BWW Reviews: SHE LOVES ME, Landor Theatre, February 9 2015

Love and enmity can both grow in the workplace, but what happens if these contrary emotions are fostered simultaneously? Georg and Amalia are at each others' throats from 9 to 5, but once home, they pen eloquent love letters, each blissfully unaware that these billets doux are treasured by the very person they spit bile at all day long. Sounds familiar? It might, as She Loves Me (continuing at the Landor Theatre until 7 March) has been around musical theatre for 50 years and its plot (based on a Hungarian play of 1937) has been the inspiration for three feature films, most recently 1998's You've Got Mail. But a rom-com with songs will never really go out of fashion, will it?

The Landor Theatre specialises in delivering some of the biggest musical productions on the fringe and this is no exception. Designer David Shields has created a beautiful and adaptable set that reeks of 1930's Mitteleuropa transported to New York - it should really whiff a little of Maraczek's famous perfumes too, with all those seductive bottles being opened so often. The costumes too are lovely to look at - shift dresses with dropped waists for the girls and round collars and herringbone jackets for the boys. There's a constant threat of wardrobe malfunction in the dance routines, but all (just about) stays in its rightful place.

It's not just the high notes of upmarket fragrances that pervade the shop - there's high tension too, crackling back and forth between the staff. Miss Ritter (Emily Lynne) is having an on-off affair with caddish Mr Kodaly (Matthew Wellman), meanwhile, delivery boy Arpad (Joshua LeClair) is angling for a clerk's job from store owner Mr Maraczek (Ian Dring) who frets about his ageing looks and his wife's fidelity. But will Georg (John Sandberg) and Amalia (Charlotte Jaconelli) stop bickering for long enough to see that they are as suited as their letters suggest? Well - what do you think?

The two leads sing very well - Charlotte Jaconelli's big operatic voice reined in a little for the venue and John Sandberg giving everything in his epiphanic, eponymous "She Loves Me" number - but the chemistry doesn't really spark between them. Jaconelli is very young and one can't help thinking she'd be better off with Arpad than with a man who has been 15 years in the shop, and sometimes looks like it. Whether it was the right casting decision to expect her to carry the lead in this long show (well over two hours) in a tricky role is a fair question to put - she will certainly find more comfortable roles in the future and use the full extent of her considerable belt too for she is very talented.

For all the pleasing melodies, the fine singing and the feelgood resolutions for the lovers, the highlight of the evening is a remarkable turn by Ian Dring as a maitre d' who answers a query I'd never thought to ask until he arrived on stage. How would Kenneth Williams have played Basil Fawlty? Well, now we know.

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