I LOVE YOU, YOU'RE PERFECT, NOW CHANGE

Brentwood Operatic Society at the Brentwood Theatre

14.07.10

“It's Seinfeld set to music”, raved the New York Times. This cult off-Broadway show is a revue, really, loosely linked sketches with songs, done in a simple chamber style. More so in the original, which has just four actors.

The theme is the thorny jungle of relationships. From first date through marriage to weary resignation. Brentwood fielded a dozen of its best singer/actors for this enjoyable show, and most of the numbers hit home - I especially enjoyed the speed-dating Justin Cartledge and Lisa Hall, the desperate parents Graham Greenaway and Jan Elliot, Gary Ball regressing into baby babble, Ruth Downie making an all-too-honest dating video, and Michael Toft settling for Stephanie Norman in the catchy I Can Live With That, with echoes of Making Whoopee.

There's no shortage of wit and wisdom, Single Man Drought and the sexless Marriage Tango spring to mind, but Sondheim it ain't, lyrically or musically; Scared Straight and Wedding Vows made a plodding climax to Act One, and I found myself longing for Not Getting Married from Company.

ILYYPNC was directed for BOS by Martyn Harrison, with Margaret Kiel overseeing the move onto the Brentwood stage. Adrian Ure, leading a hard-working trio from the piano, was Musical Director.

Michael Gray

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