On & Off Broadway

'She Loves Me'

Review by Elyse Trevers

Posted

Looking for an old-fashioned musical with glorious music and sweet sentiments? The kind where the good guy gets the girl and the bad guy gets his just desserts? The Roundabout Theatre Company’s revival of the Jerry Bock - Sheldon Harnick musical, She Loves Me, is sure to make you forget about the tragedies of the modern world and just smile for awhile.

Based upon the play by Miklos Laszlo, the story is set in and around Maraczek’s Parfumerie in Budapest in 1934. Zachary Levi plays Georg, the manager of the store, who is in love with a girl he has never seen; he’s been corresponding with her through letters. He’s drawn to her intelligence and humor. When the two finally arrange a meeting, she is to carry the book Anna Karenina with a rose in it, and he’s to wear a flower. When Georg arrives, he sees that he already knows the young woman. She is Amalia, (portrayed by Laura Benanti) the salesclerk at the store, with whom he’s always arguing and bickering. The two just do not get along. (If this sounds familiar it’s the same plot of the Tom Hanks-Meg Ryan movie “You’ve Got Mail” ) Happy to say, it all works out.

A musical like this could feel dated and hackneyed but it is so well cast that it sparkles like the jewel box set onstage. Designed by David Rockwell, the perfume store unfolds to the audience like a box of crystals with vibrantly colorful bottles shimmering along the walls.

Letter writing is a lost art and meeting via letter could seem outdated to a modern audience, except for the presence of numerous computer dating sites. Although the trend has become high-tech, the end goal is still the same; "lonely-hearts" are seeking to connect.

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