A musical comedy that tackles modern love in all its forms
“This is one of those plays where you can come, laugh at yourself and have fun, maybe even see yourself up on stage in some way, shape or form at some point of time in your relationship spectrum regardless of how old you are,” says Sashane Perera of his latest production ‘I Love You, You’re Perfect, Now Change’.
The musical comedy, based on the book and lyrics by Joe DiPietro with music by Jimmy Roberts is the second-longest running offBroadway musical. It underscores all the things which go unsaid about relationships; addressing several stages of varying kinds of relationships, from dating and getting to know someone, marriage, having children, dealing with in-laws, divorce and even the complexities of dating in later life.
Presented by Stage, Light & Magic Inc., the musical directed by Sashane and produced by Denham Hakel with music direction by Johann Peiris has Mario De Soyza, Rehan Almeida, Dilini Perera, Nimaya Harris, Daniella Perera, Dhehara Waidyasekera, Theruni Indrapala, Dilushka De Mel and Migara Cabral playing multiple roles through 20 vignettes.
“It’s like performing 20 different skits which are supposed to make sense at the end of the day. From an acting or singing point of view, the actors can’t be the same person in any one of those scenes and they can’t draw from their earlier character from one scene to the other – I liked the challenge of that and the cast also enjoys it,” says Sashane.
Cast member Dilini Perera says that one of the play’s major strengths is that it is an all-encompassing series of stories. “Not every one person is going to experience all the challenges of being in a relationship. I feel like this showcases the entire relationship experience and I think that’s what makes it so much fun - it kind of exposes love and relationships for what they are. There are so many scenes of characters experiencing the ‘good’ and the ‘bad of love. I think it’s a more realistic way of depicting it.”
The production will feature live music with Johann Peiris at the keyboard accompanied by three musicians. Speaking about the challenge of playing live Johann says, “Actively you need to react to what’s going on on stage – you can prepare for it but it’s a live performance and you have to react to things then and there.I think that’s another aspect of why musicals and theatre are so special – the immediacy of it – it’s exciting getting to perform to an audience after all these months to ourselves.”
A common sentiment shared by the cast is that the production can offer viewers an evening of much needed light relief. Says Rehan Almeida, “It’s a musical so there’s a bit of extra colour and flavour - I think this is precisely what Sri Lanka needs at the moment because as opposed to productions which deal with heavier themes, this will provide a nice escape from what we are facing at the moment.”
Mario De Soyza feels that a key appeal of the musical is that audiences are likely to relate to the stories being told on stage. “I think you’ll see yourself more than once. You’ll probably see yourself as a 16 or 17-year-old trying to figure out how to ask a girl out or how to respond to a guy if you have no idea what he’s talking about or you might even relate to characters like two single people who’ve lost their significant others whom they’ve spent 45 or 50 years with and how they live the rest of their life. It goes the full arc.”
‘I Love You, You’re Perfect, Now Change’ is on at the Lionel Wendt Theatre from February 17-20. Box plan at the Wendt.
For more information, see www.stagelightandmagic.com or their Instagram page: @stagelightndmagic