Love is in the Parisian air at Santa Monica’s City Garage Theatre in Limonade Tous Les Jours: A Paris Love Story, Charles Mee’s wisp of a mai-décembre romance between a 50something American and une jolie francaise less than half his age.

It isn’t that middle-aged Andrew (David E. Frank) has arrived in the City of Love with amour on his mind, but how can he say “non” when approached at a sidewalk café by YaYa (Nicolet Anton), the most luscious of French mademoiselles.

And yes, Andrew may be, as YaYa puts it, more than a bit of a stuffed shirt, but it doesn’t take long for that shirt and everything but YaYa’s skimpy lingerie to come off, whether it’s the twosome frolicking in bed or Andrew’s giving YaYa’s bare shoulders a rub in a tub.

Along the way there are strolls through Parisian rues, visits to the nightclub where YaYa entertains audiences with chansons about (you guessed it) l’amour, and an whole lot of of philosophizing about that same subject.

It’s all très charmant (but also très talky), which is why audiences will thank producer Charles A. Duncombe and director Frédérique Michel for having given Mee’s original script a trim, upped the number of songs and dances, and most significantly, beefed up the roles (Waiter, Dancer, Madame Josephine) played by the gorgeously androgynous Cruz St. James.

City Garage favorite Frank and newcomer Anton make for a believably mismatched pair of lovers, the latter scoring bonus points for giving French songstresses Edith Piaf and Mireille Mathieu a run for their francs français in nightclub sequences.

Most engaging of all is City Garage discovery St. James, whether bare of torso or wearing a slinky slip dress or showing off seductive vocals and sizzling dance moves choreographed by St. James himself.

Last but not least, Limonade Tous Les Jours benefits as always from Duncombe’s eye-catching set, lighting, and audio designs (video-&-projections designer Anthony Sannazzaro’s black-and-white photos de Paris are an atmospheric plus) and from Josephine Poinsot’s stylish costumes with their trademark City Garage splashes of fire-engine red.

Ralph Radebaugh is assistant director.

Limonade Tous Les Jours: A Paris Love Story may be minor City Garage compared to their recent Uncle Vanya, Antigone, and The Homecoming but it’s not sans charme. And if you can’t afford un voyage à Paris in the springtime, this just might be the next best thing.

City Garage, 2525 Michigan Ave. Building T1, Santa Monica. Through June 28. Fridays and Saturdays at 8:00. Sundays at 4:00.
www.citygarage.org 

–Steven Stanley
May 24, 2026
Photos: Paul Rubenstein

Tags: Charles L. Mee, City Garage, Los Angeles Theater Review