'Perfect Mate' makes a perfect date at Greer Cabaret Theater
PITTSBURGH ― What if when you're ready for true love, you could design your perfect mate? Like literally.
That's the future of romance imagined in "The Perfect Mate," a funny and brisk rom-com musical making its world premiere through March 17 at the Greer Cabaret Theater in downtown Pittsburgh.
Theatergoers taking their seats in the stylishly renovated Greer will notice a "Jetsons"-ish stage set flanked by video screens touting getaway trips to the moon and other futuristic things establishing the show takes place in the year 2063.
The peppy intro song − directed by Ohioville native/Tony Award nominee Greg Anthony Rassen − depicts a future not too different from today, with single people too busy gawking at their phones to make a visceral connection with any humans around them.
We next meet Joan Sweete (the delightful Autumn Hurlbert), a virtual classroom schoolteacher, who unlike her peers, clings to the old-fashioned idea of true love in a world of superficial dating. This seemingly makes her an ideal candidate for a powerful corporation eager to beta-test the Perfect Mate, an emotionally savvy humanoid partner built to fulfill all romantic needs and desires.
Skeptical at first, Joan agrees to try her luck with Perfect Mate (an excellent Jimmy Nicholas from TV's "Chicago Fire"), checking off the boxes of traits she wants to be equipped in her A.I. suitor.
That brings all sorts of unforeseen and amusing complications, as nuances in traits − like how sensitive is too sensitive − end up really mattering.
Frustrated with the first Perfect Mate prototype, Joan defiantly plunges back into the contemporary dating world rife with Zoom hikes, virtual vacation trips and cocktail bar gyms. Along the way, we witness a quickie marriage done chiefly for social media appearances ("I now pronounce this marriage posted") and a divorce done with the matter-of-fact expediency of ordering at a restaurant.
Yeah, it's brutal out there, so Joan gives Perfect Mate one more attempt, hoping that with a new set of customized instructions, the humanoid's design team gets his personality just right.
Nicholas, a Carnegie Mellon graduate who's also appeared in HBO's "Time Traveler’s Wife," excels in both physical comedy and perky, deadpan delivery required of his emotionally evolving humanoid character.
Hurlbert, from Broadway's "Legally Blonde" and "Something's Rotten!," not only makes her Joan character believable and sympathetic, but also hits the bullseye on laugh-out-loud punchlines while also singing with powerhouse force amid scenes where she's hopping on and around a couch and kitchen island.
The entire creative team, led by co-writers David Rossmer and Dan Lipton, did many tweaks of the dialogue and choreography to capture a show with heart in a setting that feels 40 years futuristic, but not too far-fetched.
More: Ohioville native, a Tony-nominee, returns to Pittsburgh for world premiere rom-com musical
They all had to be pleased with the standing ovation this past Friday's official world premiere earned.
Clocking in at less than 90 minutes with no intermission, "The Perfect Mate" entertains − and without getting preachy − makes points about the superficiality of today's dating apps and our obsession with staring at and scrolling through our handheld screens.
The writers have fun predicting slang words of 2063, like "10-plus" meaning "good," though let's hope "amaze-balls" doesn't endure.
Containing mild adult content − nothing to make blind date couples blush − "The Perfect Mate" is a perfect date night show this Valentine's season, or fresh fun for anyone looking for smiles.
Born from Pittsburgh Civic Light Opera's SPARK Festival, which aims to cultivate new theater works, "The Perfect Mate" deserves a widespread audience.
It's 10-plus, all the way.
Get tickets at trustarts.org.
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Scott Tady is entertainment editor at The Times and easy to reach at stady@gannett.com.
This article originally appeared on Beaver County Times: 'Perfect Mate' makes a perfect date cabaret show at The Greer
