Four Reasons to Fall in Love with She Loves Me
Here are four reasons to love this exuberant musical before you even see the show:
1. This musical from the creators of Fiddler on the Roof and Cabaret will leave you falling in love!
Featuring a score by Jerry Bock and Sheldon Harnick (Fiddler on the Roof) and a book by Joe Masteroff (Cabaret), She Loves Me follows two feuding clerks in a 1930s Budapest parfumerie who unwittingly fall in love as anonymous romantic pen pals.
In 1956, Harnick met Jerry Bock, forming what is arguably the most important musical partnership of the 50s and 60s. Their Fiorello! (1959) won the Pulitzer Prize for Drama and the Tony AwardⓇ for Best Musical. Fiddler on the Roof (1964), which has become one of the most cherished Broadway musicals, won nine Tony AwardsⓇ, including Best Musical and Best Score. It also held the record for the longest-running Broadway musical for almost 10 years until Grease surpassed it.
2. It Inspired Three Hollywood Movies
If the story of She Loves Me rings a familiar bell, it’s because it inspired three popular films. Based on the play Parfumerie by Miklos Laszlo, it first inspired Ernest Lubitsch’s 1940 film The Shop Around the Corner, starring Margaret Sullavan and Jimmy Stewart. In the Good Old Summertime, the 1949 MGM musical starring Judy Garland and Van Johnson, reset the story in a music shop in turn-of-the-century Chicago. And Nora Ephron’s 1998 rom-com You’ve Got Mail cast Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan as rival bookstore owners in New York City, replacing love letters with e-mails.
3. The Cast is Stellar
The cast of She Loves Me includes Broadway regulars, as well as a familiar face from the Gulfshore Playhouse production of Camelot.
You may already know of Ben Fankhauser (Georg), best known for playing Davey in the original Broadway cast of Disney’s Newsies. He also played Ernst in the first national tour of the TonyⓇ-winning musical Spring Awakening. And meet Lee Harrington, starring as our Amalia, who most recently starred in Mary Poppins at The Argyle.
Daniel A. Lopez (Steven) couldn’t be happier to be returning to Gulfshore Playhouse after appearing last season in Camelot as Lancelot. And last but not least, meet Kate Marilley (Ilona), who recently starred as Delia in Broadway’s first national tour of Beetlejuice. Other Broadway credits include Flying Over Sunset (Lincoln Center Theater), The Prom, My Fair Lady, and Broadway’s first national tour of Billy Elliott.
4. “Vanilla ice cream. Imagine that!”
One of the most beloved songs in She Loves Me is “Vanilla Ice Cream,” a showstopper made famous by Barbara Cook in the original 1963 production. You may recognize Laura Benanti (Tony AwardⓇ winner for her role in Gypsy), who played Amalia in the 2016 Broadway revival of She Loves Me and also performed at our Roaring Into the 20’s gala in 2020.
Click the link below to WATCH A PBS RECORDING of Laura Benanti singing “Vanilla Ice Cream”:
https://www.pbs.org/wnet/gperf/loves-vanilla-ice-cream/7459/