She Loves Me
My thoughts on She Loves Me or…a musical that goes down as smoothly as vanilla ice cream.
It’s old fashioned. It’s corny. It’s implausible. It’s totally irresistible. She Loves Me, with a wonderful score from Jerry Bock and Sheldon Harnick and a book by Joe Masteroff, is based on the 1937 play Parfumerie by Miklos Lazlo. It’s spawned quite a few incarnations, the last of which was the Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan film “You’ve Got Mail.”
Are you ready for a rom-com? She Loves Me is a classic one. Two employees of Maraczek’s Parfumerie in Budapest, Amalia Balash and Georg Nowack, can’t stand each other. But unbeknownst to them, they are writing anonymous love letters to each other as lonely hearts pen pals. Sound familiar? It’s all familiar. However, when familiar is done this well and with a cast this strong, it becomes fresh and winning all over again.
Director Andi Allen has deftly directed this gem of a musical and overcome all the obstacles inherent in staging a play that cries out for a proscenium stage in a black box. Not to mention there are more entrances and exits in this play than in Noises Off. With customers and employees mingling in the busy parfumerie, She Loves Me is constantly moving. Allen’s challenges in stage movement, choreography, and scene changes were enormous here. But it all comes off as perfectly streamlined on Josh Hensley’s clever two-level set, which with the help of props becomes a restaurant and Amalia’s bedroom as well as the parfumerie. Hensley also provides the lighting for the show. Dayna Rae Dutton’s costumes give the musical the appropriate 1930’s look with the female characters looking especially of the period.
Music Director Kelly Poche Rodriguez has the cast sounding terrific and the harmonies are particularly strong. The eight-person band conducted by Larry Miller produces big sound and keeps the glorious score sounding, well, glorious.
I can’t imagine a better cast than the one Director Allen has assembled for She Loves Me and the two lead characters are also, well, glorious. As the intelligent, quick to judge, looking for love, Amanda Balash, Samantha Snow literally hits all the right notes, Snow’s soaring soprano is never less than thrilling, and her “Vanilla Ice Cream” in Act II literally made me want to stand up and cheer. She also has quite the rapport with her leading man.
Jacob Catalano as Georg is leading man personified. There is something about Catalano’s voice, stature, and delivery that is reminiscent of all those Hollywood leading men of the 1930’s and 40’s. He’s a bit Jimmy Stewart, a bit Fred Astaire. He makes Georg a dashing character with charm to spare. Snow and Catalano will convince you they are in love. Just think of them as a singing version of Tracy and Hepburn.
Ilona Ritter is one of those great character roles. She’s the slightly promiscuous, been around the block a few times sort. She’s quick witted and sexy, but not always astute when it comes to choosing beaux. Elisa Danielle James is sensational in the role. In a wig that makes her look like a young Debra Monk, James never fails to get a laugh with the witty dialogue Ilona is given and her up tempo song “A Trip to the Library” about finding a new love interest is one of the evening’s highlights. I’ve had a crush on James since I first saw her in the title role of The Drowsy Chaperone back in 2020 and this performance had me wanting to send her fan boy mail all over again.
Alexandru Istrate is Steven Kodaly, who works with Ilona at the parfumerie. Kodaly is a cad to say the least and Istrate is masterful portraying the conceited smarminess of the character who leads Ilona on though he is secretly seeing someone else. Kodaly is a narcissist only concerned with what makes himself happy. Istrate brings out all the sarcasm in “Grand Knowing You” as Kodaly leaves the parfumerie for the last time.
As the delivery boy Arpad Laszlo, Dylan Ciminna is nothing short of phenomenal. His Arpad is youthful, likeable, and altogether winning as he runs around the set with those limber legs. Arpad is kind, ambitious, and concerned for others. Ciminna has an endearing comic presence in the role and when he gets his big solo number “Try Me,” he’s dazzling. As I told Director Allen on opening night, Ciminna is one of those people who seem to have a light shining just on them whenever they are on stage.
Usually leading men, Grant Hollowell and Robert San Juan step into character roles here with great success. Hollowell is Ladislav Sipos, a family man who will do whatever he has to do to keep his position at the parfumerie. He is an amiable sort and Hollowell, an accomplished comic actor who can get a laugh raising an eyebrow, mines the character for every possible laugh and handles his more serious moments equally well.
Robert San Juan, an actor who never fails to impress me, is parfumerie owner Maraczek. Maraczek is a fatherly sort who genuinely cares for his employees. In a part that requires him to go from enraged to humble, San Juan brings a kindness and tenderness to Maraczek. Having recently seen San Juan in an intense drama, I was reminded once again what a marvelously versatile actor he is.
Bayley Owen has a dynamite scene and song as a headwaiter obsessed with making sure his dinners are given a classy romantic experience at his restaurant. Owen’s waiter expresses his never-ending quest to provide wining and dining of the finest quality in “Romantic Atmosphere” and his slightly campy take on the song is great fun.
There is a splendid ensemble who play customers and townspeople in the show and provide much of the color of the musical. The ensemble includes Chelsea Catalano, Melissa Feldman, Emily Frerich, Michelle Tran, Eric Feldman, Chase Shaw, and Cam Hayes. Hayes also scores in a cameo role as Private Investigator Keller. Hayes obviously did his homework and gave the character an authentic sounding Hungarian accent.
Having seen the last Broadway revival of She Loves Me, I had concerns going to a local production, but I enjoyed this one just as much. Theatre Frisco’s She Loves Me is a sweetheart of a musical. Care to join me for some vanilla ice cream?
