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Chameleon Theatre Circle presents ‘I Love You, You’re Perfect, Now Change’ April 17-May 3 at Burnsville Performing Arts Center
 by Andrew Miller
Thisweek Newspapers
Chameleon Theatre Circle is following up its sell-out run of “Cabaret” this winter with some lighter fare.
Whereas “Cabaret” was all leggy intrigue and dark allure, the Burnsville-based theater group’s spring production, “I Love You, You’re Perfect, Now Change,” is intended to trigger some big healthy gut laughs from audiences.
“It’s light to Cabaret’s dark – the yang-yin, so to speak,” director Garrick Dietze said.
“I Love You, You’re Perfect, Now Change” runs April 17 to May 3 in the Burnsville Performing Arts Center’s 150-seat Black Box theater.
The laugh-packed musical tackles one of life’s most vexing enigmas: love. A six-actor cast delivers a series of vignettes dealing with all aspects of relationships. Dietze said the show has something for everyone.
PHOTO: Chameleon Theatre Circle actors Kim Kivens, Christian Unser and Nick Menzhuber are all tangled up over love in “I Love You, You’re Perfect, Now Change.” Photo by Andrew Miller
“From having that first kiss to getting married to the twilight of
life, it runs the whole gamut,” he said. “Everyone has experienced
something in this show related to relationships.”
 The production features 15 musical numbers, with live musical accompaniment on piano and violin.
Cast notes
• Audiences might register a shock of recognition when Kim Kivens
delivers her first line in “I Love you, You’re Perfect, Now Change.”
PHOTO: Nick Menzhuber grapples with a stuffed animal – and issues of love – in Chameleon Theatre Circle’s “I Love You, You’re Perfect, Now Change.” Photos by Andrew Miller
A professional actress from Savage, Kivens does voiceover work for
Nickelodeon Universe radio and TV commercials. She’s also done
on-camera work that Minnesota audiences might recognize: She played a
“crazy woman” in a recent Green Mill pizza TV commercial.
 • It’s fitting that Darren T. Hensel is cast in a show about
relationships. Hensel, an insurance agent from Burnsville, made his
Chameleon Theatre Circle debut in “Cabaret” this past winter. He
reports that he’s now dating one of the actresses from “Cabaret,” whom
he met on the set.
Hensel’s not the only “I Love You” cast member to strike romantic
sparks in the theater. Nick Menzhuber, a frequent actor in Chameleon
shows, met his wife on the set of a past production.
PHOTO: Actors Emily Gill and Christian Unser get googly-eyed in a wedding vignette from “I Love You, You’re Perfect, Now Change.” Nick Menzhuber (background) presides. Photo by Andrew Miller
• Cast member Christian Unser of Rosemount returns to Chameleon Theatre
Circle after a six-year hiatus. He reports that he’s a distant cousin
of Indianapolis 500-winning race car drivers Bobby Unser and Al Unser
Jr.
“I drive pretty well, but not professionally,” he said with a laugh.
• Director Garrick Dietze notes that casting was particularly challenging for “I Love you, You’re Perfect, Now Change.”
Though the show features dozens of characters, they’re all played by a
six-member cast, with each actor tackling eight or more roles. Which is
all well and good, except that about 60 actors turned out for
auditions. Six made the cut. You do the math.
Dietze didn’t enjoy having to drop the blade on 50-plus hopeful thespians.
“It’s the hardest part of my job,” a grim-countenanced Dietze said.
Andrew Miller is at
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IN BRIEF
“I Love You, You’re Perfect, Now Change” opens at 7:30 p.m.
Friday, April 17, at the Burnsville Performing Arts Center. Performances run weekends through May 3; visit www.chameleontheatrecircle.org for a full list of showtimes. Tickets are $17 adults, $14 students/seniors, and are available through the BPAC box office at (952) 895-4680.
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