Jenny de Klerk

WHERE on earth did this production find a dial-up telephone on a cord? Sorry to start with an apparent piece of trivia, but it sums up what I feel about the show.

Of course, you can’t go far wrong with a show about relationships: “Everything you have ever secretly thought about dating, romance, marriage, lovers, husbands, wives and in-laws, but were afraid to admit,” as the tag line goes.

Whatever the year, the horrors of dating, the nerves of the marriage day, the trials of parenthood and the approach of old age beset us all – we simply use different tools to do it.

This musical revue was first staged Off-Broadway in 1996 and ran for 12 years – making it the second-longest running OffBroadway musical. It has been performed around the world.

It’s a simple production to stage and tour, requiring a smallish theatre – Pieter Toerien’s Montecasino Theatre was perfect – four very talented singers who can also act, and, in this case, a keyboard and violin.

Oh, yes, and four plastic chairs and a sofa.

It follows the progress of fairly typical relationships as single boys and girls attempt to hook up, hoping that – on this date – they might hit gold, but usually ending up with… ouch! It seems there’s a “Drought of Single Men”.

The men in this show seem to have only one thing on their minds, at least when with women. Of course, that could be true.

The music sounded a bit dated to my ear, but the vignettes