I wrote the Book, Lyrics and Music for this Comedy Of Errors, and was able to mount a community theater production at the Hermosa Beach Civic Theater. A year later I produced it at The Beverly Hills Playhouse, where it received excellent reviews in the Santa Monica Outlook newspaper, and in Daily Variety.
“Dusenberry shows a lot of talent. He writes sprightly tunes and engaging lyrics. ‘I Can’t Live Without You’, that’s as good as any song you’ll be likely to hear this year.” – (McManus) Santa Monica Outlook.
“A pleasant romp set in the Napa Valley. Dusenberry’s score is the best part of this production.” – (Sax.) Daily Variety.
Set in the Napa Valley, the story opens with three young men—Warren, Steve and Bill—in their shared apartment. Warren, an art teacher at the local college, is madly in love with Pamela Van Dyke, a student and daughter of a prosperous vintner.
He invites Bill, a homesick Southerner who plans to attend the London School of Economics, and Steve, a slick business student, to dinner with Pamela’s family. They are reluctant until Warren tells them that the clan includes older sister Laura, a beauty who’s engagement to a wealthy Englishman ended recently.
Once at the house, all three men try in vain to impress crusty Mr. Van Dyke. Unfortunately, when Steve, who’s interested in Laura, enthusiastically compliments Mrs. Van Dyke on her dress, the family believes that he shares a tendency of Laura’s ex-fiancee, who showed up at was to be their wedding wearing a dress.
From here, the plot gets more tangled and includes a Latin maid, a proper British butler, and a spoiled rich girl named Susan. Warren and Pamela split, Bill develops a warm friendship, mistaken for an affair, with Mrs. Van Dyke, and Steve finds himself temporarily entangled with Susan.
A few videos from the Hermosa Beach Civic Theatre production
Warren and Steve attempt to talk a still reluctant Bill into going to dinner with them at the Van Dyke’s, in the song Saturday Night.
Very much in love, Pamela thinks Warren is The Perfect Lover. Subsequent events will make her question this.
At the dinner table all three guys try in vain to impress crusty Mr. Van Dyke. Unfortunately, when Steve, trying to impress Laura, compliments Mrs. Van Dyke on her dress, he touches on a very sensitive subject for Laura and her parents. We see their reaction in He Said He Loves It. Near the end of this scene, the butler George maintains his composure after a difficult encounter with the maid.
Music by John Dusenberry 