I Love My Wife Lyrics: Song List
- Act 1
-
We're Still Friends
- Monica
- By Threes
- Love Revolution
- A Mover's Life
-
Someone Wonderful I Missed
- Sexually Free
- Act 2
-
Hey There, Good Times
- By The Way If You Are Free Tonight
- Lovers On Christmas Eve
- Scream
- Ev'rybody Today Is Turning On
- Married Couple Seeks Married Couple
- I Love My Wife
About the "I Love My Wife" Stage Show
Before the Broadway, production was in Philadelphia in 1977, and a month later, the production was moved to Broadway, in the Ethel Barrymore Theatre, where this histrionics successfully lasted for 864 shows, including the preliminaries, until 1979. Was directed by G. Saks, choreographer – O. White, and the actors were: D. Farrar, J. Naughton, H. Winston, J. Gleason, K. Bichel, L. Hilton–Jacobs, L. Baker, J. Sell, I. Graff, T. Wopat, M. Mark , D. Smothers, J. Saulter, T. Smothers & J. Miller.
J. Layton, combining the positions of both director and choreographer, during the preparation of the play had been injured as a result of a bad fall and had to be replaced by G. Saks and O. White.
Show on the West End was opened at the same premiere year of 1977, in well-known Prince of Wales Theatre. Histrionics staged there for more than 401 times. M. Stewart realized the libretto & lyrics, R. Urbinati was the director, and G. J. La Rosa performed the choreography. Actors were: C. McBurney, A. Cassese, C. Fletcher, B. Crawford, A. Rand, E. Maguire, B. Morss & D. Lafoon. Stage prop was held by J. Anderson & R. L. Conde.
Show format is designed so that it can be expanded to 3 or even 4 pairs in amateur productions, together with the number of musicians, amount of which in both major performances – on Broadway and on West End – were 4 people. What is interesting – they also played in the first scenes of the show, as part of the crowd, and then their small hankey-pankeys included in the course of the story and some of them even sang solos.
The subsequent openings of the musical, after 2000, were in New York in 2004. The production was notable for the fact that Lea Thompson played in it, which is most known for her roles in two films Back To The Future, where she played Lorraine & her two incarnation – both young & old. By the way, now she is 54 and she looks much prettier than she was with a make-up in the part 2 of the motion picture.
Release date of the musical: 1977
"I Love My Wife" – The Musical Guide & Song Meanings
Information current as of January 27, 2026. I can’t provide full copyrighted lyrics. This guide focuses on what the songs are doing in the story, what the cast album highlights, and why the writing still lands as a time capsule with teeth.
Review: when the sexual revolution hits Trenton, New Jersey, the jokes get nervous
"I Love My Wife" sells itself as a saucy premise and then pulls a neat switch. The score is not actually about swinging. It’s about people trying to act modern while still being profoundly suburban. Michael Stewart’s lyrics are written in the language of permission slips: half bravado, half panic. The result is a musical where the punchlines keep circling back to the same fear: what if we try to become new versions of ourselves and discover we still live in the old ones?
Cy Coleman’s music does the other half of the con. The tunes are bright and quick, the kind of melodic confidence that makes the characters sound braver than they are. That contrast is the show’s secret engine. A confident rhythm, a lyric full of hedging. A punchy chorus, a couple privately negotiating boundaries. It is why the cast album plays cleaner than the plot summary: the songs are built like persuasive speeches even when the characters are losing the argument.
The show also has a structural signature that lyric writers love because it creates friction on demand: an onstage band that behaves like part Greek chorus, part barroom peanut gallery. It keeps the whole evening a little self-aware, which is useful when the story is asking you to laugh at people who are embarrassed, not people who are evil.
How it was made
The Broadway production opened at the Ethel Barrymore Theatre on April 17, 1977, after a pre-Broadway tryout in Philadelphia, and ran until May 20, 1979. The creators were already fluent in musical comedy mechanics: Michael Stewart wrote the book and lyrics, and Cy Coleman wrote the music. The source material came from a French play, which helps explain the show’s chamber-size structure and its fondness for farce rhythms that turn awkwardness into choreography.
The most useful origin detail for “lyrics” searches is also the most cynical. The title song was already circulating as a pop single before the show opened. Frank Sinatra recorded it in 1976 and released it as a single in January 1977, creating an unusual wave of pre-opening awareness for a Broadway musical. That is marketing as dramaturgy: audiences arrived already thinking they knew the hook.
Staging history matters here because the staging is part of the writing. The onstage musicians are not just accompaniment; they are built into the show’s comic temperature. Contemporary reviews and later commentary repeatedly highlight the device as a key reason the piece felt light but new, a small conceptual upgrade that made the “naughty” premise feel more like theatre craft than tabloid bait.
Key tracks & scenes
"We're Still Friends" (Company)
- The Scene:
- Christmas Eve framing. The couples and their orbit set the rules of the evening, with the onstage band already acting like witnesses who will not let anyone rewrite what just happened.
- Lyrical Meaning:
- The lyric plants the show’s real stakes: preserving the friendship and the marriages while flirting with change. It is a promise that becomes a test.
"Monica" (Alvin, Monica, Four Guys)
- The Scene:
- Alvin’s attention locks onto Monica. The staging often treats the “guys” like a living commentary track, as if the room itself is egging him on.
- Lyrical Meaning:
- Desire is framed as fascination, not conquest. Stewart’s writing makes flirtation sound like a nervous monologue that escaped into melody.
"Love Revolution" (Cleo)
- The Scene:
- Cleo claims the era. The lights typically sharpen, the mood turns declarative, and she sounds like someone trying to convince herself as much as anyone else.
- Lyrical Meaning:
- The lyric is ideology as self-talk. “Revolution” reads less like politics and more like permission to want something different without admitting what that costs.
"Someone Wonderful I Missed" (Monica, Cleo)
- The Scene:
- The women step into a more private honesty, often staged with smaller gestures and fewer jokes. The room feels less like a party and more like a confession booth.
- Lyrical Meaning:
- The lyric is the evening’s softest knife: a duet about longing that is not quite for a person and not quite for youth, but for a version of self that used to feel easier to inhabit.
"Sexually Free" (Alvin, Cleo, Wally)
- The Scene:
- Negotiation disguised as celebration. The rhythm keeps pushing forward while the characters keep adding conditions and escape hatches.
- Lyrical Meaning:
- The song’s comic brilliance is that the lyric keeps insisting on freedom while demonstrating constraint. It is a pep rally for anxiety.
"Everybody Today Is Turning On" (Alvin, Wally)
- The Scene:
- Act II energy jolt. The guys clock the culture and try to keep up, usually with the band leaning into showbiz razzle to puncture their sincerity.
- Lyrical Meaning:
- The lyric treats trend as pressure. “Everybody” is the operative word: the characters are not chasing pleasure so much as fearing they are late.
"Married Couple Seeks Married Couple" (Alvin, Cleo, Wally, Monica)
- The Scene:
- The most explicit “premise song” of the show. The couples attempt to turn desire into logistics, with the staging often emphasizing how absurd it sounds when spoken plainly.
- Lyrical Meaning:
- Stewart writes the lyric like an advertisement, which is the joke and the critique. Intimacy becomes copywriting. The discomfort is the point.
"I Love My Wife" (Alvin, Wally)
- The Scene:
- The title number lands as a public statement that is also a private relief. Depending on production, it plays as buddy comedy or as two men quietly admitting they are scared of what they almost did.
- Lyrical Meaning:
- The lyric’s central contradiction is the show in one sentence: attraction exists, temptation exists, and still the marriage is the chosen home. The song does not pretend this is neat. It just insists it is true.
Notes & trivia
- The original Broadway production opened April 17, 1977 at the Ethel Barrymore Theatre and closed May 20, 1979, after 857 performances and seven previews.
- The story is set on Christmas Eve in suburban Trenton, New Jersey, with two married couples tempted by the era’s sexual permissiveness.
- Frank Sinatra recorded the title song in 1976 and released it as a single in January 1977, before the Broadway opening, creating unusual pre-opening awareness.
- The show uses an onstage band as active participants in the storytelling, a device repeatedly singled out in commentary about why the piece felt fresh in 1977.
- Gene Saks won a Tony Award for directing, and Lenny Baker won for featured actor (original production).
- A London production opened in October 1977 at the Prince of Wales Theatre and ran 401 performances, earning an Olivier nomination for Musical of the Year.
- The song list is compact and plot-specific, with several numbers functioning as arguments disguised as tunes: “Sexually Free,” “Married Couple Seeks Married Couple,” and the title song.
Reception
Reviews rarely claimed the show was deep. They claimed it was smart about being light. The period lens helps: post-"Hair" audiences were more comfortable with sex on a musical stage, but not necessarily with the suburban aftertaste. Critics and commentators repeatedly praise the cast and the staging concept, while acknowledging that the plot is intentionally thin, built to let musical comedy technique do the real work.
“Bright, inventive, amusing and breezy.”
“The virtue of simplicity in a book musical is nowhere more appropriately extolled.”
“Soon-To-Open B’way Show Heralded By Known Ballad.”
Live updates 2025-2026
There is no current Broadway run. The title’s life in 2025-2026 is licensing-driven and largely regional. A concrete example: No Square Theatre in Laguna Beach lists "I Love My Wife" for March 13-29, 2026, positioning it as a mainstage entry in its 2025-2026 season.
Rights and availability: Concord Theatricals continues to list the show for licensing, which is the clearest practical signal that the piece remains in circulation for professional and amateur productions. If you are researching “lyrics,” this matters because licensed materials often stabilize song order and character assignments across productions, even when directors adjust staging tone.
Staging trend to watch: modern productions frequently lean into the onstage musician concept as the show’s strongest theatrical “hook.” When the band reads as friends, commentators, and occasional co-conspirators, the piece feels like a party you are allowed to judge.
Quick facts
- Title: I Love My Wife
- Year: 1977 (Broadway opening: April 17, 1977)
- Type: Musical comedy
- Music: Cy Coleman
- Book & Lyrics: Michael Stewart
- Based on: French play "Viens chez moi, j'habite chez une copine" (Luis Rego, Didier Kaminka, Jean-Luc Voulfow, Jean-Paul Sèvres)
- Setting: Trenton, New Jersey; Christmas Eve
- Original Broadway theatre: Ethel Barrymore Theatre
- Director (original Broadway): Gene Saks
- Choreography (original Broadway): Onna White
- Original cast album: Released in 1977 (widely documented via discography listings); later CD reissues exist
- Signature device: Onstage band integrated into the action
Frequently asked questions
- Who wrote the lyrics for "I Love My Wife"?
- Michael Stewart wrote the book and lyrics; Cy Coleman wrote the music.
- Can you share the full lyrics?
- I can’t provide full copyrighted lyrics. I can help with summaries, meanings, character intent, and where each number sits in the story.
- What is the show actually about?
- Two married couples, longtime friends, flirt with swapping partners on Christmas Eve. The comedy comes from their enthusiasm colliding with their limits.
- Is the title song older than the musical?
- No. The song is tied to the musical’s creation, but a high-profile Sinatra single arrived before the Broadway opening, which boosted public awareness early.
- Is "I Love My Wife" still performed in 2026?
- Yes, mainly through regional and licensed productions. One confirmed 2026 listing is No Square Theatre’s March 13-29, 2026 run in Laguna Beach.
- Is there a cast recording?
- Yes. The original Broadway cast album has been released and reissued, and it is widely available through major discography and streaming listings.
Key contributors
| Name | Role | Contribution |
|---|---|---|
| Cy Coleman | Composer | Wrote a punchy, era-specific score that keeps the evening buoyant even when the characters hesitate. |
| Michael Stewart | Book & Lyricist | Wrote lyrics that dramatize negotiation, embarrassment, and marital loyalty without moralizing. |
| Gene Saks | Director (original Broadway) | Shaped the show’s brisk tone and helped make the onstage band a storytelling asset. |
| Onna White | Choreographer (original Broadway) | Created movement that supports comedy beats and keeps the show’s social energy moving. |
| James Naughton | Original cast | Originated Wally; anchors the show’s mix of confidence and anxiety in performance documentation. |
| Joanna Gleason | Original cast | Originated Monica; gives the evening its sharpest emotional pivots. |
| Lenny Baker | Original cast | Originated Alvin; won a Tony for featured actor, widely cited for comic precision. |
| Ilene Graff | Original cast | Originated Cleo; powers the show’s “modernity” argument with vocal clarity and bite. |
Sources: IBDB, Concord Theatricals, StageAgent, londontheatre.co.uk, The New York Times (archive), Record World (WorldRadioHistory PDF archive), Billboard (WorldRadioHistory PDF archive), No Square Theatre, Discogs, YouTube (Tony Awards clip).