Book& Lyrics by Joe Di Pietro
Music by Jimmy Roberts
Directed by Janie Lawson
Free Rain Theatre at the ACT Hub Theatre, Kingston to 5
September
Reviewed by Len Power 21 August 2026
In ‘I Love You, You’re Perfect, Now Change’, a chessboard full of strategies, wins and loses is peopled with colourful characters trying to get through the rocky road of relationships and life in general. The show is composed of separate and unconnected vignettes with titles like ‘Men Who Talk and Women Who Pretend They are Listening’, ‘And Now the Parents’ and ‘Sex and the Married Couple’. The ensemble cast of six play all of the various characters.
Written in 1996, this musical has the distinction of being the second longest-running Off-Broadway show ever with over 5,000 performances. It’s bright, funny and perceptive.
There were some standout moments by Amelia Andersson-Nickson in ‘Always a Bridesmaid Never a Bride’, Deborah O’Toole with ‘I Will Be Loved Tonight’, Sam Thomson in ‘The Baby Song’, David Pearson with ‘Shouldn’t I be Less in Love With You’ and Sarah Copley in ‘The Very First Dating Video of Rose Ritz’. These were particularly strong because the performers made these people very real.
From left: Deborah O'Toole, Amelia Andersson-Nickson, Sarah Copley, Sam Thomson, Connor McNaught and David Pearson
The striking chessboard-themed set design by Cate Clelland worked very well and Leo Amadeus and Laura Kay provided an appealing musical accompaniment on keyboard and violin respectively.
Janie Lawson, the director, solved the potential problem of many scene changes with her set design concept. While stronger control was needed on some of the scenes, the successful ones showed her ability to obtain fine, realistic performances from her cast.
Photos by Janelle McMenamin
Len Power's reviews are also broadcast on Artsound FM 92.7 in the ‘Arts Cafe’ and ‘Arts About’ programs.
