By Les Spinde for Backstage West
"The Thing About Men"

Despite its popularity, writer-lyricist Joe DiPietro and composer Jimmy Roberts' musical revue I Love You, You're Perfect, Now Change always struck me as an uninspired grab bag of skits, awash with retrograde gags. It's thus heartening to report that the duo's new effort is a quantum leap upward: a fresh and engaging satire on the marital battlefield, boasting amusing characters and a touch of rueful reality. Based on Doris Dorrie's German screenplay, this adaptation plays like a superior sitcom. The story didn't cry out for musical treatment, and the songs are generally negligible. Nonetheless, Larry Raben's buoyant staging maximizes the fun in this sprightly Southern California premiere.

The cast members appear to be having a field day as they romp through the labyrinth of farcical complications. Stan Chandler and John Bisom comprise the most hilarious odd-couple roommates this side of Neil Simon. In a spirited departure from his archetypal leading man roles, Bisom dons a shaggy wig (Fabio to the max) and a bohemian attitude as a starving artiste who pretends that he's successful. Chandler displays spot-on comic timing as the yuppie businessman who connives his way into the slacker's modest digs to spy on him. Sebastian (Bisom), it seems, is having an affair with Tom's (Chandler) wife, Lucy (Elizabeth Ward Land). Tom isn't strong in the fidelity department, either, and the resulting romantic musical-chairs machinations make for huge laughs and wry commentary on contemporary social mores. Land is superb as the middle-age-crazy wife indulging in romance with a ne'er-do-well overgrown adolescent. Craig A. Meyer and Jodie Langel might have stolen the show with their smashing array of choice supporting vignettes, but the ensemble is too solid for artistic larceny to occur.

The frosting on the cake is the stylish design effort, which combines a high-tech feel with a great sense of humor, courtesy of witty projected titles ("Desperate houselives") and amazing virtual reality slides. Steven Young's lighting, Vincent Roca's scenic design, and Todd K. Proto's costumes are sleek and sophisticated. Aside from the so-so music, I love this, it's perfect; don't change.

4/22/2005

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