Le Switch
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Ken Werther, (213) 716-0878
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StageSceneLA
–Steven Stanley
November 7, 2025
It’s love at first sight (but will there be a happily ever after?) for marriage-phobic David and the irresistible Quebecois he meets on a bachelor party trip to Montreal in Philip Dawkins’ very funny and very romantic Le Switch, now charming audiences at the Broadwater Blackbox.
It’s June of 2011 and though same-sex marriage has just become legal in New York, there’s no way Zachary (Brian Kim McCormick) will get hitched without his longtime bff David (Danny Bernardo) by his side.
Not that library science professor David is in any way, shape, or form a fan of the institution of marriage, gay or straight, especially having just broken up with his latest short-term boyfriend when said boyfriend had the audacity to suggest they move in together after just four months of dating.
There’s also the matter of Richard’s gay-mentor/father-figure roommate, the recently widowed Frank (Jonathan Slavin), whom David is convinced still needs him around.
Perhaps most importantly of all, there’s the pact David and his twin sister Sarah (Christine Lin) entered into in their late teens upon their parents’ divorce to never ever get married, and if Sarah’s case she did rather break that pact ten years ago when she wed David’s college roommate, well that was just so that Mauritian soccer player Djamel could secure a green card.
And, no, it doesn’t matter that same-sex marriage is now legal in New York because as far as David is concerned, pro-marriage gays are just “queering an archaic institution.”
Still, archaic or not, it’s an institution that Zachary has embraced, and though he and his fiancé will be tying the knot in NYC, they’ll be traveling to Montreal for their double-bachelor bachelor party.
Enter hunky 23-year-old Benoit (Jonathan Moreno), and if David has dropped by the French Canadian’s flower shop in search of posies for his friend’s wedding, what he’s greeted with is the kind of coup de foudre that love songs are written about.
There’s only one problem.
Well, actually there are quite a few, but perhaps tops on the list is that David lives in New York, Benoit lives in Montreal, and one of the latter’s most endearing if inconvenient quirks is that he doesn’t “believe in” cell phones, and forget about calling Benoit’s land line since it’s the younger man’s mother who will answer, and the only words she knows in English are “yes,” “no,” and “toaster.”
With all these odds against them, can David and Benoit possibly have a happily ever after?
For the answer to that you’ve got until November 15 to head over to the Broadwater Blackbox where fresh-out-of-Chicago director Spenser Davis has elicited one fabulous performance after another from a cast of four L.A. theater luminaries and one stunning newcomer.
Leading man Bernardo proves that it’s not just musical theater he excels at, investing David with equal parts irascibility, likeability, and charm.
The luscious Lin’s deeply caring Sarah is everything a loving twin sister should be, the always watchable Slavin aces the role of the acerbic but devotedly nurturing Frank, and McCormick (another L.A. musical theater favorite) steals every scene he’s in as the unabashedly flamboyant Zachary.
Last but most definitely not least is Moreno’s Benoit, a French-accented charmer so utterly irresistible, it’s no wonder David isn’t just infatuated, he’s hooked.
Arena staging means that Bernardo and Davis (doubling as designers) need only some Persian rugs, some chairs, and a few other assorted set pieces for their set to work.
Add to that director Spenser’s ingeniously-staged between-scene transitions accompanied by sound designer Stephanie Yackovetsky’s inspired choice of English-and-French-language pop songs, Bernardo’s just-right costumes, and Harrison Lee Foster’s mood-enhancing lighting design and you’ve got proof positive that quality theater can be produced on a shoestring budget.
Le Switch is a Broken Token Production. Amy Francis Schott is stage manager. Ken Werther is publicist.
From The Homosexuals to Charm to Failure: A Love Story, I’ve loved every single Philip Dawkins play I’ve seen, and Le Switch is no exception. If you’re even half the romcom lover I am, you too will be smitten.
The Broadwater Blackbox, 6322 Santa Monica Blvd. Los Angeles. Through November 15. Saturdays at 8:00. Also Monday 11/10 at 7:30, Thursday 11/13 at 8:00, and Friday 11/14 at 8:00.
www.onstage411.com/leswitch
https://stagescenela.com/tag/los-angeles-theater-review/
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