- I COULD’VE LOVED YOU BECAUSE
Chromolume Theatre’s production of I Love You Because at the Zephyr Theatre tries to charm, but struggles under the weight of a broad acting style and a perplexingly monotonous book. A modern musical twist on Pride and Prejudice set in New York City, this 2006 show boasts delightfully bouncy 1980s-style Broadway music in the vein of Maltby & Shire by composer Joshua Salzman, but where Maltby brought wit, lyricist and bookwriter Ryan Cunningham offers work that swings from cute to puerile.
Ellie Rodriguez, Colin Huerta, Blake Rhiner, Renee Cohen
Under Meghan Ripchik’s direction and choreography, the production leans into an exaggerated, almost cartoonish energy that rarely serves the material. Troy Dailey plays Austin, a tightly wound greeting-card writer fresh from a breakup, whose attempts at structured romance go awry. His love interest, free-spirited Marcy (Cassandra Caruso) is equally unlucky in love, leading to an opposites-attract dynamic that never quite sparks the way it should because there is zero chemistry between the actors. Lauren Josephs as Diana, Marcy’s cynical best friend, brings some much-needed bite to the show, while Renee Cohen and Ellie Rodriguez mug through multiple roles as bartenders, a waiter, and other quintessential New York types.
Lauren Josephs, Colin Huerta
The biggest highlight of the night comes from Colin Huerta as Jeff, Austin’s delightfully kooky brother and best friend. Huerta injects the show with much-needed unpredictability, his offbeat timing and gleeful absurdity turning Jeff into an absolute scene-stealer. His comedic chemistry with Josephs is a bright spot—but even as we chuckle when his back goes out attempting to make out for the first time, the scene stretches credibility. When he and Dailey struggled to keep a tablecloth in place at the opening of a restaurant scene, along with Caruso’s inability to open the spout on a box of wine, I found the mistakes the biggest laughs on opening night, precisely because they felt fresh and real, a break from the show’s otherwise forced humor.
Blake Rhiner
Visually, the production is an exercise in mismatched thrift-store chic, especially Michael Mullen’s costumes, which look like they were pulled straight from the racks of Goodwill—unflattering and uninspired.
Renee Cohen, Ellie Rodriguez
With sharper direction and a more nuanced approach, I Love You Because could have leaned into its silliness and found something genuinely special, especially given that the cast was made up of very strong singers, aided by strong musical direction from Miki Yokomizo, who played from a synth on the upstage platform that served as a bar. Instead, the production settles for strenuously behemothic strokes and uneven humor, leaving audiences with a few solid laughs but little else to take home.
Lauren Josephs
photos with understudy Blake Rhiner as Austin by James Esposito
I Love You Because
Chromolume Theatre
Zephyr Theatre, 7456 Melrose Ave.
Fri and Sat at 8; Sun at 3; Sun at 7 (March 9 only)
ends on March 16, 2025
for tickets ($40), visit chrtheatre
for more shows, visit Theatre in LA
