The show is perfection no matter what, but seeing it with someone one truly loves, as I did, yesterday afternoon, is a special treat.
I have to admit I had been worried about this production--would it work, what about Laura Benanti, etc.--well, I am here to tell you, it is just wonderful.
If you are like me, girls, you have a special relationship to this show. When I was young and single, I played it with hopefulness for finding the same. When I reached my thirties, even forties, I would use it as a pity party for what I did not have. But it beat watching "Fatal Attraction" or re-reading "Looking For Mr. Goodbar," as I did at my lowest points....and on Valentine's Day, yet!!!!!!!
So, seeing this classic show with my beloved--who had never seen it on stage, though we have often listened to the Original Cast Album--made this "She Loves Me" extra special.
This was the best revival of a work I have seen since Celia Keenan-Bolger's "The Glass Menagerie." As soon as those strings commenced, at the opening, I swooned, and when Laura Benanti, as Amalia, hit the final note on "No More Candy," I knew this show was going to work.
There is not a more perfectly assembled and performing company working on the Broadway stage right now. And the sets are breathtaking. As the curtain came up, the audience applauded ecstatically. But the quieted down whenever someone would sing the gorgeous Bock-Harnick score, one of the most romantic written for Broadway. When Laura Benanti sang "Dear, Friend," oh, my God, darlings, I just sobbed. She was achingly heartbreaking.
Everything you have heard about Jane Krakowski as Ilona is true....and then some. Seeing it confirmed is no less dazzling, and, while we know Jane has worked hard, she makes it all seem effortless.
Byron Jennings is the most noticeable and moving Mr. Maraczeck I have ever seen. There is not a false move in the entire undertaking...and how often does that happen girls.
For those romantics and musical theater lovers, this is the show to see.
For those who want to know why those of us love musical theater so much, see this and you will have your answer. Oh, and couple of gentlemen--Zachary Levi and Gavin Creel (who should have been TONY nominated) are not bad either. Neither is Nicholas Barasch as Arpad, the always reliable Peter Bartlett as the waiter, Tom McGowan, replacing Michael McGrath as Sipos ( and what happened there????????? we would all like to know)--round out things superbly. It's not just the women who are showcased here; everyone, down to the Ensemble, is.
This production transported me to theatrical realms. I floated like a cloud to the rafters, and had to be scraped down at the end, in such a state of delirious musical theater ecstasy was I!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Screw that ecstasy on the street! Get it at Studio 54, and Rondabout's "She Loves Me!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"
The high will last longer!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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