I Love You, You're Perfect, Now Change, the laugh-inducing, award-winning musical comedy about love in the suburbs, is often described as "Seinfeld set to music". It's a hilarious look at love and relationships that is as touching and insightful as it is humorous. Four actors play over forty roles scaling the dizzying spectrum of male/female relationships. The trials and tribulations of being single, dating, marriage, loss, and heartbreak - and everything in the relationship process that you have ever secretly thought about, but were afraid to admit - are cleverly explored.
It is hailed as the most "proposal-friendly" musical. There have been 61 wedding proposals at the show and, happily, the responses to all were a resounding YES! As the longest running Off-Broadway musical, it premiered at New York City's Westside Theatre on August 1, 1996 and closed on July 27, 2008, after 5,003 performances. It has garnered over $60 million worldwide in ticket sales and survived translation into thirteen languages. The musical was nominated for the Outer Critics Circle Award as Outstanding Off-Broadway musical in 1997.
Directed by Westchester Broadway Theatre favorite, Charles Repole, the multi-talented ensemble includes Frank Vlastnik, Jonathan Rayson, Courtney Balan, who have all appeared in the Off-Broadway production, and the ubiquitous Noel Molinelli. LocAl Westchester girl and actress extraordinaire, Christine Ditota, will be taking on the challenging job of understudying both female roles.Travis Taber, whom we last saw in The White Plains PAC's lovely production of OLIVER, will understudy the male roles.
The production is directed by WBT favorite, Charles Repole, with John Daniels as Musical Director. The winning production team includes Steve Loftus (Set Designer), Andrew Gmoser (Lighting Designer), Jon Hatton (Sound Designer), Donald Birely (Costume Designer), Steve Carl (Projections Designer),Victor Lukas (Production Stage Manager), and Ruth Zang & Ron Rogell (Assistant Stage Mgrs.)
Courtney Balan. On Broadway, she created the role of "Hatchet-Face" in Cry-Baby: the Musical, and understudied and performed the lead role of Jenny in In My Life. She was the stand-by for the ladies of [title of show],
Off-Broadway: [title of show] (Susan & Heidi stand-by); I Love You, You're Perfect, Now Change (woman 1); How To Save the World and Find True Love in 90 Minutes (Violet & Julie stand-by) and I Love You Because (NYC Woman) recording on PS Classics. Regional: Funny Girl (Fanny u/s), Fiddler On the Roof (Tzeitel) and The Pajama Game (Poopsie) at MT of Wichita; Jekyll & Hyde (Emma) at MGR, and the centennial celebration production of Oklahoma (Ado Annie)at the Lyric Theatre of OK. Courtney has also had the opportunity to create roles in numerous readings and workshops of new musicals by incredible up-and-coming writers.
Noel Molinelli Has appeared Off-Broadway as Darlene in Click Clack Moo and as Female #3 in If You Give A Pig A Pancake at Theatreworks USA, as Robyn in The Four at The Prospect Theatre Company, Connie in Good News at the 45th Street Theatre and as Lucy in The Riverside Opera's production of Parallel Lives. Regionally: Beehive (Connie Francis/ LuLu) at Maltz-Jupiter Theatre, The Wedding Singer (Julia) at Gateway Playhouse, Urban Cowboy (Sissy) West Virginia Public Theatre, All Shook Up (Natalie) Merry Go Round Playhouse and Footloose (Ariel Moore) at The Prathers Theatres.
Jonathan Rayson, was on Broadway as Frog in the three-time Tony Award nominated A YEAR WITH FROG AND TOAD, as Seymour Krelbourn in Little Shop Of Horrors. The Off-Broadway Productions of I Love You, You're Perfect, Now Change Adrift in Macao, and That Time Of Year, Prospect Theater Company's The Flood, NYMF 2006's The Children. Regionally, Hello Dolly (Cornelius Hackl), A Little Night Music ( Henrik), Side Show (Buddy), A Funny Thing Happened On The Way To The Forum (Hero) , She Loves Me (Georg), And many others. His first solo CD, entitled "Shiny and New," comprised of songs by some of the 1970s' greatest pop songwriters, like James Taylor, Carole King, Joni Mitchell, Billy Joel, and John Denver was released in 2006.
Frank Vlastnik appeared in the Original Broadway Productions of: A Year with Frog and Toad , Sweet Smell of Success and Big As well as the Off-Broadway productions of "I Love You, You're Perfect, Now Change", Man With A Load Of Mischief, and Stephen Sondheim's Saturday Night. Regionally, at The Westport Country Playhouse in the Kander & Ebb musical All About Us, The McCarter Theatre, Capital Repertory, Yale Repertory, St. Louis Muny, Kansas City Starlight, and The Chautauqua Opera. TV: "Law & Order," "The Adventures of Brisco County, Jr.," "Another World." Film: "The Image" (HBO), and "A Year with Frog and Toad." As an author, His first book, "Broadway Musicals", is now in its fifth printing and his second book, "Sitcoms" is published by Black Dog & Leventhal.
Charles Repole (Director) directed the highly acclaimed concert versions of Dubarry Was a Lady starring Faith Prince and Robert Morse and Call Me Madam starring Tyne Daly for the prestigious City Center Encores! series. Other Broadway directing credits include the revival of Gentlemen Prefer Blondes (which originated at the Goodspeed Opera House), The Lauri Strauss Leukemia Foundation Benefit at Carnegie Hall starring Regis Philbin, Marvin Hamlisch, Judy Collins, Anne Reinking and the New York Pops conducted by Skitch Henderson, the Easter Bonnet Competition at the Palace Theatre (raising more than $1 million for AIDS research) and A Salute to Frank Sinatra at Carnegie Hall. For 7 years, Mr. Repole conceived and directed the annual fund raising gala for the 92nd Street "Y" including: Dance! featuring the works of the Alvin Ailey dance company, the Martha Graham dance company, the Cleveland Ballet, David Parsons and Stomp!; Lyrics and Lyricists 25th Year Celebration hosted by Angela Lansbury and starring Rosie O'Donnell, Joel Grey, Bebbe Neuwirth, Jerry Herman, Cy Coleman, Stephen Schwartz and Sheldon Harnick; Folk Songs USA starring Burl Ives, Pete Seeger, Art Garfunkle and Odetta, and Standing Ovations hosted by Tony Randall and starring Carol Channing, Elaine Strich, Nell Carter, Leslie Uggams and Donna McKecknie. He has also conceived and directed the MAC Awards (Manhattan Association of Cabarets and Clubs). For the premiere season of the Kennedy Center's concert series, Words and Music, Mr. Repole directed Where's Charley! and staged a concert version of Of Thee I Sing for the Chicago Humanities Festival at Symphony Hall, celebrating the 100th Birthday of George Gershwin. Mr. Repole was proud to direct the SDC Foundation gala Twenty-One for the 21st. Mr. Repole has directed productions of George M! starring Joel Grey, Zorba starring Anthony Quinn , Call Me Madam starring Leslie Uggams, Annie starring Rue McClanahan, The Solid Gold Cadillac starring Charlotte Rae, Pittsburgh CLO's 50th Anniversary production of My Fair Lady, the St. Louis MUNY's biggest box office success The Wizard of Oz, his critically acclaimed musical version of Animal Crackers at the Goodspeed Opera House, and the San Antonio Art Festival's La Pericole starring Angelina Reaux and Joel Grey. For his production of A Day in Hollywood/A Night in the Ukraine, Mr. Repole was nominated for Chicago's prestigious Joseph Jefferson Award. He has also directed many productions for the Westchester Broadway Theatre, including his first professional directing job, They're Playing Our Song and most recently, Anything Goes.
Photo credit John Vecchiolla
