Plenty of laughs over love's craziness.

Byline: Paul Kolas

COLUMN: THEATER REVIEW

WORCESTER - Hardcore cynics might regard "I Love You, You're Perfect, Now Change" as the most persuasive musical ever made for remaining single. The rest of us hopefully will see it as a humorous reminder of how we're willing to go through just about anything for love.

Foothills Theatre's well-sung and impudently charming production yesterday is "Men are from Mars, Women are from Venus" set to music. It's stand-up comedy about the pitfalls of relationships and dating rituals, only with songs added to the sketches.

The cast of four - Andrew Giordano, Tom Souhrada, Linette Miles and Angela Miranda - wend their way through this lifelong arc of love, family, divorce and old age with style and exuberance, guided along by director Chip Phillips' affectionate familiarity with Joe DiPietro and Jimmy Roberts' witty and tuneful examination of the sexes.

The opening sketch, "Not Tonight, I'm Busy, Busy, Busy," is a playfully abrasive indictment of the accelerated, jaded social habits we take for granted now.

Souhdara and Miles agree to leap over the first-date preliminaries to an imagined post-sex letdown and into a future scenario, where they've been broken up for a year, run into each other on the street and save themselves the trouble of finding out they never would have made a compatible couple in the first place. How efficient is that?

"A Stud and a Babe," a funny song about low self-image hiding behind false representation, allows Giordano and Miranda to let down their guard and reveal who they really are to each other.

"Single Man Drought," sung by Miles and Miranda, is a lament for every woman tired of looking for the right guy in vain.

"Tear Jerk" is a hilarious song/sketch about a couple who can't agree on their movie tastes, Miss Chick Flick versus Mister Action Hero. Miles loves a good weeper, while Souhrada wants to see Stallone rip people apart. Eventually, he is taken in by her movie and begins to cry convulsively until she turns to him and asks, "Are you OK?"

"Waiting Trio" is another clever montage involving TV football games and shopping sprees that never seem to end. One of the funniest sketches is Giordano and Miles' fruitless attempt to get the kids to sleep and finally have some good old-fashioned sex.

"Why? 'Cause I'm a Guy" is a song about typical male behavior - burping, scratching genitalia and not asking for directions.

There's a racy bit involving a litigator (Souhrada) who guarantees great sex for a struggling couple (Giordano and Miranda lying in a bed made to look like it's viewed from a ceiling).

Using a convict (Souhrada) in jail for murder as a singles counselor? That's here too, as is a quietly poignant song, "Shouldn't I Be Less in Love With You?" about a husband (Giordano) looking at his wife (Miles) with tender contemplation while she's focused on a crossword puzzle.

"I Can Live With That" is a moving rapport between two people (Souhrada and Miles) in a cemetery trying to make a connection with each other in their twilight years.

Souhrada also plays a young father so wrapped up in his infant son he's speaking in baby talk. When he asks his best buddy, Giordano, if he wants to see the baby videotape, Giordano just stares at him and says, "I remember you when you were interesting."

"I Love You" is full of these sorts of familiar observations, including a touching scene of Miranda making a videotape of a divorced woman looking for a new connection.

Phillips has tailored this production to flatter the Worcester crowd, as several local restaurant signs hang onstage, references are made about the area and TV monitors showing couples associated in some way with Foothills provide anecdotes about their dating history.

Musical director Joshua Finstein, playing the keyboard, and his violinist for yesterday's performance, Peter Hughes, provided fine support to the cast. It should be noted that Amy Raustron is the listed violinist in the playbill.

It's a most enjoyable show.

`I Love You, You're Perfect, Now Change'

* * *-1/2

Book and lyrics by Joe DiPietro, music by Jimmy Roberts, directed by Chip Phillips, musical director Joshua Finstein. Presented by Foothills Theatre Company, 100 Front St., Worcester. Performances run through March 30. Tickets range in price from $35 to $37. Student seats are $19. Groups of 20 or more save $10 per ticket. For reservations or information regarding show times, call [phone] or visit www.foothillstheatre.com online.

With Andrew Giordano, Tom Souhrada, Linette Miles and Angela Miranda.