The Thing About Men is based on a West German movie called Men, released in 1986. It’s a West German farce, believe it or not! When Joe DiPietro saw it in the early ’90s, he thought, “This is a great idea for a small musical” — just the thing that he and Jimmy Roberts, his collaborator were looking for as a follow-up to I Love You, You’re Perfect, Now Change (which the Gulf Coast Symphony produced last season). The show is about Tom, a middle-aged advertising executive who has just about everything he wants in life — a wife, two kids, a high-powered job, and he fools around on his wife with some frequency. Then he comes home one night and finds a hickey on his wife’s neck that he didn’t give her. He freaks, he moves out, and he starts following his wife and her lover around. Her lover is this downtown Bohemian artist who doesn’t have a job and it turns out that he’s looking for a roommate, so Tom moves in with him but doesn’t reveal who he is. That sets the plot in motion. The show is very much a comic exploration of men, modern marriage, and friendship.