Joe Di Pietro and Jimmy Roberts’ three-decades-old—but still delightfully relevant—smash off-Broadway musical I Love You, You’re Perfect, Now Change now gets a smashing 30th-anniversary revival at Long Beach’s International City Theatre

Featuring a tuneful dozen-and-a-half reflections on opposite-sex relationships with music by Roberts and lyrics by DiPietro and some SNL-style sketches by DiPietro, I Love You, You’re Perfect, Now Change has been entertaining audiences since its 1996 debut.

There may not be recurring characters or a storyline to follow from meet-cute to romantic crisis to happy ending, but I Love You, You’re Perfect, Now Change does take a chronological path, starting from one couple’s first date (during which they decide to skip all the preliminaries and go directly to their post-divorce reconciliation) all the way up to an elderly pair’s happy discovery that “funerals are for dating.”

The evening starts of with Erika Schindele’s “Woman #1” and Will Riddle’s “Man #2” as a nerdette and a dweeb who don’t just fantasize about being “A Stud And A Babe,” they accomplish that goal however briefly.

A torchy Schindele and Whitney Kathleen Vigil’s “Woman #2” lament a serious “Single Man Drought,” followed by Michael Deni’s “Man #2” and Riddles’s manhood-celebrating “Why? ‘Cause I’m a Guy.”

Vigil reappears in Grand Ol’ Opry mode (and godawful bridesmaid garb) in “Always A Bridesmaid.” (“For Caitlin, I wore satin, which I looked really fat in.”)

The fabulous foursome show up next as a pair of long-suffering parents and their two insufferable tots, all of them losing it on a family road trip in “On The Highway Of Love” while executing some hilariously iventive “car-eography,” that features all four cavorting (carvorting?) around the stage on office chairs on rollers.

 “He Called Me” has Schindele celebrating that “a guy who I am dating really called me!” Vigil and Riddle are at once operatic and hilarious as a long-married couple getting ready for some long-awaited hanky-panky in “Marriage Tango.” New father Deni bemoans the baby-talk he finds himself spouting in “The Baby Song.”

Oh, and lest I forget, Schindele and Riddle luck out with I Love You, You’re Perfect, Now Change’s two most gorgeous ballads, she with “I Will Be Loved Tonight,” he with “Shouldn’t I Be Less In Love With You?”, and you won’t hear two more gorgeous voices anytime soon.

In fact, there’s not a weak vocal link in the entire cast, DiPietro and Roberts’ songs giving everyone a chance to shine with music director Daniel Gary Busby on piano and Jon Buzzelli on violin providing topnotch accompaniment throughout the show.

Skits interspersed between songs give all four triple-threats the chance to prove themselves comedic actors par excellence, and for director Barry Pearl to display his mastery of eliciting laugh-getting performances from all concerned while expertly helming a show that requires the deftest of directorial hands.

Among the funniest sketches, “Satisfaction Guaranteed,” offers a wry look at personal injury lawyers out to make you a millionaire while “Tear Jerk” pokes fun at a couple with decidedly different opinions about movie tearjerkers.

Co-writers Di Pietro and Roberts are smart enough to insert a bit of poignancy as I Love You, You’re Perfect, Now Change nears its show-stopping final number, and all four cast members reap the benefits of this mood change, in particular Schindele with the bittersweet “very first dating video of Rose Ritz,” and Deni and Vigil igniting a romantic spark while awaiting a pair of funerals in “I Can Live With That.”

Not only that, but I can’t think of another show that affords its cast as many opportunities to show off versatility as both actors and singers than I Love You, You’re Perfect, Now Change.

Romantic lead-type Deni is particularly hilarious as an improbably Cockney-accented inmate; Schindele proves herself as chameleonic a comedienne as she is the quintessential girl-next door; sporting an alternately nerdy/sexy moustache, Riddle transitions from dork to stud with the greatest of ease; and Vigil goes beyond her sassy personal to dig dramatically deep while showing off both a Broadway belt and a legit soprano.

And not only is there not a vocally weak link among the foursome, they get to show off some jaunty footwork to Becca Sweitzer’s lively choreographic bits.

Stephen Gifford backs the action with a stylish scenic design enhanced by Maren Taylor’s just-right lighting, Patty Briles provides an abundance of song/skit-appropriate props, and if between-scene transitions take a bit longer than I would have liked, they do serve to allow the cast to execute a couple dozen costume changes, designer Kimberly DeShazo outdoing herself with this one.

Last but not least, Hunter Moody earns his own snaps for a finely-tuned sound design.

Donna R. Parsons is production stage manager and Kayla DuPrete is assistant stage manager, with addition program credits shared by Amber Pegler (wardrobe crew), Dave Espen (sound crew), and Filisha Jones (backstage crew), among others. Casting is by Michael Donovan, CSA, and Richie Ferris, CSA. Lucy Pollak is publicist.

Like Desperate Measures, tick, tick… BOOM!, and Marry Me A Little before it, I Love You, You’re Perfect, Now Change reaffirms International City Theatre’s expertise at staging intimate musicals for maximum entertainment value. Season 41 couldn’t get off to a more delightful start.

International City Theatre, Long Beach Performing Arts Center, 300 E. Ocean Blvd., Long Beach.
www.InternationalCityTheatre.org

–Steven Stanley
February 21, 2026
Photos: Jordan Gohara

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Tags: International City Theatre, Jimmy Roberts, Joe DiPietro, Los Angeles Theater Review