Laughs came easily, quickly, and often in Wilmington Drama League’s production of I LOVE YOU, YOU’RE PERFECT, NOW CHANGE. The play takes the form of vignettes of relationships in their various stages, keeping to a somewhat chronological storyline (albeit with changing characters), beginning with dating, passing though courtship, marriage, and even funerals and moving on. I confess to being more able to relate to the earlier scenes (being more of my own life experience), though found the later songs to be the more adeptly played.
Ashley Wright and Jason Tokarski in the Delaware Premiere of I LOVE YOU, YOU'RE PERFECT, NOW CHANGE at Wilmington Drama League through May 28.
The play opens with a decree from God above, for Man and Woman to live and love together… forever… and never to see anyone else naked ever again! Deftly transitioned into the first major scene, preparations for a first date, watching our four actors get prepared to meet the one who might just be The One.
Unfortunately, this is the only smooth transition. I hate to call out an otherwise enjoyable show for this, but slow transitions got to be incredibly distracting. Rather than allowing and trusting the audience to follow that we were going from place to place and switching characters, full scene and costume changes were enacted leaving the audience in the dark for over a minute in several instances. The play is vignettes, yes, but we still need to be able to think of each scene in relation to each other!
Technical issues aside, the performances and script are both more than worth the price of admission. All four actors performed admirably and worked so well as a unit that it is both difficult and unfair to bring any one out for higher praise. Rather the entire ensemble should be applauded. While sometimes falling prey to the easy laugh, the cast finds themselves especially able in the more emotional scenes, plucking rather than tugging heartstrings with just the right touch in numbers such as ‘I Can Live with That.’
I LOVE YOU, YOU’RE PERFECT, NOW CHANGE
Book and Lyrics by Joe DiPietro
Music by Jimmy Roberts
Directed by Frank Bartkowski
May 13-28, 2011
WILMINGTON DRAMA LEAGUE
10 West Lea Blvd
Wilmington, DE 19802
(302) 764-1172
www.wilmingtondramaleague.org
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Here’s a promotional video I put together for the show. Don’t miss it!