I Love You Because, Penfold Theatre, June 9 - 26

by Michael Meigs

Michael McKelvey set up his collaboration with Penfold Theatre and Andrew Cannata six months or more in advance, long before the announcement that he will be leaving Austin for Pennsylvania this coming fall.

Remembering their previous successes Five Years and Three Days of Rain, I arranged specially to return early from a family celebration in Houston in order to catch the show on Sunday, June 19. When we turned up at the Hyde Park Theatre, we discovered the show had had a success beyond administrative expectations: we and many others received no programs for the production.

That was an inconvenience for a journalist but it probably made little difference to the crowd. I Love You Because was a cheerful, cute and ironical-sentimental-comedic-up-tempo-muscial on a shoestring, the perfect "date movie" -- but even better, because it was live theatre.

Read more at AustinLiveTheatre.com . . . .

Upcoming: I Love You Because, musical by Penfold Theatre at Hyde Park Theatre, June 9 - 26

Found on-line:

presents

I Love You Because

Music by Joshua Salzman and book/lyrics by Ryan Cunningham
Directed by Michael McKelvey
Romantic musical comedy, Texas premiere

June 9 - 26

Thursdays, Fridays, Saturdays at 8 pm. Sundays at 5 pm.

at the Hyde Park Theatre, 411. W. 43rd St. at Guadalupe (click for map)

An opening night celebration will follow the show on June 9th.

Running time: About 2 hours, with one intermission. Family rating: PG-13 , 2011

For more information, call (512) 850-4849 or email info@penfoldtheatre.org.

A modern-day musical love story. Set in New York City, this sweet and quirky romantic comedy follows Austin Bennet, a young greeting card writer, whose life is turned upside down when he finds his girlfriend with another man. Forced back out into the treacherous urban dating scene, Austin meets Marcy, whose spontaneity is matched only by her ability to drive him insane. I Love You Because explores the bewildering rules and nuances of dating and reminds us that true romance is learning how to love someone, not in spite of their differences, but because of them.