a heretofore unbeknownst (to me) theater company. Everyone involved did such a great, professional job, I now look forward to many future performances. 

With recordings replacing musicians more and more these days, it was exciting to simply enter the theater and see a grand piano and music stand on stage! And while I’m usually not a fan of substituting projections for physical scenic design, here they worked perfectly as I can’t imagine how else so many differing locales could be represented. Real tables and chairs and beds and couches for actors to occupy were still used, but the entire back wall became a projection screen whose visuals looked incredibly real – the best I’ve seen yet. Whether displaying a modern kitchen, a church service … but especially the movie theater auditorium whose 3-D plush seats looked like one could actually sit down, and the quick-passing road scenery as viewed through family car windows (with the actors cleverly spinning along in wheeled desk chairs). My sincere admiration goes to projection designer Carlo Sabusap and lighting designer, versatile Nicole Roach (aka Woman 2).

Every single sketch was special, and delightful; it’s really hard to choose which to highlight. But here are a few of my more memorable favorites to give you a taste and, don’t worry, I can’t ruin the live theater experience with a few words (you’ll simply have to see the show for yourself and discover favorites of your own!). 

I think every woman will relate to “Cantata for a First Date” which stars the company but features Hannah and Nicole at their makeup mirror lamenting the need to primp and pluck and smooth legs, etc., all to meet a guy who’s likely not worth the effort. While men just basically shower, we hope, and they’re good to go. 

And it will be a long time before I forget “busy, busy, busy” Pat’s (Nicole) idea to end her first date with Stan (Bruno) as soon as he arrives, because it’s easier to head right to date #2, which only predicts the next step, and then the next, and before they even get to sex, embark on the typical breakup. Then “years later” a chance encounter in front of Publix, has them reconnect, and like a typical romcom in fast-forward, they look back on their wonderful lives together with “We Had it All” – all in mere minutes. What an aha moment, for many of us, of the typical circle of romantic life. 

Awkward first dates reach new heights in the musical number “A Stud and a Babe” starring Hannah Hayley as Julie, and cementing her special talent for caricature that I’d first noticed in her impressive performance in The Play That Goes Wrong. (She also nails Fran Drescher’s Queens accent.) Extremely versatile actor and singer Alex Martinez plays her counterpart misfit, Jason, who, through finding one another, also become each other’s “stud and babe.” Awww.

“Tear Jerk” is another recognizable story of typical male behavior with a twist. Bored and fidgety James (Bruno) instantly regrets letting his date Jane (Nicole) choose their movie because it’s a sappy tear-jerker lacking monsters, violence, and life-threatening action. He resolves: “No chick will ever pick the flick again.” But over time he gets involved in the story, becomes teary-eyed, and ends up loudly wailing and hugging his date for comfort. Female fantasy much? Still loads of fun to watch.

All four cast members appear at a family dinner hosted by mom (Hannah) and Dad (Bruno) made up to look middle-aged. The parents expect to hear the good news of an “about time” engagement between their procrastinating son Mitch (Alex) and his longtime serious girlfriend Karen (Nicole). Instead, their “special announcement” is that they’ve decided to break up as he’s not ready and she wants to fully focus on her career. The parents, who yearn for grandchildren, can’t hide their frustration in the bitingly real, accusatory number, “Hey There, Single Gal/Guy.” A family conflict that’s sure to resonate with both generations. 

While Act 1 focuses on the dating/mating game, Act 2 progresses to weddings, babies, married life and beyond. Many women will relate to Nicole’s “Always a Bridesmaid” when she appears in the latest of her never-worn-again collection of ostentatiously ugly bridesmaid dresses. She does, at least, conclude with a refreshing ode to the single life.

Another 100 percent relatable vignette features new parents, played by Bruno and Hannah, who are obsessed with their first child (here the backdrop is a child room’s jumbled mess of stuffed animals and toys). Yet they seem content to keep checking the baby monitor and even kiss it (rather than their child) when their friend (Alex) visits. Alex is inundated with Frank Jr. baby videos to the point where he forcefully leaves and tells his old buddy to call him when the kid is 18. Nonplussed, and happy with his son-centric existence, Frank (Bruno) sings “The Baby Song.” 

Finding love can happen in the strangest of places. Like the Palm Beach Correctional Facility where a convicted murderer serves as matchmaker and sets up two unlikely singles who hold opposing religious and personal views. But they have one major trait in common: they are both eager to be wed. And it’s a match! 

And then we arrive at a funeral home where two elderly, somewhat infirm senior citizens sit next to each other at a wake, start chatting, and eventually connect. Bruno, as Arthur, slowly gets up, standing hunched over on his shaking cane that had older audience members nod in recognition. Nicole’s Muriel is also completely believable as the elderly widow who, at first, rejects Arthur’s advances by pointing out her physical defects. Unfazed, he matches hers with his own, inspiring the sweetly tender duet of “I Can Live With That.” 

The final Epilogue reflects the human paradox of how we spend all our time trying to find someone to love who we think is perfect … and then spend the rest of our lives trying to change them. Ending, appropriately, with the titular song: “I Love You, You’re Perfect, Now Change.”

Off-Glades Theatre Company’s production of I LOVE YOU, YOU’RE PERFECT, NOW CHANGE is playing through February 23 at The Willow Theatre in Sugar Sand Park, 300 S. Military Trail, Boca Raton 33486. Tickets at  www.offgladestheatrecompany.com  or https://www.myboca.us/2648/I-Love-You-Youre-Perfect-Now-Change, by phone at 561-347-3948, or at the theatre’s box office.