I Love You Because

It usually takes a lot to impress critics. After all, we see a lot of theatre. On a cold winter’s night in Adelaide this week I attended the preview of Emma Knights Productions’ musical love story I Love You Because and was at first won over by a delicious complimentary lemon cupcake (a typically unique Knights touch) and a glass of wine. But it was the show that really hit the spot. It was a delight.

Book and lyrics by Ryan Cunningham and music by Joshua Salzman, I Love You Because is promoted as a modern musical retelling of Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice, but this love story is set in contemporary New York.

It is the story of young people who have preconceptions about the sort of partner they one day will or should fall in love with, only to find that love can’t be hamstrung by such expectations. Austin and Jeff are brothers and each has both character and lifestyle idiosyncrasies that make them an ‘acquired taste’. What’s more, fastidious, nerdy Austin is recovering from a broken relationship with the unseen ‘Catherine’ and still much in love with her. Friends Marcy and Diana meet up with the pair and date them simply as a convenience. What happens next creates a whimsical story about real life and blossoming love.

Unlike some musicals, the characters in this show are not over the top. Rather, they are very natural, flawed, everyday people. Because of this, the audience is immediately immersed in that ordinariness and absorbed in the story. The songs, too, are very good and truly part of the narrative.

Megan Doherty directs this Emma Knights Productions staging of I Love You Because, with choreography by Alana Shepherdson.

The stage is essentially bare. Various settings such as a bar, café and bedroom are created by the cast through the shifting on and off and back again of simple furniture and a few other props. Scene changes are brisk and unobtrusive, with the only minor distraction being the venue’s old and seemingly rather difficult to draw red curtain being opened and closed intermittently.

The cast for this production is uniformly strong and able to act their socks off as well as sing.

American artist Cailene Kilcoyne is performing in her first Australian production and is wonderful as Marcy, who meets up with dorky greeting card writer Austin and endures his angst about lost love Catherine. Josh Barkley is equally terrific as Austin and definitely an audience favourite with his poignant, heartfelt performance.

Well-known local actor/singer Stefanie Rossi is as funny as a fit as Diana, the actuary who has her own rigid rules and mathematical theorems about dating. She lights up some hilarious scenes, my favourite being the one in which Diana attempts to have sex with Jeff while he has a bad back. James Nicholson is also fantastic and creates an initially loud and brash but gradually more nuanced character in Jeff.

Charles Smith and Serena Martino-Williams are very fine support and although in smaller roles than the others, maintain the high performance standard.

The band, consisting of Paul Sinkinson, Daniel Burgess, Sam Menzel and Tim Wilsdon is excellent and perfectly paced under the musical direction of producer, Emma Knights.

What a pity this lovely show has such a short run. I hope Emma Knights will bring it back at some time in the future so that it can delight more Adelaide audiences.

Lesley Reed