By ROBERT TRUSSELL
The Kansas City Star
Somehow your humble theater critic missed "I Love You, You're Perfect, Now Change," one of the most successful musical revues in recent times, when it was first staged in Kansas City 12 years ago.
So I was pleasantly surprised by how enjoyable the current production at the American Heartland Theatre turned out to be. It’s better than it probably has a right to be.
The word “revue,” of course, often spells trouble for theatergoers looking for a good story, but this show represents a high level of craftsmanship, particularly in Joe DiPietro’s lyrics. The Heartland production, directed by Paul Hough, elevates the material to the highest level possible and showcases four of the brightest young musical-theater actors in town.
The show is a collection of vignettes about the vagaries of love, sex, dating and marriage. Blind dates, bad dates, parenthood (depicted here as a kind of mental illness), the repetitious nature of married life, old age — the show covers most of the bases. And while much of the material feels familiar, DiPietro and composer Jimmy Roberts, find clever things to do with it.
Every now and then they resort to getting laughs with jokes about bodily functions, but even when they go the low road they do so with a certain amount of finesse.
The performers charged with portraying the dozens of personalities crossing paths and bringing the music to life are Jessalyn Kincaid, Natalie Weaver, Jon Daugharthy and Adam Branson.
Kincaid has a sexy, ethereal stage presence and she sings like an angel. But she’s also a skilled comic actress and demonstrates that ability repeatedly in this show.
She also provides the most warmly human moment of the evening as a divorced woman recording her first dating video. Framed by a real camera and projected on a huge screen, Kincaid delivers a nuanced monologue that gives the audience a breather from the hilarity and reveals the writers’ laudable effort to make a few serious points about relationships.
Indeed, for this show to work you need versatile actors, and everyone on stage is up to the task. Weaver shifts from all-business career gal to lonely housewife to widow without seeming to break a sweat. Her solo highlight is “Always a Bridesmaid,” a funny/sad lament by a woman who seems destined to always be a participant in wedding ceremonies but never anything more.
Weaver and Daugharthy kick the proceedings off in a non-musical sequence in which two people who meet through a dating service decide to skip the first and second dates and get down to business. It’s a clever bit of writing and the two actors achieve just the right tone.
Daugharthy steals “Scared Straight,” a sequence in which he plays a prisoner serving seven life sentences who lectures young single people about the dangers of ending up alone.
Daugharthy and Weaver are excellent singers, as is Branson, who shares a couple of nicely played moments with Kincaid, especially in “A Stud and a Babe,” an early sequence in which they play geeks on a date who imagine how intoxicating life would be if only they could be sexy and virile.
The nonstop piano accompaniment is provided by musical director Anthony T. Edwards. Roberts’ music, occasionally injected with a gospel and country feel, is easy on the ears, even if you can’t remember a single melody line after the show.
Del Unruh’s simple but classy scenic design and Sarah Oliver’s clever costume designs are major plusses. Shane Rowse’s lighting affects mood, creates transitions and visually delineates the many scene changes.
"I Love You, You're Perfect, Now Change" runs through April 25 at the American Heartland Theatre. For more information, call 816-842-9999 or go to
www.ahtkc.com.
To reach Robert Trussell, call 816-234-4765 or send email to rtrussell@kcstar.com.
