A Musical Love Fest to Catch

After a successful run (and sold-out encore) in Manila, Repertory Philippines is now bringing off-Broadway's longest-running hit "I Love You, You're Perfect, Now Change" (written by playwright/lyricist Joe DiPietro and composer Jimmy Roberts) to Cebu! This is a rare opportunity for audiences outside of Metro Manila to catch a Repertory Philippines production.

It's a musical that can awaken our latent love for theater, and can therefore give the theater industry a much-needed boost. Let's hope they extend the run. I mean, I'm crazy about the movies, but it's great to watch live performances once in a while.

Thanks to the Repertory Philippines silver season pass with which I gifted myself late last year (what better way to start a two-year goodbye to one's golden twenties than to do something culturally enriching), I was able to catch "I Love You, You're Perfect, Now Change" during its first run at Onstage in Greenbelt One. I went with two of my best girl friends-which was perfect, because "I Love You..." is that kind of musical. You know, the kind you gush and giggle about after, while having coffee or cocktails, and feeling bogged down by the perplexities of being in a relationship, or trying to get into one.

"I Love You, You're Perfect, Now Change" is a take on the perils of dating and marriage, highlighting the ins and outs of male/female relationships. It's like "Friends" and "Sex and the City" combined-with singing and dancing. It's basically a musical revue made up of short scenes tackling various aspects of romance, from dating, falling in love, hooking up, divorce, and even widowhood. There's a scene where a girl drags her reluctant boyfriend to a chick flick; there's one where a couple goes on a road trip from hell with their kids, there's one with a date horribly gone wrong.

I have two favorite scenes. The first one's really hilarious (and it happens to be the one I can relate with): A girl tries "not to wait" (yes, quotation marks necessary) for a guy's phone call. Surprise, surprise! He actually calls on the day he said he would, and the girl's so thrilled, her mother comes over to celebrate the news. And then they do a song and dance bit with the phone and the pizza delivery guys. My second favorite is perhaps the finest scene in the entire play, apart from its being the most inventive: A divorcee seeks new love via the video dating system, and she tells us about herself-and we get a glimpse of what it's like to be like her in today's era. It's both funny and poignant, and the acting is superb.

The musical is both funny and heartwarming, with little stories we can all relate to. This is a "chick" play even the boyfriends won't mind going to! In fact, according to its website (www.loveperfectchange. com), this musical is "the most proposal-friendly show in town. Fifty-one times, a young man has taken the stage to make a surprise proposal to his sweetheart. In all cases, the brides-to-be happily accepted as the audience roared with approval." That should give you an idea, boys.

"I Love You, You're Perfect, Now Change!" stars Cathy Azanza, Liesl Batucan, Robbie Guevara, and Niccolo Manahan. They all portray an average of fifteen characters each in a collection of sketches and musical numbers on love and relationships. It's directed by Michael Williams and will be staged on July 28, 29 and 30 at the SM Cinema 2, SM City Cebu. If you can, please watch it. I guarantee you'll be in for a lovely time.

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