Maine Masque to Produce Musical “I Love You, You’re Perfect, Now Change

Contact: Joe Carr at (207) 581-3571

ORONO — Some seasoned University of Maine student actors are getting together as the Maine Masque tackles a hugely popular musical play that proves that romance still sells.

“I Love You, You’re Perfect, Now Change,” opening April 7 at Hauck Auditorium on the UMaine campus in Orono, is about dating, relationships and personalities. It also is the longest running Off-Broadway musical since “The Fantasticks,” according to Chicago theater critic Joseph Bowen.

From pick-up lines to proposals, from intimacy to in-laws, the musical celebrates modern mating rituals for young and old. The Maine Masque student production takes on the truths and myths behind that contemporary conundrum known as “the relationship.”

Bowen calls “I Love You, You’re Perfect, Now Change” is the perfect date show. “It doesn’t matter what stage your relationship is at, or whether you’re in a relationship at all. This show will speak to you regardless,” Bowen says.

Director Dominick Varney, a UMaine Higher Education graduate student who teaches the fundamentals of acting, says he picked a musical, a rare genre for Maine Masquers, because of the fun and relevance of the subject matter in this play.

“It’s very funny,” Varney promises. “There are two serious ballads in the show and the rest of it’s all comedy, how people meet, the first date, to getting married and being married for 40 years. Also, what happens when you’ve lost a loved one and are getting back into the dating game.”

The shows run April 7-10, starting at 7:30 p.m., and April 11, starting at 2 p.m. Admission is $8 and free to students with a MaineCard.

Audiences will see some familiar faces in the eight-member cast. Some have appeared in recent UMaine student productions, including “Charlie Brown,” “The Rocky Horror Show” and “Much Ado About Nothing.”

“I Love You, You’re Perfect, Now Change” was written by Joe DiPietro and Jimmy Roberts. DiPietro is known for another popular play, “Over the River and Through the Woods,” still a regional theatre favorite, and Roberts composed “A…My Name is Still Alice,” according to James Bowen.

An engaging and hilarious production, the musical is currently playing in many professional and amateur theaters around the country. Originally it had only four actors portraying a dozen or more characters, which change from scene to scene. Varney says he expanded the cast to eight because the play can support the expansion, and it also offers more exposure for UMaine student actors.

“There are no constant characters,” Varney says. “They all change in exciting ways for the cast to create multiple and entertaining characters.”

Cast members are Alan Bailey of Bucksport, Elizabeth Braman of Hebron, Hans-Stefan Ducharme of Kennebunk, Amanda Eaton of Dexter, Janis Greim of Auburn, Kristin Johnson of Blue Hill, Domenic Mascis of North Berwick and Joshua Schmersal of Bangor.

Musical scores for the show, directed by Amy Maier of Bath, is being performed by a piano and bass. Varney calls it lively, upbeat and truly enjoyable.

Working not far behind the scenes throughout the production will be stage manager Hillary Roberts of Atkinson, sound designer Adam Smith of Farmington, and lighting and set designer Shannon Dougherty of Bowdoinham. Kristin Johnson also doubles as costume designer and Janis Greim as make-up designer. Erin Couturier of Winslow is properties designer and Dale Knapp of Newport is technical director.

Schmersal, a senior performing arts voice major and veteran of five UMaine musicals, says this play has been the most fun for him to perform.

“Based on a comparison of other performances, this is one I can’t wait to come to the rehearsal for,” he says. “Part of it is because of eight wonderful people in the cast. It’s also easy to access, because it’s something that we, as an ensemble, as college-age kids, can identify with.

“There are certain situations within the show that we have either been in or can foresee ourselves being in,” he says.

Schmersal says the production will be “incredible” and the play itself “is very smartly written. It’s very realistic, and told in a very comical way. It strikes home for just about everyone.”

Other critical reviews also give the musical high marks.

In 1996, when the production opened at the Westside Theatre in New York, for instance, the Newark Star Ledger called likened the production to “Seinfeld set to pop music.”

The show is structured like a relationship: dating in Act 1; marriage, parenthood and the death of a spouse in Act 2. The characters are cut from both comedic and touching slices of life.

One poignantly records a dating video after being dumped by her husband. Another is a bridesmaid happy to have escaped the bad marriages that resulted from some of the weddings she has participated in. A third, a husband, sings “Shouldn’t I Be Less in Love With You?” to his wife of 30 years.

Others skits include an ensemble in which a meek father becomes aggressive when he gets behind the wheel of a car, and in another, a fairly plain couple imagine themselves as a stud and a babe. And then there is the “man’s man,” whose sensitive side emerges at the movies.

Information is available at the Maine Center for the Arts box office, (207) 581-1755.