I Love You, You're Perfect, Now Change
by Joe DiPietro and Jimmy Roberts
Produced by Clarkson Theatre Co., April 2006.
Cast
Katherine Buckley
Joe Contini
Robert Grogan
Matthew Kinnier
Kaitlin Monte
Alicen Morley
Matthew Stedner
Meghann Strain
Crew
Director .... Tony Tambasco
Music Director .... Dan Galliher
Choreographer .... Krista Thomson
Asst. Director .... Tosca Chirco
Scene Design .... Nicholas McGraw
Sound Design .... Mitchel Plomondon
Costume Design .... Krista Thomson
Projection Operator .... Justin Gonyea
Business Manager .... Joe Potvin
Program .... Melissa Manchester
Adam and Eve had things easy; they knew from the very beginning they were meant for one another. If not, it wasn't like they had a heck of a lot of other options anyway, but after thousands, and thousands, and thousands, and thousands of years passed things got slightly more complicated. And while there's something to be said for variety (Adam would have been in real trouble if Eve was a redhead and he preferred blonds), the difficulty in finding that one specific person with whom you are a part of the same flesh is only enhanced by the fact that God doesn't generally speak as plainly as He once did. Ah, back in the day...
So we are left to seek out our perfect companions. We all have a rough idea about what we're looking for in someone else, and so with this rough idea we set out to make ourselves attractive to those who most closely resemble our image of a perfect mate. Rarely do we stop to consider that we may be pretending to be something we are not, and perhaps even more rarely do we consider that our perfect love is probably doing the same. In the best of circumstances, we figure these things out quickly and move along, only to dance the same dance with a different partner. Love is an endless waltz that we can only dance gracefully once we have learned to love ourselves for who we are, and yet no one ever yet waltzed gracefully without taking those first steps on the dance floor.
I Love You, You're Perfect, Now Change, DiPietro and Roberts have crafted a musical revue that explores modern romance from several vantage points using a variety of musical styles. The lack of a central narrative and the fast pace of the changes between characters and scenes reveals love as a process of self discovery. The individual actors provide the only real unity to the production, and I hope you will find the ways they dance this endless waltz as illuminating as I have.
