"Back in this lovesick mess I dive
Back in this reckless joy I thrive
I hereby concede what I need to survive
Is to look at you and say
I Love You, You're Perfect, Now Change
I Love You, You're Perfect, Now Change."


So Saturday evening was spent at the theater.

I was planning to watch this musical when it was staged early this year, but unfortunately I missed it. So when I read that it was going to be restaged, I made sure I'll get to watch it.

And I'm really glad I did watch it.

It was really, really enjoyable. And it was a nice way to enjoy on a Saturday night. Uhm, for those who missed the show, I Love You, You're Perfect, Now Change is basically about the trials and tribulations people go through in the realm of contemporary love and relationships.

The musical begins with the four performings going onstage wearing terry-cloth robes. One would think they were monks or religious because they were chanting and speaking lines from the Book of the Genesis. But it turns out that they were actually single people, getting ready to go out on a date.

Here are some of the lines from the opening:

“The Lord God said let there be light, and there was light. And the Lord God said let there be man and woman, and there was man and woman. Later, man asked woman if she was busy that night, and woman said she still wanted to see other people. Hee hee hee. And man said that there are no other people. Ha ha ha.”

The musical is composed of vignettes - from having first dates to courtship, marriage, and parenting, and even becoming a widow. While the vignettes were all about heterosexual relationships, it wasn't difficult for me to place these same scenarios in gay relationships. I somehow see the issues of gay and straight relationships to be the same. Like Margaret Cho says, "Love is love is love..."

I only know two of the performers - Niccolo Manahan and Cathy Azanza, both of whom I've just seen in Doubt. But all four performers did really, really well. All of them just played out the more than 40 characters very well.

I had a lot of favorite vignettes, but I guess the most romantic song was "Shouldn't I be less in love with you?" The setting for this song was a couple who's been married for a quite a while now, and they were having their breakfast routine. Husband reads the papers, while drinking coffee. Wife does the same. Husband looks at wife, and then starts to sing the song. It's really romantic.

Alright, so that's basically the summary of what the musical was.