‘Funny, filthy and human’: I Love You, You’re Perfect, Now Change bound for ADC Theatre from April 26
Musical comedy I Love You, You’re Perfect, Now Change opens on April 26 at the ADC Theatre, celebrating “an overall arc of relationships throughout the course of life” in song and vignette.
First-time director Tom Heald, who studied Performing Arts at Anglia Ruskin University, said: “The show ranges from quick-witted in some places to downright filthy in others. It has such fully realised characters – there are real, sad and human moments which contrast with the moments of humour.”
The arc of the relationship cycle starts with dating, “through the agonies of family to pensioners’ pick-up lines”, and “tackles love in all its forms” – a tribute to love and relationships driven by “insightful celebration of our drive to connect”.
They mean it when they say this “modern masterpiece”, performed by Pied Pipers Musical Theatre Club, covers all the bases.
The troupe asks: “Have you contemplated lesbianism while being talked at about monster trucks? Wondered how a singles night at a maximum security prison might go? Seen a 70-year-old try to pull in a funeral parlour?”
Heald has the added challenge of his fiancée, Laura, being one of his cast.
“I’m lucky to have a really brilliant cast of Cambridge talent,” he says. “It’s a cast of just seven, so we’ve created a fringey aesthetic that will make the production stand out.”
Originally written in the 1990’s, the original show was the longest running off-Broadway revue in history. Pied Pipers is producing an updated 2018 revival of the show, which reflects the changes in how people date.
Heald says: “There are songs that take a humorous look at how the development of technology has changed the way people date. ‘The Baby Song’ involves a same-sex couple and I have involved same-sex relationships to reflect a more accurate depiction of modern relationships.”
Heald has heeded the words of lyricist Joe DiPietro, who said: “When performing this show, obviously make it funny but don’t forget to make it human too.”
“This is something I think will stick with people,” said Heald as, “although the show is silly in places, there are moments of real heart.”
The play is on at the ADC Theatre from April 26 to April 30.
“Funny, filthy and human: I Love You, You’re Perfect, Now Change is the comedy musical we need right now,” says Emma Harpley of Pied Pipers Musical Theatre Club.
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