Watch This Play If You Can’t Get Out of Your Situationships
If you still can’t get out of the talking stage, this play may be about you and your attempts to find "The One."
Words Aly Bautista
Photos by Buensalido Public Relations
May 27, 2024
Online dating, exclusive talking stages, and situationships—romance has drastically changed over time. You could be hitting it off for weeks and then suddenly stop talking to each other on a random Tuesday. Now what?
Already complicated as it is, the dating scene has become even more complex with all these modern terminologies. People are now forced to keep up with the new normal of meeting others.
If you are going through this, Repertory Philippines (REP) takes us on a ride through the different phases of modern relationships in their latest production, a musical comedy titled I Love You, You’re Perfect, Now Change.
Directed by the First Lady of Philippine Musical Theater, Menchu Lauchengco-Yulo, this is REP’s rendition of the second longest-running off-Broadway musical by award-winning Joe DiPietro. It is staged in a bustling metropolis where dating apps are the norm.
Apart from its intriguing title, here’s more of what to expect from REP’s take on the musical comedy:
Navigating Modern Relationships
I Love You, You’re Perfect, Now Change showcases witty yet achingly relatable scenes that are independent of each other, touching on topics of connection, intimacy, commitment, and loneliness throughout the arc of relationships in life.
Being a 1996 Broadway interpretation, Lauchengco-Yulo revealed at the show’s media launch on May 16 that the team went out of their “comfort zone” and took on the challenge of staging this play in a more contemporary setting.
Without completely altering its original sense, REP will be performing the revised 2018 version of the musical, rewriting some lyrics and making song changes to make the story “geared for the audiences of today” and more fitting for the shifts in dating culture.
“With I Love You, You’re Perfect, Now Change, we want to give audiences something they can relate to, whether they’re a young romantic hit by dating app fatigue or an older couple going through the trials of marriage,” she explains.
In this tangled and twisted era of situationships, ghosting, and reigniting old sparks, this show hopes to emphasize that love lives on despite all the problems and miscommunications—still, of course, with lots of laughs and giggles on the side.
A Return to the Spotlight
Through its series of standalone vignettes, the musical tackles the reality behind the different faces, ages, and stages of love in the lives of 40 characters, all brought to life by a talented cast of four making their much-awaited theater comebacks.
It has been two years since singer-actor Gian Magdangal took the stage after his wonderful performance in the 2022 REP production of Carousel. He eagerly joined the principal cast members in this production.
Gian Magdangal
Gabby Padilla also joins the quartet after garnering recent acclaim for her roles in the LGBT coming-of-age film Billie and Emma and Gitling, leading to her FAMAS nod and Best Actress awards.
Gabby Padilla
Krystal Kane, known for her roles in The Sound of Music, In the Heights, Spring Awakening, and Tabing Ilog: The Musical, is also back after a four-year hiatus.
Krystal Kane
Singer-actor-songwriter Marvin Ong brings his remarkable talents to the stage once more with his first theater role after ten long years, and he admits to feeling at ease working with the entire team.
Marvin Ong
The production will be supported by swings Barbara Jance, from REP’s 2023-2024 run of Snow White and the Prince, and Davy Narciso, known for his productions with Ateneo’s Blue Repertory.
Not only will it be the actors’ return, but also Lauchengco-Yulo’s return to working with REP since 1998.
“Like Marvin, it was also Tita Menchu who got me to say yes. We all want to work with her,” Padilla says.
I Love You, You’re Perfect, Now Change boasts remarkable names among its roster of the creative team, including Cara Barredo as assistant director, Joey Mendoza for set and costume design, projector graphics and video designer GA Fallarme, lighting designer Meliton Roxas, choreographer Stephen Viñas, and sound designer Aji Manalo.
The entire production took lots of experimenting in an effort to find a middle ground between truth and theatrics, in contrast to previous strategies that leaned heavily on stereotypes, caricatures, and comic relief to push narratives. The show is expected to be more purposeful in its storytelling while still being visually interesting.
The comedy musical will run from June 14 to July 6 at the Carlos P. Romulo Auditorium in RCBC Plaza, Makati. Tickets are available via Ticketworld and Ticket2Me.
