I Love You Because ANOTHER RAVE in the WSJ

[MusicalComedyMan]

Posted: 2/24/06 at 4:13pm

This is the opening Line:

IF YOU CAN'T get into "The Pajama Game," or can't stomach Broadway's extortionate ticket prices, allow me to direct your attention downtown, where "I Love You Because" is playing at the Village Theatre.

YEAH!!!! This show is going to run forever!!!

[sanda]

Posted: 2/24/06 at 4:16pm

AD.

over.

[Alix7272]

Posted: 2/24/06 at 5:24pm

Would you mind copy and pasting the article? I tried to find it, but I think you need to be a subscriber to see it.
Thanks!

[MusicalComedyMan]

Posted: 2/24/06 at 5:34pm

Here is the whole thing:

IF YOU CAN'T get into "The Pajama Game," or can't stomach Broadway's extortionate ticket prices, allow me to direct your attention downtown, where "I Love You Because" is playing at the Village Theatre. Billed as "a modern-day musical love story," this gender- swapping update of Jane Austen's "Pride and Prejudice" is everything an off-Broadway mini-musical (six players, one set) should be. Farah Alvin, the best young musical-comedy singer to come along in years, plays Marcy Fitzwilliams (get it?), an arty, free-spirited photographer who can't quite bring herself to go for the buttoned-down Austin Bennet (Colin Hanlon). Stephanie D'Abruzzo, who created the role of Kate Monster in "Avenue Q," is similarly winning as Diana, Darcy's spunky sidekick, who has a fling with Austin's brainless brother (David A. Austin), then falls in love in spite of herself.

As is so often the case in contemporary musicals, the weak link is the score. The music (by Joshua Salzman) is blandly rockish, the lyrics (by Ryan Cunningham, who also wrote the book) way too wordy. Not to worry, though: Daniel Kutner has staged "I Love You Because" with engaging directness, making smart use of the simple set, which consists of cartoon cutouts of Greenwich Village drawn by Beowulf Boritt and Jo Winiarski in the quivery manner of New Yorker cartoonist Roz Chast. It all adds up to a charming, unpretentious piece of work that will send you home smiling -- and a showcase for Farah Alvin, of whom much more will surely be heard.

[Alix7272]

Posted: 2/24/06 at 6:14pm

Thanks!