Book & Lyrics: Joe Dipietro
Music: Jimmy Roberts
Director: Mary MacDonagh
A young cast full of potential took to The Mill stage for American College Dublin’s production of I Love You, You’re Perfect, Now Change. First premiered in 1995, I Love You, You’re Perfect, Now Change is a series of short musical vignettes on modern heterosexual dating, marriage, and family life. As the show starts, the band walks out on stage to seat themselves on raised platforms behind the main performance area. The stage is then plunged into darkness and the 4 person cast enters dressed all in black and holding torches to their faces as they speak. A very dramatic and effective opening to the show.
The 4 person cast played multiple roles throughout the show, slipping between different accents, body language and ways of speaking with relative ease. There were some fumbles and the odd accent slip here and there, but overall a very good effort from everyone to switch between characters. The costume changes were mostly on coat stands at either side of the stage, clearly to make for a quick change. However, the changes were not always very smooth and it is possible it would have been a better choice to have these take place off stage. Costuming was kept relatively simple but effective throughout. The performers were dressed in an all black base layer with a change of character being signified by a change of shirt, a cardigan or a hat.
Overall, there is a lot of humour in the show with a particularly strong comedic performance by Caitlin Keating. She provided excellent physicality and characterisation to her comedic roles in the show and was very enjoyable to watch throughout. There was wonderful chemistry between Nikita Sasha Pettigrew and Paul Michael Rimmer which shone through in every scene they performed in together. Rounding up the cast is a strong showing by Andrew O’Grady. There were some notes that didn’t quite make it throughout the show, but this cast is talented and has a great capacity for future success.
Reviewed 22nd May 2025.
