She Loves Me. Music & lyrics by Jerry Bock & Sheldon Harnick. Directed by Matthew Decker for Villanova University Theater through November 18, 2018.
She Loves Me is a unique musical. Gentle. Intimate. Wistful. Nostalgic. It’s set in Hungary in the 1930s where we witness a romance between employees of a perfume shop, and it requires a delicate touch by director and performers.
This it receives in a production directed by Matthew Decker for Villanova University. Compared to the show’s most recent revival on Broadway, this is more civilized and charming. Scott Ellis helmed a brash rendition in New York (musically gorgeous but with overly-busy stage business) whereas Decker honored the softer essence of the piece.
She Loves Me is based on the romantic comedy Parfumerie by Miklós László. With music and lyrics by Jerry Bock and Sheldon Harnick, and book by Joe Masteroff, the show premiered on Broadway in 1963. What most impresses me is how different the score is from the other Bock & Harnick musicals that they wrote within a five-year period: Fiorello (1959) Tenderloin (1960) and Fiddler on the Roof (1964) — all excellent, with radically diverse and unique styles.
The plot revolves around feuding shop employees Georg Nowack and Amalia Balash who are unaware that each is the other’s secret pen pal. Jimmy Stewart and Margaret Sullavan were dreamy in the 1940 non-musical movie of the story, and the plot was later used for the Tom Hanks/Meg Ryan film You’ve Got Mail. MGM bought the screen rights to the musical and planned to co-star Julie Andrews with Dick Van Dyke. Unfortunately, that film never was made.
Decker uses graduate students for the youthful roles and experienced professional actors to play the older roles. Mina Kawahara is altogether winning as Amalia and Ethan Mitchell is charming as Georg. They reveal strong chemistry in Act II where, after a major misunderstanding, she stays home sick and Georg calls on her with a dish of ice cream. She flashes brilliant coloratura in “Vanilla Ice Cream” and adds a lilting waltz called “Where’s My Shoe.”
(In the original 1963 production that role was played by Barbara Cook, and her big song — the same song — was titled simply “Ice Cream.”)
Enhancing the plot are a variety of side stories which give great opportunities to Gabe Henninger as Georg’s longtime pal, Tina Lynch as a flirty salesclerk, Jerald Bennett as a predatory co-worker, Paul Weagraff as the shop’s owner Mr. Maraczek, Alex Werthauer as a delivery boy, and Barry Brait as the headwaiter at a restaurant where Amalia and Georg have a rendezvous. Each of them strongly deliver the definitive songs which Bock & Harnick provided for their characters.
The production benefits from outstanding choreography by Rachel Camp, with clever touches throughout and with especially dazzling action during the restaurant scene (“A Romantic Atmosphere”) and in the shop during the pre-Christmas rush.
This is an intentionally old-fashioned show, running close to three hours (as most shows from Broadway’s golden era) and keeping us smiling all the time with appreciation for its sophistication and sweetness. Colin McIlvain’s set cleverly fills Villanova’s thrust playing space although, ideally, this traditional musical would fit best in a proscenium. Peter Hilliard leads a fine band hidden behind the set.