"She Loves Me" Yeah, Yeah...

Several weeks ago, as part of a longer article, I posted a 2-1/2-minute video here of the wonderful Jessie Mueller singing "Ice Cream" from the musical, She Loves Me, from when the acclaimed Writers Theatre put on the show a couple years ago in Glencoe, Illinois.

For those who don't know She Loves Me. it's a charming, lovely, incredibly tuneful musical by Sheldon Harnick and Jerry Bock, who wrote Fiddler on the Roof, Fiorello!, The Apple Tree and others.  You probably do know the story, even if you don't think so -- it's based on a classic movie, The Shop Around the Corner, that starred James Stewart and Margaret Sullivan...which, in turn, was the basis of the film, You've Got Mail, with Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan.  (All are based on a Hungarian play by Miklos Laszlo.  You probably don't know that.)

She Loves Me has had a couple of successful runs on Broadway.  Never hugely long ones, but respectable.  Its initial run was 302 performances.  One of things that's so wonderful about the lush, lyrical score -- other than that it has so many songs that the original cast album was released with two LPs -- is that every member of the cast is given a solo, show-stopping number.

So...if you saw that earlier 2-1/2 minutes of the show, and liked it, how would you now enjoy seeing -- the entire musical?!

Back in 1978, PBS ran a Great Performances episode of She Love Me, based on a stage production that had played on London's West End.  It's a slightly-abreviated version, though not by a whole lot.  It runs about two hours, so maybe 15-20 minutes or so have been cut.  Otherwise, it's the whole strudel.

As Georg sings at the very beginning of the title song -- Well, well, well, well, well.  Will wonders never cease?!

When you have the time, pull up a comfortable chair and revel in this wonderful show.  The image is a little dated, but reasonably crisp.

Here's the cast, character name first --

Georg Nowack: Robin Ellis
Amalia Balash: Gemma Craven
Ladislov Sipos: Peter Sallis
Steven Kodaly: David Kernan
Ilona Ritter: Diane Langton
Mr. Maraczek: Derek Smith
Arpad Laszlo: Nigel Rathbone

And here's the show.  If you have a cell phone, please turn it off for the consideration of others --