Off-Broadway’s longest running musical comes to the 2011 Edinburgh Fringe Festival. I Love you, You’re Perfect, Now Change explores the horrible, heart-wrenching and fantastic moments that occur every day on the road to finding love. As opposed to one distinct story line, the musical forms a set of stand-alone scenes and songs which follow a vague chronology from first dates to death, punctuated by everything from the difficulty of finding good sex to baby talk. The production is solid with some stand out moments, but fails to capture the full potential suggested in the script. The musical numbers are enjoyable, but for the most part not astounding. The women’s ensemble numbers are stronger than the men’s, and stand them up a little in comparison. ‘Single Man Drought’ was highly enjoyable and hit the comedic mark. During some numbers the blocking wasn’t crisp and the energy, in some instances, was decidedly lacklustre. This is in contrast to the more enjoyable numbers such as ‘Hey There, Single Gal/Guy’, where the actors work brilliantly together, feeding off each other. As a result this number is one of the funniest and truly captures the audience. Some problems with this production somewhat stunt its overall appeal. Considering the venue, some of the blocking was quite awkward. Sitting in the middle of the audience I found that whenever the actors were seated I missed half the action. As some numbers were performed almost entirely sitting down, sight-lines were a major issue. Also slightly disappointing was the accent work during dialogue. Though the effort was apparent, I feel some of the accents detracted from the performance.As a fan of the songs, I’m a little disappointed by the lack of originality and energy which such a young cast could have injected into the musical. Though the production isn’t astounding, it is an upbeat, enjoyable performance, sure to make an audience chuckle.
