It’s hard enough for most actors to keep one role straight. But how about 20? That’s roughly the number of characters Darrin Baker plays in “I Love You, You’re Perfect, Now Change.”
Such on-stage multiple personality disorder is a snap for Baker, a New York-based Jewish actor. He co-stars in the Bay Area premiere of the hit musical, which opens Tuesday, May 11, at San Francisco’s Marines Memorial Theatre.
“I play a myriad of roles,” says Baker. “We tackle the relationship game, from dating to getting engaged to being married to having children to divorce to death. Then, we start all over again.”
Now in its eighth year, “I Love You, You’re Perfect, Now Change” is off-Broadway’s longest-running musical, surpassing the runs of such powerhouse shows as “My Fair Lady,” “Oklahoma” and “Hello Dolly.”
How does Baker explain its popularity? “It deals with the one thing everybody can relate to,” he notes. “That everyone wants to love and be loved. The show hits you on any level you’re open to: totally comic and, on other levels, very profound.”
This isn’t Baker’s first pass at the show. He appeared in a touring production for a few years in between other plays, musicals and TV gigs. The guy’s in demand because he can sing and dance, make ’em laugh and make ’em cry.
A native of Toronto, Baker was raised in a home rich with Jewish culture and appreciation for the arts. He wasn’t the only family member with a flair for show business. His great-uncle Lou Jacobi was a noted character actor, and his uncle, musician Howard Shore, went on to become an Oscar-winning film composer.
For his part, Baker was home Friday nights for Shabbat, but during the week he squeezed in acting work, TV commercials and cartoon voiceovers.
His first big stage gig was appearing in the Toronto production of “Les Miserables.” The work suited him and his colleagues knew it. “Everyone kept saying, ‘Go to New York,'” recalls Baker. “I thought, ‘Oh, there’s a shortage of young Jewish 25-year-olds in New York.”
He moved west instead, seeing what Hollywood had to offer. He landed parts on shows like “Melrose Place,” “Beverly Hills 90210” and the original cast of Andrew Lloyd Webber’s “Sunset Boulevard” opposite Glenn Close.
He went to Broadway with “Sunset Boulevard,” and after a great run then appeared in shows like “The Scarlet Pimpernel, ” “Little by Little” and “Laughing Room Only” with the great Jackie Mason. He also recorded an album of classic duets with a number of leading actresses from Broadway.
After his two-month local run in “I Love You,” Baker returns to New York, where he serves as an adjunct professor of acting at New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts. Not bad for a kid who never went to college. “It’s the greatest,” he says of his moonlighting gig. “It’s taught me more about acting than anything else.”
As for maintaining his Jewish identity, that’s never been a problem for Baker.
“I’m really very proud to call myself a Jew, and always have,” he says. “When you grow up in my industry, you try to became many things at different times, but the one thing I never questioned and always held near and dear to me was being Jewish. It’s that unexplainable thing when a Jew meets other Jews. There’s a connection.”
I Love You, You’re Perfect, Now Change” plays through June 6 at 8 p.m. Tuesdays-Fridays, 5 and 9 p.m. Saturdays, and 2 and 7 p.m. Sundays at Marines Memorial Theatre, 609 Sutter St., S.F. Tickets: $40-$55. Information: (877) 771-6900 or www.tickets.com.