Last night, gf_guruilla and I went to see the musical “I Love You, You’re Perfect, Now Change” at the Repertory East Playhouse in Newhall. For those unfamiliar with this musical, it is a less of a unified plot and more of a series of vignettes about relationships, starting with hesitant dating, moving through marriage, divorce, death, and reentering the dating scene. The songs and sketches trace the evolution of male-female relationships, from caveman days in the prologue to the joys of single life in Act One, and then the rather different joys of married life in Act Two. Some of the songs are just hilarious; my favorites are “Always a Bridesmaid” and “Marriage Tango”. To give you an idea, here are some of the lyrics:
When I look in my closet,
There’s a rainbow deposit
Of gowns so grotesque that I groan
All those husbands are gone,
But those dresses live on,
Even moths seem to leave them alone.
Too many weddings, too many messes
But at least I’ve hung on to my pride.
I’ve lived life alone, but the terms are my own.
Always a bridesmaid, (thank you Lord!)
Never a bride!
This production starred James Flaherty, Erin Rivlin-Sakata, Kelly Meyersfield, and George M. Chavez II. I was particularly entraced by Kelly Meyersfield (what can I say: I like the short, cute, brunette belters… I also like Klea Blackhurst), who is very active in theatre and TV. Other than Meyersfield, the other leads are all local folks with primarily local experience. However, they all did an excellent jobs in their roles, as did the single 16-year old musician, whose keyboard sounded like an entire orchestra. This is pretty good for an 83 seat theatre!
This is the second production we’ve seen from Rep East, and they both have been excellent. It is making us much more interested in their entire season; the next show is “Don’t Dress for Dinner“, and I’m also interested in “proof” later in the year. They will also be doing Shakespeare in the Park during the summer with a production of Hamlet. One of the things that impresses me is the large number of theatre aficionados in the crowd: we always seem to have great discussions. Last night, we had fun talking to the artistic director, Ovington Michael Owston who gave us some good insight into the direction this fledgling company with be taking. It all sounds great.
Next up on the theatre calendar: “Forever Plaid” at Cabrillo Music Theatre and “As You Like It:A California Concoction” at the Pasadena Playhouse. I’m still debating getting tickets for “Barnum” at the NoHo Arts Center, or Sweeny Todd at the East West Players, but I don’t think it will fit in the schedule. Other possibles on the horizon are: “A Funny Thing Happened…” at the Simi Valley Cultural Arts Center, “Oklahoma” at the Canyon Theatre Guild. Alas, working this into the schedule is difficult, around Pesach, So Cal Games Day, and the SoCal Ren Faire (we’re going 4/29). I’m also looking into tickets for Curtains later in the year, but I’ll likely go the Goldstar or HotTix route, as Ahmanson Tickets are just too pricey ($95 orchestra). Full-price is only justified for sell-outs, and I’m not sure this will be one.
[Crossposted to cahwyguy and socal_theatre]
Diva tells the story of Deanna Denninger (