Review - She Loves Me

As I've already said, The Shop Around the Corner is one of my very favorite movies.  She Loves Me is also one of my very favorite musicals.  I received the original cast album and the revival cast album as gifts when I was away from New York - I was fortunate to be able to see that revival while visiting New York in 1994 (though I wish I had seen Judy Kuhn, she had already left the show by the time I saw it).  I loved every minute of it and frequently listen to the music.  So when Roundabout announced they would be doing another revival starring Laura Benanti and Zachary Levi, I knew I had to go.  And I was so excited to share it with my mom.

Our seats were up in the rear mezzanine, which was a bit of a hike for Mom (her knees just don't like stairs that much).  At least I had thought ahead and picked aisle seats. Thankfully, Mom's legs are REALLY short, so she let me have the aisle.  It was especially handy because the lady in front of me thought she was in a rocking chair, so every time her seat rocked back, I could at least move my knees more towards the aisle.  We happened to be seated amid a school group of maybe eighth or ninth graders - we were worried at first, but their handlers prepared them well.  They were all quiet during the show, none got their phones out when they weren't supposed to, and, even if they were bored (which I think the very polite young boy sitting next to my mom was, if his jangling ice in his Roundabout sippy cup was any indication), they sat still and paid attention.  Well done, school group handlers!

photo credit: Sara Krulwich

She Loves Me is practically a perfect musical - the way the book, music and lyrics set up character and story is fantastic, plus the show is sweet and romantic without being saccharine, funny without being overly silly, and touching without being maudlin. Practically perfect, I tell you! And this revival has a practically perfect cast!  Ever since I saw Laura Benanti as a replacement Maria in The Sound of Music (she was really too young for the part, but she was also simply spectacular opposite the probably-too-old-but-still-dreamy Richard Chamberlain), I've been a fan.  Her voice is just glorious and even though she's drop-dead gorgeous, she also has a quirky-real-girl quality about her.  I knew she would be terrific as Amalia.

photo credit: Joan Marcus

I greatly enjoyed Zachary Levi in the dreadful First Date - he has an easygoing, everyman charm about him and you know how I feel about charm.  It's in too-short supply.  But he has it in abundance, along with great comic timing, and he also has a wonderful chemistry with Benanti.  You could see the sparks flying and could understand how they could hate each other then learn to love each other.  Delightful.  Jane Krakowski seems typecast as Ilona, the lovesick clerk having an affair with another clerk, but she finds sweet and sad shadings as well.  And her dancing is surprising and fun.  Her costumes may be a little much for 1930s Budapest, but ok.  For me, Gavin Creel was a little young and callow for Kodaly, but I thought Howard McGillin was such perfection in the previous revival, so maybe I wouldn't have been on board for anyone else.  My mom loved Creel, though.  Just to present the opposite opinion.  :)  Oh, and the ensemble was grand, too!  

I teared up during the "Sounds While Selling," because the lyrics are just so perfect!  I was so happy and grateful to be able to say hello to the lyricist, Sheldon Harnick, before the show.  He is just a genius, finding the right rhymes that tickle your ear but don't make you think 'oooooo, that's so clever,' or pull you out of the moment.  They're just right.  The set was delightful, like a little jewel box.  The show has been directed with a breezy lightness, giving everyone their time to shine.  If I thought some of the choreography, especially during the cafe scene, was a tad risque in a way it didn't need to be, oh well.

I knew I would love the show, but I'm so happy my mom loved it, too.  I'm glad I took my binoculars, because Mom got good use out of them (I did, too).  Our sightlines were fine, but the rear mezz is rather far away in Studio 54.  The entire audience was on their best behavior for Mom, so it was just a fantastic afternoon.  I can't wait until this revival cast album is released, because it will be grand to listen to all three versions whenever the mood strikes.

After the show, my mom and I went to Otto, Mario Batali's pizza restaurant in the Village. I wanted Mom to have at least one meal at a restaurant where she had heard of the chef - she watches Batali on tv's The Chew, plus Otto isn't all that expensive, so I chose it.  Plus, we had been talking about gelato the whole time she was here, so it was kismet.  Originally, I wanted to get some caponata, but I figured we should save room for dessert, so we just got the margherita pizza, with yummy tomato sauce, fresh bufala mozzarella and basil.  It was excellently delicious, with a very crisp crust and perfect proportions of crust to sauce to cheese.  I loved it and Mom liked it, too, though she's not as big a fan of mozzarella as I am.  Otto has a pretty big dessert menu, but we stuck with the gelato - you can get one, two or three flavors in one order.  So we chose three, of course.  After a lot of deliberating, we chose cherry, vanilla and lemon sorbet.  Wow, they were YUMMY!  Mom proclaimed them the best gelato she's ever had.  They're certainly as good as anything I've had around here, that's for sure.  As I describe them, I'm feeling the need to go back.  All in all, it was a day to remember and I'm SO GLAD I made my Mom come visit to experience it with me!