I’LL GIVE YOU MY HEART


Do you too wish that Hollywood were still making the kind of romantic comedies that turned Julia Roberts, Meg Ryan, and Sandra Bullock into international superstars back in the ‘90s? If so, you won’t want to miss Tamara Steren’s heartstrings-tugging World Premiere romcom I’ll Give You My Heart at Burbank’s Colony Theatre.

Standing in for Julia or Meg or Sandy is Jacqueline Emerson as 31-year-old New York advertising executive Charlie, who’s been carrying a torch for Ben (Jonah Robinson) these past five years, that is when the two them aren’t seated side by side watching their favorite WWII-era Warner Brothers classic for the umpteenth time.

Or are they really, because it quickly becomes clear upon the arrival of Charlie’s childhood bff Pippa (Emily Nash) that the Ben we’re looking at is either a ghost or a figment of Charlie’s imagination.

In either case, Pippa isn’t about to let her best friend continue to wallow in five years’ worth of grief for a deceased fiancé, which is why the two of them are going out on the town tomorrow night, Charlie’s protestations be damned.

Enter Sam (Jeremy S. Walker), Charlie’s boss’s top pick to run the firm’s London office, and the first man she’s met since Ben’s death five years ago to spark even a hint of interest in her still grieving heart.

What is it about Sam that has Charlie, almost in spite of herself, thinking about someone other than Ben? How is it that Sam knows that Charlie’s favorite ice cream is chocolate peanut butter, or that her favorite flowers are pink tulips, and why does he order pink sauce on his chicken parm just like …

Could it be that there’s something other than simple happenstance at play here?

If the above preview of what’s to come doesn’t have you making plans to catch Steren’s play during its three-weekend run at the Colony, then you’re obviously not the While You Were Sleeping/Notting Hill/You’ve Got Mail lover that I am.

I myself couldn’t be happier about its arrival precisely at a time when feel-good entertainment just might be the best possible cure for the 2025 blues, and boy oh boy did Steren’s play put a smile on my face even as I found myself wiping away more than a few tears.

Not only does director James Mellon elicit one fabulous performance after another, his decision to link scenes with clips from the aforementioned Best Picture Oscar-winning classic proves an inspired one, not only because it keeps our interest high as furniture gets moved about but because it has our romance-loving hearts going pitapat as only a Hollywood love story can do.

Emerson (a young Julianne Moore) could not be more captivating or touching as Charlie, Nash is the sassy, caring best friend anyone would be lucky to call her bestie, Walker charms as good guy Sam (and what a powerful speech he gives!), and Robinson’s Ben is so dreamy, it’s no wonder Charlie can’t get over him.

Add to that a brunette Heather Lee’s delicious pair of  featured turns as Charlie’s therapist and Ben’s mother, and Jon Root’s triple duty as wacky waiter Franco, blue collar bozo Zeke, and salt-of-the-earth Matthew and you’ve got a couldn’t-be-better sextet of rising and seasoned L.A. stage stars.

Not only that, but MB Artists and Heart Productions have given I’ll Give You My Heart the kind of Grade-A production design that was a Colony hallmark during the Barbara Beckley years.

Mark Mendelson’s multi-locale New York set, Dan Weingarten’s nuanced lighting, Gabrieale Griego’s striking projections, and Madeline Keller’s just-right costumes are as good as it gets, and the same can be said about Joseph “Sloe” Slawinski’s emotion-enhancing sound design and original music.

I’ll Give You My Heart features hair and makeup designs by Leland Stephens. Kevin Bailey and Matthew Herrmann are stage managers. Casting is by Michael Donovan, CSA and Richie Ferris, CSA. Jennifer Cannon understudies the roles of Charlie and Pippa. Ken Werther is publicist.

I could probably count the number of contemporary romantic comedies I’ve seen on stage over the past five or ten years on the fingers of one or two hands, just one reason to celebrate I’ll Give You My Heart’s arrival at the Colony.

If you’re anything like me, you’ll be celebrating too.

Colony Theatre, 555 North Third Street, Burbank.
www.colonytheatre.org

–Steven Stanley
October 4, 2025
Photos: Ashley Erikson

Visit www.theatreinla.com/nowplayingrs.php for a review roundup of what’s now playing in theaters around Los Angeles.

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