Written by orange• March 16, 2026• 9:36 pm• Laguna beach, Musical, No Square Theatre, Uncategorized

I Love My Wife @ No Square Theatre – Review

photo credit: Sarah Whitwell

Written by Zack Johnston

No Square Theatre in Laguna Beach brings back a hit Broadway relic of the late ‘70s this month in an energetic production of I Love My Wife, written by Michael Stewart with direction by Joe Lauderdale.

Story:

A whimsically corny musical about relationships between men and women. This show finds interesting ways of being both charmingly dated and comedically timeless. Set in the show’s original premiere date of 1977, it’s a hilariously awkward look at the changing social norms of the sexual revolution, set to catchy tunes from the great Cy Coleman performed by a live band.

Alvin (Ryan Rees) is just an ordinary guy happily living with his wife, Cleo (Viviana Moiso), in Trenton. After chatting with his high school pal Wally (Sawyer Reece Maier), he decides that what his marriage is missing is another person. The only caveat is that the other person he plans on including is Wally’s wife, Monica (Taylor LaBarbera).

This new dynamic sparks different reactions among the couples but ultimately results in a ridiculously tense situation within an otherwise casual group of friends.

Direction/Choreography:

Individually and as a collective, each actor delivers a laugh-out-loud performance while also hitting the vocals with precision. Rees and Maier make for an amusing best-friend duo and show off impressive choreography. Moiso and LaBarbera deliver some of the show’s best vocal performances, on top of their excellent comedic energy.

The campy theatrical humor is consistently enhanced by the show’s ensemble. Who regularly pop in and out of scenes with fun musical numbers that advance the story’s themes of love, intimacy, and rejecting taboos.

Just about everything in the design of the production harkened back to this era with vibrant colors and forward-looking fashion.

Set/Costume:

The set, designed by Tim Mueller, mainly consists of neatly fitting colored blocks that are reconfigured into different pieces throughout the show. The flexible staging offers creative ways of displaying the different couples’ homes while allowing the intimate venue not to feel overcrowded.

Costuming by Brigitte Harper evokes the decade’s clothing trends and the characters’ East Coast working-class backgrounds. There are also plenty of playful elements to costumes and accessories that heighten the over-the-top comedy.