She Loves Me (2016)

This Great Performances program actually aired on PBS back in October, right around the time that Falsettos did, but it took me a while to get around to my recording of it.  Obviously, I’m never gonna turn down live-captured theatre, so it was only a matter of time – still, Jerry Herman is more of an all-right composer for me, and the cast doesn’t have quite the same pull with me as Falsettos did, so it wound up sitting in my DVR for a bit.

Georg and Amalia are sales clerks at the same perfume shop in 1930s Hungary, where they unfailingly get on one another’s nerves.  They’re constantly rankling each other and are basically of the opinion that each is the worst possible potential mate on the planet.  However, what they don’t realize is that they are in fact, both secretly and entirely unknowingly, in love with each other.  They’ve been corresponding anonymously for some time, and neither has a clue that the soulfully-romantic letters they receive in their post office boxes are from their work nemesis.

There have been numerous versions of this story over the years, which was popularly updated into You’ve Got Mail in the ‘90s.  I’ve reviewed another version of it here on the blog – In the Good Old Summertime, the 1949 Van Johnson/Judy Garland musical featuring Buster Keaton.  She Loves Me is yet another, covering all the same major story beats in its own frothy musical-romcom way.  The music is light, the repartee amusing, and the sets charmingly picturesque.  Mostly, the show is a nice bit of fluff.

I’ll be honest in admitting that this is a nice but mostly-forgettable show for me.  The music is fine, diverting enough, but I didn’t leave with any real eagerness to hear it again.  There are some nice pieces, particularly some strong comic solos for the supporting characters.  That said, there wasn’t a whole lot that really stuck with me.

Similarly, I came away thinking the main performances were basically fine.  Laura Benanti of course has a beautiful, clear soprano voice, but I wasn’t super-impressed by her acting as Amalia; while it’s true that none of the characters in this show are the most complex or eye-catching, and there’s nothing really wrong with Benanti’s performance, she doesn’t do much for me to make Amalia pop.  As Georg, Zachary Levi does a decent job in his first Broadway show.  His singing mostly gets the job done, and he’s generally funny and engaging, although there are points when the “awkwardly-charming romcom lead” shtick gets laid on way too thick for me.

Where the acting is concerned, the main draws for me are the supporting players, who all give lively performances just on the right side of broad.  Jane Krakowski and Gavin Creel as the vivacious Ilona and caddish Kodaly are especially great, and Nicholas Barasch is a lot of fun as Arpad, the over-eager delivery boy.

Warnings

Drinking, suggestiveness, and a bit of slapsticky violence.