I Love You, You’re Perfect, Now Change

3.5 stars

Love is at the centre of all good tales. Every story ever told, every piece of art, is propelled by this strange notion of an attractive force between individuals, a force that can neither be defined nor explained. And yet that’s what I Love You… attempts to do by showcasing the almost infinite permutations of romantic love in the form of minutes-long musical sketches.

Through the lens of humour and a heavy dose of modern-day cynicism, the vignettes range from snapshots of first dates to slice-of-life looks at post-marriage hell. Given the show’s original run started in 1996, a lot of work has gone into making this production feel glossy and current. The show was substantially rewritten in 2017 and now they have gay couples, lesbian couples, mentions of Grindr, a popular gay dating app, and even regional British accents. It’s all very relevant. Unfortunately, the source material didn’t quite have enough nuance or depth to really translate into the intricacies of modern relationships. Something rings false in a song about rushing through the first dates sung by a couple who met on Grindr (as anyone who has used the app can attest, the term “date” is always used rather liberally in the context of Grindr), the lesbian mothers are unfortunately reduced to parodies of a straight couple (although they have enough awareness to work that in as a joke), and the dating video sketch is just oddly anachronistic given the rest of the show.

That’s not to say the show isn’t funny. It’s joyful in its ability to make jokes about every party in a relationship and every scenario one could imagine. Of the compact four-person cast, Laura Johnson particularly stood out to me, the blend of a brassy voice and a wonderfully malleable face making her particularly impressive in her comedic roles. George Rae, Dominic Hodson, and Naomi Slights are all accomplished actors, able to sell the illusion of a new cast with a simple change in costume, accent, or affect.

The music is where I felt the show was the weakest. As mentioned previously, updates were made to the original songs and the lyrical changes not only helped ensure the show didn’t feel dated, it also brought the musical a bit closer to home geographically. However, given the nature of the show and the number of scenes we were treated to, no melody ever had a chance to take up residence in your memory. A musical with bad music is one thing but a musical with forgettable tunes? That’s a tragedy.

Still, I recommend this show as a piece of light family entertainment or even, dare I say it, a fun date activity. Even though it might not chart the specifics of your relationship, more likely than not, one of those sketches will describe where your relationship is headed.