SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 13, 2010  7:00 PM
SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 14, 2010  2:00 PM
IF I LOVED YOU
Bobbi Carrey & Will McMillan
with Doug Hammer on piano

By the end of the show’s final, title song by Rodgers and Hammerstein, audience members were wiping tears and clapping madly. Now that’s amore. Boston Herald February 13, 2004

It’s been five years since Will McMillan & Bobbi Carrey released their CD, IF I LOVED YOU, to a sold-out crowd at Scullers Jazz Club. Five years, fifty loves and many songs later, they’re returning to Scullers with a reprise of this musical celebration of love – passionate to parental, romantic to raunchy, sacred to sarcastic.

“We wanted to do something for Valentine’s Day,” says McMillan. “We’ve been finding great new quotations about love from people like Einstein and John Lennon, and weaving them into the show,” adds Carrey.

Standards such as “It Might As Well Be Spring” (Rodgers & Hammerstein) and “P.S. I Love You” (Mercer & Jenkins), as well as contemporary gems such as “Come In From the Rain” (Melissa Manchester), “The Little Things You Do Together” (Stephen Sondheim), and “I'll Cover You” (Jonathan Larson) still resonate strongly for both singers.

“The music in the show is evocative of so many different places and times,” says Carrey. “The songs feel like a diary come to life. They take me back to being a child, being a mom, being married, being divorced, being a friend in need and a friend who’s needed.” “The last time we did this show at Scullers, I had a significant other,” adds Carrey. The song, ‘They Say It’s Wonderful,’ feels completely different to me now.”

“We’ve been fascinated by how songs can take on different layers of meaning as time goes by,” says McMillan. “We do a song by David Friedman called ‘Catch Me,’ which now sounds as if it were written for Bernie Madoff and the other fallen wizards of finance. And I’m adding a 1931 song by the Gershwin brothers called ‘Who Cares?’ which sounds as if it were written last month with wonderful rhymes about banks failing and firms going under.”

The show does not focus exclusively on romantic love – or financial catastrophe – however.

“Will learned a funny, but bittersweet song by Maltby & Shire about being a parent called ‘Easier to Love,’” says Carrey, “and we’ve added a great duet by Randy Newman, ‘You’ve Got a Friend in Me,’ from the movie Toy Story.” “Bobbi also does a powerful song by Amanda McBroom – who wrote ‘The Rose’ – called ‘The Portrait,’ about a woman remembering and longing for her mother,” says McMillan.

“There is so much to say about the subject of love,” says Carrey. “Lily Tomlin sums it up perfectly when she says, ‘If love is the answer, could you please rephrase the question?’” Carrey and McMillan do just that with this reprise of IF I LOVED YOU, just in time for Valentine’s Day.

WHISTLER HOUSE MUSEUM OF ART
243 Worthen Street, Lowell, MA

Admission: $30 each or $59/couple
Saturday, February 13, 7PM drinks and appetizers and 8PM show
Sunday, February 14, 2PM drinks and appetizers and 3PM show
Call the Whistler House for reservations at 978-452-7641

Information: Sponsored by Image Theater and the Whistler House Museum of Art
www.imagetheater.com or 978-452-7641