AUBURN – There’s something for everyone in Lewiston-Auburn Community Little Theatre’s production of “I Love You, You’re Perfect, Now Change.”

It’s a look at love from many different viewpoints – young to old, comic to poignant – and the four-actor cast and two musicians do an excellent job throughout the production.

This show’s vocal selections are fun, with a couple of very effective ballads.

However, what really shines is the acting.

In each of the nearly 40 quick-change roles assumed by the four performers, director Ellen Peters has drawn out an amazing array of characters and personalities.

Alice Ruvane is a transplant to Maine from New York City within the past couple of years. She appears with CLT for the first time, and it’s a wonderful introduction to a talented singer and actor.

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Michael Litchfield has won a solid CLT fan base in recent years with his engaging wit and personality. His skills were honed in clubs and theaters in New York and London before he settled in Maine.

Ruvane and Litchfield are an excellent match in their delightfully comedic number “A Stud and a Babe.”

Duane Glover won acclaim for his CLT appearance as El Gallo in “The Fantasticks” a couple of years ago. His characters this time range from a new parent who has picked up an incurable case of baby-talk to an elderly man who finds an awkward reawakening of romantic feelings at a funeral parlor.

Cheryl Reynolds has appeared in several CLT shows, including “The Diary of Anne Frank,” “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest” and “A Lion in Winter.”

She does a fine job with a comic country-tinged song called “Always a Bridesmaid.”

Reynolds and Glover are also well paired in skits called “Not Tonight, I’m Busy, Busy, Busy” and “Tear Jerk,” about a man who’s trapped into watching a chick flick.

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All four actors deliver a delightfully playful rendition of “Single Man Drought” and “Why? ‘Cause I’m a Guy.”

They also climb into the cleverly conceived family SUV and cruise around the stage in “The Family That Drives Together.” The skit concludes with driver dad Glover singing “On the Highway of Love.”

Of all the numbers, the serious ones make the best impression. Glover and Reynolds are excellent as the older couple meeting at a funeral. The scene ends with a very good ballad called “I Can Live with That.”

Ruvane also puts a sentimental touch on the end of a comic scene with her solo, “I Will Be Loved Tonight.”

Litchfield also sings a pleasing song about mid-life love called “Shouldn’t I Be Less in Love with You?”

Music is provided by on-stage musicians Paul G. Caron, musical director, at the grand piano and violinist Hilary Ginsburg of Missouri, a senior at Bates College.

This is Peters’ debut as a CLT director, and it proves she can make all the puzzling pieces of a difficult show come together just right. The show is performed on a set that features pieces of a picture puzzle that’s fully revealed at the end.

“I Love You, You’re Perfect, Now Change” requires a large back-stage crew of dressers and others who handle scene changes and props. Peters brings them out for a well-deserved curtain call with the actors.

Because this show is a revue built around a theme of universal love, the scenes force the audience to pick and choose their favorites. Not all scenes can be expected to be to everyone’s liking. Nevertheless, the second night’s audience gave it a quick and enthusiastic standing ovation.


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