Every person has a story.
In “I Love You, You’re Perfect, Now Change,” a musical montage being performed by members of Forbidden Planet Productions in the Lisner Downstage this weekend, some of those stories come to life.
“[The play] follows a basic story line about experiences someone would have in their lifetime of dating and love and marriage,” said freshman Sloan Dickey, a member of the cast. “It depicts how love develops throughout your life.”
The play features 20 vignettes with no recurring characters, particular setting or plot, with the 12 different roles played by a six-member cast.
“It’s a series of vignettes about different relationships: some of them good, some of them bad, some of them not fully formed relationships, some of them dissolving relationships,” executive producer Katherine Nelson said.
And while the stories may offer a glimpse at love and its effect on people, the script and music are entirely modern and relatable. Included in the script is everything from Match.com to BlackBerrys to Nair products.
“All these things that are a part of our dating lives are a part of the show,” said senior Katharine Crnko, the artistic director of the student theatre group.
Students in particular may find commonalities in various characters, especially because the director, junior Anthony Crisafio, decided to update the play for more collegiate viewers.
“We have adapted the show to the GW audience,” said Crnko. “For instance, we have a homosexual couple.”
The play, based on a book, with lyrics written by Joe DiPietro and music by Jimmy Roberts, opened off Broadway in New York in 1996. Though it closed two years ago, the production was well received by critics for the majority of its decade-long run.
“It’s like SNL meets musical comedy,” said Crnko. “It’s very funny, but it’s very true, and that’s part of the reason we picked it for a college community. It’s totally relatable,”
Though the characters range in age from 15 to 50, the FPP production features a cast that is half comprised of freshmen. Introducing the freshmen actors to theatre life has been one of the highlights of the production, said Crnko.
“They got to come in totally raw, and we got to shape them into the young comedians that they are,” she said.
Audience members, no matter if they’re freshmen, seniors or adults, should anticipate a great deal of amusement and a little bit of self-identification with the characters when the play opens Thursday night.
“I want the audience to see themselves in each of the scenes and each of the people in the show,” Crisafio said.
The show opens in the Lisner Downstage Thursday Dec. 3 at 8 p.m. and will be performed at 6 and 9 p.m. Friday, Dec. 4 and at 7 and 10 p.m. Saturday, Dec. 5. Tickets are $5 at the door and can be reserved by pre-sale.
