Both Sides Win Mating Game

LAGUNA BEACH — Maybe we’ve turned a corner.

In one of the most clever, buoyant musical comedy revues about sex, love and dating in years, “I Love You, You’re Perfect, Now Change,” there isn’t one mention of AIDS. And all the couples are heterosexual.

This happens, mind you, in a city with a large gay population and one of the highest per-capita AIDS populations in the nation.

Retrograde? Unfeeling? Irrelevant? Politically incorrect? Not at all.

On the contrary, “I Love You . . .,” which opened Thursday in a smashing West Coast premiere at the Laguna Playhouse, is, if anything, an anodyne to the nasty ‘90s. Perhaps it’s the barometer of a new mood of theatrical inclusion for the silent majority.

And while the show confirms the status quo, it is never smug or complacent or all those unthinking traits associated with the majority.

Besides, when was the last time a New Jersey export came loaded with so much pure fun?

This savvy blend of full-bodied sketch comedy, witty song lyrics and fresh, though not especially great, music also demonstrates the difference between a play and a promise: It has a second act.

In fact, it has many second acts. Sketch after sketch, they keep arriving like clockwork, one better than the other, as though Joe DiPietro (book and lyrics) and Jimmy Roberts (score), taking their cue from the show’s title, will never run out of tightly scripted ideas.

“I Love You” offers almost two dozen comic variations on a romantic theme, a sort of Lost and Found of love with a roomful of matched and mismatched pairs.

The brightly mocking tone is set in the opening sendup of a first date between a “busy, busy, busy woman” (Susan Hoffman) and an equally busy man (Gary Imhoff) who have so little time that they skip right to the third date--sex--but then, consulting their appointment books, skip right past it to their breakup and the recognition that they were never meant for each other in the first place. “What a great date!” he says, recalling their peculiar bliss.

The first act takes us on a romp through other dates: a hilarious pair of nerds who fantasize their dream selves as a stud (Larry Raben) and a babe (Andrea Chamberlain); a swanky looking pair in tennis whites (Chamberlain and Raben) who come to a crossroad in their relationship between lasagna and condoms; a night at the movies between a macho guy made for action flicks (Imhoff) and a sentimental chick made for tear-jerkers (Hoffman).

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Although the second act gets slightly serious, slowing the pace from a sprint to a trot--there’s a well-turned nonmusical sketch about a divorcee (Chamberlain) making her first video ad for a mate--the humor and entertainment don’t let up for an instant.

It begins with one of the funniest numbers in the show--Hoffman singing “Always a Bridesmaid” in a hideous gown (Dwight Richard Odle’s costumes are apt throughout)--and moves on through spoofs of infantilized parents (“The Baby Song”), longtime marrieds who barely get around to sex (“Marriage Tango”), families that drive together (“On the Highway of Love”) and, finally, the funeral parlor as a place for pickups (“I Can Live With That”).

Director Joel Bishoff keeps the production as tight as the script, paying attention to myriad small gestures and details. He has cast the show with an impeccable eye for performers. Their very able singing aside, each of the spit-and-polish actors has enough personality to breathe life into his or her multiple roles yet not too much to distort the ensemble with idiosyncrasies.

Also apt is the look of Neil Peter Jampolis’ scenic design--old brick and cast-iron--suggesting an urban neighborhood rich in downtown chic.

“I Love You, You’re Perfect, Now Change” originated in 1995 at the American Stage Co. in Teaneck, N.J. A New York production, also directed by Bishoff, has been running for 15 months off-Broadway. Another opened in June in Toronto, and the show is all but guaranteed a commercial run in Los Angeles early next year, according to the New York producers. In the meantime, theatergoers here have a top-notch production that will be difficult to surpass.

* “I Love You, You’re Perfect, Now Change,” Moulton Theater, 606 Laguna Canyon Road, Laguna Beach. 8 p.m. Tuesday-Friday, 2 and 8 p.m. Saturday, 2 and 7 p.m. Sunday. Ends Nov. 30. $29-$35. (714) 497-2787. Running time: 2 hours, 20 minutes.

A Laguna Playhouse production of a musical revue by Joe DiPietro (book and lyrics) and Jimmy Roberts (music). Directed by Joel Bishoff. With Andrea Chamberlain, Susan Hoffman, Gary Imhoff, Larry Raben. Scenic and lighting design: Neil Peter Jampolis. Costume design: Dwight Richard Odle. Sound design: David Edwards. Musical direction: Diane King Vann. Vocal and instrumental arrangements: Jimmy Roberts. Stage manager: Nancy Staiger.