An amusing new comedy that explores our quests for love and happiness — and what happens when our families get involved

When it comes to your family, you may love them or you may hate them — but, like it or not, you’re stuck with them. Perhaps this is why stories of dysfunctional families have been at the center of entertainment for centuries, and why it’s easy to find something to smile about in Catherine Butterfield’s new comedy It Has to Be You. It Has to Be You focuses on siblings Mindy (Butterfield), Frank (Adam Ferrara), and Jed (Jeffrey C. Hawkins) as they learn that their elderly mother, Dorothy (Peggy J. Scott), has discovered a fresh zest for life — thanks to a newfound relationship with the much-younger Burt (Peter Davenport). Convinced that this gentleman caller is simply after their mother’s vast fortune, the trio sets out to terminate the relationship — and hilarity and hijinks ensue. For the most part, Butterfield’s play reads like an extended episode of a classic TV sitcom — and I mean that in the most complimentary of ways. Its characters are all endearingly flawed, its humor is broad and boisterous, and its conclusion is neat and satisfying. And while there are moments the script would have been better served had it more severely deviated from these televisual tropes (its penchant for innuendo, for example, grows tiresome), it still manages to engage and entertain.