Reviewed by Paul Treasure
The challenging thing about reviewing a revue is that its strengths and weaknesses are actually the same thing. A series of short sketches and songs, often on a linked theme. There are bound to be some of the pieces that land better or worse with any audience member, but the audience member sitting alongside them may have a totally different list of which scenes were the ones that hit better and which ones hit worse. Murray Music & Drama’s production of I Love You, You’re Perfect, Now Change is no exception.
The set is very simple, as it needs to be to accommodate so many different settings. Wisely they have gone with just very simple elements to denote every little scene. A chair here, or a sofa there. Changes were rapid and barely noticeable, and a credit to Stage Manager, Angela Edwards, and her crew. Given the wide variety of scenes, the lighting design stretched the limited capacity of the venue to its absolute fullest, a great achievement by the lighting team. The show is set in the present day, which can actually be tricky for costuming, as there is so much available, but Jodie Bonner and her team have done an excellent job. We only get to live with each character for five minutes or less, and the costume team's choices often helped give us a very good idea of each character from the outset. Top of the list being one of the most hideous dresses I have seen onstage in a very long time, which perfectly encapsulated, as soon as the lights hit this monstrosity, that we were about to get a scene about bridesmaids.
Director Tammy Peckover and Musical Director Kenn Ellis have done an excellent job with the cast, who all managed the task of playing multiple characters and caricatures with a deal of aplomb. With about twenty different scenes and as many songs, some of them stood, out, and others fell a little flat, but as I have said, this happens with revues, and a different person will have a different list. From my perspective, there were a couple of favoured moments. The aforementioned Always a Bridesmaid, sung beautifully and hilariously by Lori Anders, was my personal favourite. The Family That Drives Together, featuring Pat Deleo, Kelly Cure, Brylin Bonner and Myer van der Westhuizen, was also very funny, with a family of four on a family trip, with the car represented by four office chairs. The moment midway through the song where the car breaks up and all four characters are wheeling around independently on stage in their chairs was unexpected and breathtaking. The Very First Dating Video of Rosie Ritz gave Kelly Cure a real moment to shine. Shouldn’t I Be Less in Love With You, a song about a husband who is still very much in love with his wife after years of marriage was very tenderly sung by Pat Deleo, and was one of the emotional high points of the show. Joel Gal and Lori Anders were both hilarious as two socially inept singles in A Stud and A Babe.
The Men Who Talk and the Women Who Pretend They’re Listening was an excellent scene featuring Andy Peckover, Meyer van der Westhuizen, Bindi Jordan, and Brylin Bonner. Apparently, the writers have updated the show since it first premiered in 1997, one of the updates, A Picture of His Penis, could obviously not have been written twenty-seven years ago, but its inclusion in the show is a tour-de-force for Bindi Jordan and Lori Anders.
This is a very cute show, and with such a great variety of sketches and songs, there will be something it for everybody to make the trip down to Pinjarra worthwhile.
Reviewer note: Paul has previously performed at Murray Music and Drama Club. Tickets for this review were provided by the theatre company.
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