The Cal Poly Pomona Department of Theatre and New Dance invites viewers to go on journey through love, relationships and the mushy stuff that somehow holds it all together with its final Main Stage show of the season, “I Love You, You’re Perfect, Now Change.”
The musical comedy opens 8 p.m. Friday, May 11, at Cal Poly Pomona’s University Theatre and continues its run at 8 p.m. May 12, 17, 18, 19 and 2 p.m. May 20.
Performed in revue-style theatre where characters aren’t carried over past their respective scenes, the production beckons viewers to focus on the arc of relationships as they bud, blossom and wither throughout life. Notably, however, theatre department chairman Bernardo Solano – the show’s director – has taken steps to adjust the script to include depictions of LGBT relationships.
“We’re trying to make a statement about how couples and relationships come in all shapes and sizes and that it’s the new normal,” he says. “At our own peril, we exclude those relationships and their stories. So we’re opening the show up to the fact that this is the new sensibility and this is normal, and we’re doing our part in stating that these relationships are part and parcel of our modern society in the United States.”
But while there’s a certain gravitas in Solano’s alterations behind the scenes, the show and its comedy aim to roll off naturally through song and dance designed to enchant viewers to engage with every character.
“On the surface very light-hearted, satirical and even farcical in that it has fun with the stereotypes of relationship dynamics,” Solano says.
The show lampoons certain relationship tropes and dynamics such as the sports-obsessed brute, the nagging backseat driver, and parents trying to sneak in moments of romance between spurts of parenting.
Throughout the show, characters pine for phone calls, lament about boring dates, experience marriage and child-rearing, and date again in old-age when loved ones pass. Solano says he hopes viewers of all ages will see a bit of themselves on stage during “I Love You, You’re Perfect, Now Change.”
“I’m hoping that people feel like there’s been a celebration of their trials and tribulations and they’ll have a laugh or two, as well as moments of recognition of the challenges of relationships,” he says. “And maybe some of them will feel validated or comforted by realizing that these kinds of things happen to all sorts of people.”
In honor of the show’s celebration of relationships, the Department of Theatre and New Dance is also offering complimentary tickets to the first 20 couples that submit a photo of themselves and the story of how they met. Photos and stories can be emailed to chbashaw@cpp.edu, or by posting on Instagram by tagging @cpptheatredance and including #cpptheatrelove.
Photos and stories will be shared with the Department’s followers on its social media channels. Complimentary tickets are available for all show dates, but must be reserved in advance.
Ticket are available online and at the box office, prices are as follows: $15 general admission, $12 for Cal Poly Pomona alumni and $10 all students and senior citizens, as well as Cal Poly Pomona faculty and staff. Online ticket purchasing and more information are available at www.bit.ly/cpptndtix