She Loves Me follows Georg and Amalia, two parfumerie clerks who aren't quite the best of friends. Constantly bumping heads while on the job, the sparring coworkers can't seem to find common ground. But little do they know, the anonymous romantic pen pals they have both been falling for happen to be each other! Will love continue to blossom once their identities are finally revealed?
In celebration of Roundabout Theatre Company's 50th anniversary, She Loves Me returns to Broadway for the first time since it triumphantly launched Roundabout's musical theatre initiative over 20 years ago. This heartwarming musical comedy features a book by Tony Award winner Joe Masteroff (Cabaret), music by Tony Award winner Jerry Bock (Fiddler on the Roof) and lyrics by Pulitzer Prize and Tony winner Sheldon Harnick (Fiorello!). Six-time Tony Award nominee Scott Ellis (Roundabout's Harvey, The Mystery of Edwin Drood) directs.
Yes, much of the show is as sugary and sweet as Amalia's late-in-the-show dessert, but evident also are the pain and heartbreak of infidelity, unemployment, being jerked around by a loved one and getting fired from your job. David Rockwell's magnificent and ever-changing set design takes its cue from the book's pivotal object, a musical cigarette box being sold at a Budapest parfumerie in 1934...Levi and Benanti connect through their characters' mutual underlying loneliness. They're as charming as Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan, those "You've Got Mail" stars, and they can also sing. Equally important, they never indulge in the usual musical-comedy tricks that attract Tony attention. Ellis wisely hands all that kind of Broadway shtick to the show's ill-matched secondary couple, played by the warring Jane Krakowski and Gavin Creel.
Chief among the pleasures of this revival are the leading players, who take the innately charming material and add their own personal magic. Amalia is a soprano's dream; Barbara Cook created the role, turning the big aria "Ice Cream" into something of a standard for hard-singing heroines. (Cook originated not only "Ice Cream" but Leonard Bernstein's "Glitter and Be Gay" from Candide, two numbers that serve as something of a trial by fire for musical comedy leading ladies.) Here we have Ms. Benanti, who can match just about anyone in the vocal spotlight. What sends her performance over the top is her comedy skills; there is humor in the role, yes, but Benanti makes it downright funny. The bedroom scene, for instance (leading to "Ice Cream"), plays like high comedy. Let it be added that the book by Joe Masteroff-who later turned his hand to Cabaret-works marvelously well.
Videos
TICKET CENTRAL
Recommended For You