Imperfect romance: Oil Lamp’s prettily sung ‘I Love You Because’ hindered by mediocre book
It's a truth universally acknowledged that laying claim to a Jane Austen classic as the inspiration for a rom-com tuner doesn't make it so.
Case in point, “I Love You Because,” a formulaic bit of fluff by writer/lyricist Ryan Cunningham and composer Joshua Salzman, running through Sept. 13, at Oil Lamp Theater in Glenview.
Press materials, the theatrical licensing company, and Wikipedia assert the musical, which premiered off-Broadway in 2006, is based on Austen’s beloved “Pride and Prejudice.”
Maybe, if you squint.
Apart from character names and oblique references to Mr. Darcy’s ill-fated first proposal to Elizabeth Bennet, “I Love You Because” bears little resemblance to the novel. Most significantly, the musical lacks the novel's wit, romance, and style.
Dated pop culture references land awkwardly and the songs tend to repeat the action rather than propel the narrative. Still, Salzman’s pop-infused score has several lovely numbers, pleasantly sung by director Scott Shallenbarger’s sextet, who commit admirably to paper-thin characters and their less-than-credible couplings.
Recent Northwestern University graduate Aiden McCoy plays Austin Bennet, whose name consists of Austen's surname and the surname of her “Pride and Prejudice” protagonist, Elizabeth Bennet. He’s a buttoned-up (literally, he's never without a tie) greeting card writer and aspiring poet trying desperately to win back his unfaithful ex-girlfriend Katherine Wickham (a reference to “Pride and Prejudice” cad George Wickham).
He meets free-spirited photographer Marcy Fitzwilliams (a play on the name of Austen's prideful Fitzwilliam Darcy), played by Hannah Kipp, whose character’s vintage crocheted vest confirms her anti-establishment bona fides.
In classic opposites-attract tradition, what starts as a prickly friendship predictably turns passionate.
Meanwhile, a “friends with benefits” romance evolves between Austin’s malapropist brother Jeff Bennet (Maxwell J. DeTogne, whose character is a nod to Mrs. Malaprop, a character from Richard Brinsley Sheridan’s 1775 comedy “The Rivals”) and Marcy’s best friend Diana Bingley (Kristin Brintnall), who shares her name with “Pride and Prejudice’s” Charles Bingley.
Supporting actors Daria Koon and Tommy Rothwells play assorted bartenders and baristas whose satiric duet “The Perfect Romance” chronicles Austin and Marcy’s burgeoning relationship. At the top of the second act, following the couple’s predictable breakup, Koon and Rothwells’ characters conclude they are better off “Alone.”
DeTogne and Brintnall deliver a nice comic turn in “We're Just Friends.” Their duet is followed by pretty back-to-back solos from McCoy’s Austin (“Maybe We Just Made Love”) and Kipp’s Marcy (“Just Not Now”). Ably accompanied by music director/pianist Aaron Kahn, the solos make for a bittersweet conclusion to Act 1.
But it’s a pair of second-act quartets — the closest thing this chamber-style tuner has to production numbers — that hint at its potential.
In the evocative “But I Do,” the characters admit their feelings for seemingly ill-suited partners. By the finale, the warm-hearted “I Love You Because,” the characters fully embrace their less-than-perfect partners as soul mates.
It’s a sweet conclusion to a show whose mediocre book doesn't measure up to its musical potential.
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“I Love You Because”
2 stars
Location: Oil Lamp Theater, 1723 Glenview Road, Glenview, (847) 834-0738, oillamptheater.org
Showtimes: 7:30 p.m. Thursday and Friday; 3 and 7:30 p.m. Saturday; 3 p.m. Sunday through Sept. 13. Also 7:30 p.m. Aug. 26 and Sept. 9; 11 a.m. and 3 p.m. Sept. 2
Running time: About 2 hours, with intermission
Tickets: $55
Parking: On the street
Rating: For adults; sexual content and language