The musical comedy "I Love You, You're Perfect, Now Change," set to open Thursday in Grand Forks, has been described as everything you've ever secretly thought about dating, romance and marriage, but were afraid to admit.
Love may be grand, but it's also full of agonies and triumphs in the show presented Thursday-Sunday and March 1-3 in the Empire Arts Center by Greater Grand Forks Community Theatre.
Staged by Job Christenson and his longtime musical collaborator, Marlys Murphy, the musical will feature some of Grand Forks' best-known players, including Community Theatre veterans Misti Koop, Katie Hill-Brandt, Darin Kerr, Jared Kinney and Daniel Dutot. Joining them in her Community Theatre debut will be Debra Berger, a graduate student in theater arts at UND.
With songs such as "Cantata For a First Date," "Why? Cause I'm a Guy" and "Marriage Tango," the revue pays tribute to those who have loved and lost, to those who have fallen on their face at the portal of romance and to those who have dared to ask, "Say, what are you doing Saturday night?" a news release said.
Christensen called it a show every adult could relate to if they'd ever put themselves out there in the relationship world.
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"The show creates a vast array of jokes and satires based on relationships, but it also explores the loneliness, anger and the fulfilling joy of finding love and being in love," he said.
"I Love You, You're Perfect, Now Change," off-Broadway's longest-running musical, premiered in 1996 and still is in production at New York City's Westside Theatre. It recently was revived in London in 2005 at the Jermyn Street Theatre.