[NEohioPAL] Review of "She Loves Me" at Rabbit Run Theater

[Bob Abelman]

Rabbit Run director takes something off his screwball pitch

 

Bob Abelman

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

Member, International Association of Theatre Critics 

 

This review appeared in the News-Herald 7/24/09

 

The screwball comedy is a wonderful thing.

 

In it, the sexual tension between a mild-mannered but self-assured young man and a bright, outgoing young woman who cannot admit their feelings for each other is transformed into comedic antagonism.  Before falling into each other's arms, which they inevitably do, the two engage in rapid, witty repartee and uncharacteristically bizarre behavior to demonstrate their utter disdain for each other.  It's a fun ride.

 

Screwball comedies were popularized on stage and screen in the 1930s, the result of an economic depression in need of some serious comic relief and censorship codes that allowed for sexual attraction, but not sex.  They are named after the baseball pitch thrown with a spin that causes the ball to flutter erratically.  

 

Although the musical She Loves Me, currently on stage at Rabbit Run Theater, was written in the early 1960s, it is based on Miklos Laszlo's 1936 play Parfumerie and takes place in the late 1930s.  Like the play, the musical has all the earmarks of a good, old-fashioned madcap romp and follows the formula to a tee. 

 

At its epicenter is Georg, a mild middle-manager, and Amalia, a high-energy sales girl, who are feuding employees in a European parfumerie.  They loath each other and take refuge in anonymous, romantic pen pal exchanges until they finally realize that they have been writing to each other.   

 

The play is peppered with colorful supporting characters built for crazy comedy.  It is filled with lively and smart banter by playwright Joe Masteroff.  It is infused with a score by Jerry Bock and Sheldon Harnick that provides a constant barrage of cleverly worded, if not melodically memorable, songs.

 

Because the love affair is so central to this story and madcap humor is a passing phase, many contemporary productions of She Loves Me tend to extract much of the screwball from the comedy.

 

Direct Brendan Sandham follows suit, choosing to slow down this play's pace, sedate its zaniness, and level the bipolar personalities of its wonderfully eccentric population. 

 

What is left is a thoroughly enjoyable but significantly less animated romantic comedy that goes for the heart rather than the funny bone.  

 

Brian Altman, as Georg, has the look, sound and comic timing of all those romantic leads from yesteryear, as if he just stepped out of 80-year-old celluloid.  He is absolutely wonderful in this production.  Altman's Georg is an immediately interesting, likable guy capable of holding his own in a heated exchange with his female counterpart.

 

He never really gets the chance, for Lindsey Sandham's Amalia is too angelic to be aggressively argumentative and too sweet to secrete sexual tension, even by romantic comedy standards.  Sandham's lilting, sing-song-y speaking voice does not allow the antagonism to register beyond mere annoyance, although it does deliver each and every song with magnificent tone and texture.  She is an absolute pleasure to listen to.

 

Despite the toned-down nature of this production, Sandy Kosovich Peck as the ditsy saleswoman Ilona, Paul Feldon as the smarmy salesman Steven Kodaly, and Carl Simoncic as the head waiter at the restaurant where the pen pals finally rendezvous are refugees from the realm of screwball comedy.  They are delightful, and successfully strike the funny bone while other supporting actors merely manage to graze it.  They, along with a very talented, scene-stealing Michael Crowley as the young delivery boy, offer rich, fully developed characters.  

 

This show's few production numbers are very well staged and take full advantage of the attractive and functional set design by Julie Harter, marvelous period costuming by Karen Ziegler, and adequate 12-piece orchestra under the direction of Beth Johnson.  They are, however, somewhat muted affairs that lack vitality, although it is clear that some members of the ensemble are bursting at the seams to kick these numbers into another gear.  

 

She Loves Me delivers a slow change-up high and tight rather than a screwball low and away.  It makes for an entertaining evening, just not a wildly entertaining one.  

 

 She Loves Me continues through August 2 at Rabbit Run Theater, 5648 W. Chapel Rd., Madison Township.  For tickets, which are $15 to $17, call 440-428-7092 or visit www.rabbitrunonline.tix.com. 
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