Big changes are happening at George Street Playhouse and they start with the brand-new 2017-2018 season! These changes are not only the kick off of the season, with “I Love You, You’re Perfect, Now Change,” now in a freshly updated production, but also the sparkly new George Street Playhouse in its temporary home, while its new digs are being built on the site where the former location’s building has been razed.
Joe DiPietro and Jimmy Roberts wrote the brilliantly hilarious farcical account of 20th century dating culture in 1996. Yet the ever forward-thinking David Saint, who also helms this production, suggested that this perennial favorite, after running Off Broadway for more than 12 years, be updated. The result is even more scintillating and deeply affecting than the original and, with an all-star cast, this is an evening that will linger with you like the touch of a new love.
Lindsay Nicole Chambers, Mitchell Jarvis, Karen Burthwright, and George Merrick form Spirograph lines of intersection, as they collide, coalesce, create and conspire through this all-too-brief, two-act tour through dating and dating technology of the 21st century. There will be knowing laughter, as well as unbidden barking laughter, titters, giggles, and outright guffaws. Be prepared to see yourself and your friends so clearly that you will wonder where they hid the cameras!
Special favorites among the vignettes we enjoyed included the back-to-back Single Man Drought, featuring Lindsay and Karen; “Why? Cause I’m a Guy,” with Mitch and George; and the full company in “Hey There Single Gal/Guy” and “A Picture of His…,” with Lindsay and Karen wondering why otherwise normal men, with whom they have had a normal wonderful evening, feel compelled to text a *very personal memento* despite the newness of the relationship. Act One is a gem!
Act Two covers more of the marriage and children aspect and “The Baby Song” segment is pure delight, whether you have children or not. Yet the most beautiful piece in this work, which ranges through all aspects of dating in a panoramic view, is remembering that the heart is always young in “I Can Live With That,” one of the finest pieces of character writing that I’ve seen, and it hits every chord on the way down from the lump in your throat to the lub-dup in your chest. If you didn’t before, you will leave the new George Street Playhouse believing in love!
One caveat of the new space–it is much more intimate in its seating. Meaning there is less of it! Be sure to get your tickets now, because though it’s just opened, “I Love You, You’re Perfect, Now Change” only runs through November 12. Visit www.GeorgeStreetPlayhouse.org today for the best selection!