It could be said that Shakespeare invented the rom-com. It could also be said that Jane Austen improved it a couple of centuries later. Between the two of them, meet-cutes, notices of love or rejection arriving at exactly the wrong time, and breathless affirmations of adoration and/or regret always end in a heap of laughter and wedding bells. The curtain generally drops on a clutch of newly doting lovers skipping off into the sunset alongside their most recent rivals and foils.
Meanwhile, we sit on our futons, gripping our mobile devices, swiping and re-checking inboxes for steamy chats. The last sunset we skipped into was sometime in the early Aughts, when pigtails and knee scrapes were all the rage. Courting habits may change, but the underlying dramas that emerge from its pursuit remain Shakespearean. Austenian, if you will.
The manner in which we consume these stories entered the cinema in 1934 with It Happened One Night, starring Clark Gable, and the template has never broken. The rom-com proliferated on our TVs in the form of sitcoms as soon as the vacuum tubes were installed. Even when the central characters’ appeal was their inability to get along, writers in this format could only go about five seasons before they felt compelled to have them kiss. All the Friends banged each other. Even Jerry and Elaine tried to friends-with-benefits themselves.
Every time we think we have the most unique and unrelatable love story, someone makes a movie, a sitcom, or a play about exactly what we’re going through. Are we that predictable? I kinda think we are. Maybe our romances aren’t that unique. Maybe the drama is the thing we cherish. The adrenaline of passion. The self-indulgence of despair. The heart’s Brawndo (it’s what hearts crave). Maybe we like it that way. Maybe we doth protest too much.
There’s one thing I know. The laughs, cringe-groans, cheers, and jeers coming from the audience in Richmond Triangle Players‘ production of I Love You Because came from experience, as did my own. The other thing I know is that watching this bumper-cars act of desire and denial alongside the audience is fun af.
I Love You Because is probably the 900th retelling of Pride and Prejudice. We will probably need about 900 more before we’re done with this story’s bones. It’s just so versatile. In this version of the tale, we get queer and gender-swapped setups. A quick note that deserves mentioning, though: not once in the play did the orientation or gender of the characters matter at all. It was all just love and the awkward clumsiness inherent to it, universal problems with universal punchlines.
Colin Hanlon, who played the lead character Austin in the 2006 Off-Broadway run of I Love You Because, steps up to direct this rendition. In his hands, the presentation has the rhythm and cadence of a live studio audience taping of your favorite relationship-centric sitcom. I would not have been surprised if there was a laugh track embedded into the performance. As good as the play itself is, the uncanny feeling that you’re in your jammies binging How I Met Your Mother is potent. I find it comforting, cozy even, to have a funhouse mirror of our most socially histrionic moments held up just right for a knowing chuckle. This was fun.
I hope you read the rest of this review because the cast deserves their flowers. But if you’re simply using my opinion to justify catching this show, just go. I’m telling you, it’s joy.
Firstly, the songs are clever and delivered with a seasoned comedian’s grace. There were a few moments of flat notes where sharps belonged, but the harmonies in the ensemble pieces could give you a chill here and there. There’s a chance that was just the overachieving AC inside the theatre, but maybe not. Pssst, bring a sweater. They like it chilly in there.
Old-man complaints aside, let’s understand what makes a thing like this work, and why this one did.
This show was a case study in Casting for Chemistry 101. Calvin Malone (Austin) and TeDarryl Perry (Marty) could not possibly bring more dissimilar appearances and energies to the stage. Somehow, though, they sell the inevitable attraction and cheeky intrigue between the characters as if interlocking puzzle pieces became human. We don’t want to see shows about people who were “made for each other.” We want to see weirdos beat the odds and find their unlikely lovers because we, as an audience, do this every day.
The secondary plot roles portrayed by Ally Dods (Diana) and Ian Page (Jeff) are a shade more madcap, a little more unhinged, and capable of grounding the main storyline in something resembling reality. They also give advice they don’t take, falling into the same tar pits they’ve caution-taped off for their friends.
They generally make for good voyeurism, also a favorite pastime for hoomans.
Making that work without overshadowing Plot A demands charm and restraint. It’s a cohesion in the performances that starts with good decisions in the audition room.
Calvin brings a decidedly Cousin Larry from Perfect Strangers meets Ross from Friends vibe that is pitch-perfect for the source material. TeDarryl Perry is as delightful on their heels as they are on their toes, leading or retreating from the mating dance on display. Their intermittent cluelessness battling their eye-rolling weariness plays as both true and increasingly funny.
Ian and Ally’s Jeff and Diana balance the inescapable cringe of the leads’ toe-stomping dance with a farcical romp replete with innuendo and entendre.
The supporting cast does their job and gets their own laughs. I want to point out Rachel Garmon-Williams and Madison Hatfield, who continue a run of incredible performances stretching from Cadence’s WitchDuck to the Triangle Players stage.
These are two people born for musical comedy, and I will gladly see anything they’re in. They’re like the bay leaves in Nonna’s gravy. I’m not exactly sure why they’re so essential to the sauce, but you wouldn’t dare leave them out of the pot.
August Hundley and Chewie Lo Moore (I love that name) hit every note, physically and vocally. Their lines in the show are limited, but they land like sniper bullets to the funny bone.
All said, I Love You Because is a network television Thursday night writ large, minus the remote control and commercials. Bring your couch partners and giggle with the rest of us. To all the lovers out there, happy hunting. And a very happy Pride Month to all.
Tickets are available HERE
Main photo courtesy of Richmond Triangle Players
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