[NEohioPAL] Preview of "She Loves Me" at Rabbit Run

[Bob Abelman]

She Loves Me at the Rabbit Run Theater

 

Bob Abelman

News-Herald, Chagrin Valley Times, Solon Times, Geauga Times Courier

Member, International Association of Theatre Critics 

 

This preview appeared in the News-Herald 7/17/09

 

 

She loves me.  She loves me not. 

 

Plucking petals from a daisy to predict whether one's affections are reciprocal is pretty  unreliable.  Daisies are like that.  However, place a romantic guessing game within the stylized confines of a musical comedy called She Loves Me and the outcome could not be more pleasantly predictable.

 

Georg, a mild-mannered middle-manager, and Amalia, an energetic sales girl, are feuding employees in a European parfumerie in the 1930s.  She loves me not.

 

They both take refuge in their anonymous, romantic pen pal exchanges.  Little do they realize (until later in the show, of course) that they are writing to each other.  She loves me.

 

"There is no doubt whatsoever that these two are perfect for each other and are destined to fall madly in love," observes Brendan Sandham, director of the production of She Loves Me opening this evening at Rabbit Run Theater.  "Everyone knows this from the very opening of the play.  The pleasure is in watching this inevitable romance slowly unfold."   

 

This pleasure is facilitated by some good, old-fashioned storytelling by playwright Joe Masteroff.  "It has the right combination of warmth and charm," notes Brint Learned, executive director of the Rabbit Run Community Arts Association, "not to mention that beautiful score by Jerry Bock and Sheldon Harnick."

 

Bock and Harnick are best known for the collaboration that followed She Loves Me, called Fiddler on the Roof.

 

"Unlike many musical comedies, where the songs are there for their own sake or to merely showcase the talent of the performers," suggests Sandham, "these songs are integral to the story.  And the characters sing because it is simply the best and only way for them to express their feelings.  This is one of the loveliest shows ever created."  

 

Pleasantly predictable, lovely. and familiar.  This show is based on Hungarian playwright Miklos Laszlo's 1936 play Parfumerie.   So are several films including the 1940 James Stewart/Margaret Sullavan comedy The Shop Around the Corner, the 1949 Judy Garland/Van Johnson musical In the Good Old Summertime, and the 1998 Tom Hanks/Meg Ryan romantic comedy You've Got Mail. 

 

She Loves Me enjoyed a limited run on Broadway and London's West End in the early 1960s and was revived at both locations 30 years later.  According to Sandham, despite its long lineage and old-fashioned feel, this play is remarkably contemporary in many respects: "The female lead (played by Lindsey Sandham) has incredible depth and is remarkably empowered.  The male lead (played by Brian Altman) is immediately recognizable to modern-day audiences.  The show is full of individual moments that ring true, no matter the decade."

 

Joining the lead players are Sandy Kosovich Peck, Tom Jessup, Greg Gnau, Paul Feldon, Michael Crowley, Brian Crowley, Mark Crowley, Tina Green, Korbin Lashley, Erin McManus, Haley Penca, James Penca, Katrina Peterson-Rees and Carl Simoncic.

 

"There is absolutely no doubt that Rabbit Run patrons will fall in love with this show and these characters," adds Sandham.  If there is, there is no shortage of daisies to be plucked in Madison Township. 

 

Details

 

What:     She Loves Me

When:    Today through August 2 (8 p.m., Thursdays to Sundays).

Where:   Rabbit Run Theater, 5648 W. Chapel Rd., Madison Township. 

Tickets   $15 to $17

Info:        440-428-7092 or www.rabbitrunonline.tix.com.

 

 
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