Posted: 5/21/15 at 8:51pm
I've never seen a production of this show. I feel like I've been waiting all my life to see this one. It's just the most charming show and every song is fantastic. I never grow tired of them. I can already imagine the thrill of Josh Radnor's "She Loves Me" and the rapture of Laura Benanti's "Ice Cream."
Posted: 5/21/15 at 9:53pm
Loved the 1993 revival This was the first time I was able to see a show on Christmas Day what a great present to myself.
Posted: 5/21/15 at 10:06pm
As much as I love Barbara Cook--and she has been my favorite Broadway soprano since I was six or seven--I play the 1993 revival obsessively. Judy Kuhn is amazing and the rest of the cast is far superior, in my view, to the OBC.
But I don't want to miss a chance to disagree with henrikegerman: IMO, SHE LOVES ME is a nearly perfect show, but it has a serious second act problem. Once Georg sings the title song, the main plot is over, save for the final revelation.
There remain several subplots to be resolved and a (brilliant) passage-of-time number to get us to Christmas Eve. As much as I love "A Trip to the Library", it tends to add to the feeling of ennui to have a number in which everything takes place off-stage so late in the evening.
So the second half of Act II tends to let the air out of a beautiful bubble of a show and is, I suspect, why the original production wasn't the success it otherwise deserved to be.
None of this is patently obvious on a recording, but I was shocked to find myself fidgeting by the end of the evening when I finally saw a good production (directed by John Rubinstein) live.
Before the hysteria begins, let me reiterate that SHE LOVES ME is one of my favorite shows and easily my favorite Bock/Harnick score. The song "Dear Friend" still leaves me in tears every time I hear it.
I'm merely distinguishing between "excellent" and henrik's "perfect": score, yes; book, not quite.
Posted: 5/21/15 at 10:30pm
Gaveston- Do you mean Diane Fratantoni? She is the Amalia Balash on the 90's cast recording. She is an absolutely lovely Amalia and I am very happy to have her recorded, but I think we can all be in agreement that Judy Kuhn's performance not being recorded is one of the greatest Broadway disappointments. Unless.....do you actually HAVE a recording of Judy Kuhn?!
The only audio I've ever heard of her Amalia is this grainy, distorted audio of her "Vanilla Ice Cream." Still, she's absolutely perfect in it.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0K1By1P8G4Y
Posted: 5/21/15 at 11:22pm
It is a divine show but rather lenghty. Gaveston makes a very good point about the second act, which just doesn't keep the momentum going forward. There's some fat in there but overall, a great and entertaining achievement.
Posted: 5/21/15 at 11:33pm
What theatre is this going to be playing at?
Posted: 5/21/15 at 11:54pm
Thanks, all. That decides it. Definitely heading back for this show.
I find the music a lot of fun, and the lyrics are clever and have almost an erudite quality about them.
And again, I can listen to this CD, without knowing much about the story (outside of its parallel to the stories mentioned), and find myself thoroughly entertained. Great music.
Posted: 5/21/15 at 11:58pm
>
So the second half of Act II tends to let the air out of a beautiful bubble of a show and is, I suspect, why the original production wasn't the success it otherwise deserved to be.
Posted: 5/22/15 at 12:11am
^I totally agree, A Director.
If the director and company have the necessary savvy and skill, the last scene between Georg and Amalia is the heart melting pay off we've been waiting for. Sure, it's tricky to make it work after all we've been through, and by then knowing full well what's coming, but when it works, the audience can feel everything one ever hopes to feel in a satisfying musical romance, and leave the theater walking on air.
Updated On: 5/23/15 at 12:11 AM
Posted: 5/22/15 at 1:39am
I also agreed with A Director. The show is perfect. Only a grinch would have issues with the second act. The one-two punch of She Loves Me and Ice Cream are a theatrical miracle, not to be too pretentious. A Trip to the Library is a terrific song, whether Barbara Baxley or Sally Mayes, and resolves Ilona's story. It's Been Great Knowing You resolves the supposed affair and Mr. Kodaly's exit. 12 Days to Christmas is a terrific number that conveys the passage of time and is just fun.
A great show. A great book. A great score.
I should also point out that, even with the spectacular reviews the 1984 revival received, it only ran for 9 months and was losing steam at the box office. So, maybe the show is too special to have broad appeal.
Posted: 5/22/15 at 8:25am
Now, now, I know Gaveston.
Gaveston is a friend of mine.
He's no grinch.
And, as for age, I have the opposite view. If this show is "too special" to be as big a hit as so many of us insist it deserves to be, it's, if anything.... because of the youth market and what it expects from musicals, rather from us more seasoned viewers.
(it's relatively modest obc success probably had more to do with the competition of so many good and splashier shows that season.)
Jarethen, rightly mentions the one-two punch of Ice Cream and the title song.
I'd add the one-two-et al punch of Romantic Atmosphere/Tango Tragique (if done) and or Mr. Novack Will You Please/and Dear Friend. Which I'd argue is the most effective first act curtain lead in ever.
Benanti should prove a marvelous Amalia. Although, as I've said before, a big part of me wishes she would have played Mrs. Anna and Kelli would be coming in as Amalia, not the least because Kelli's Amalia is an unabashed award worthy feat or because Kelli and Josh had definite chemistry. I also think Laura might have been a very cool Mrs. Anna.
Updated On: 5/23/15 at 08:25 AM
Posted: 5/23/15 at 3:02am
Though this show is not one of my favourites, I do absolutely love a couple of the songs, and love this clip of Boyd Gaines singing the title song on the Tonys (second half of the clip).
Treasures from the past: here are a couple of clips of Jessie Mueller in a regional production a few years ago.
Posted: 5/23/15 at 7:58pm
"Gaveston- Do you mean Diane Fratantoni? She is the Amalia Balash on the 90's cast recording. She is an absolutely lovely Amalia and I am very happy to have her recorded, but I think we can all be in agreement that Judy Kuhn's performance not being recorded is one of the greatest Broadway disappointments. Unless.....do you actually HAVE a recording of Judy Kuhn?!
The only audio I've ever heard of her Amalia is this grainy, distorted audio of her "Vanilla Ice Cream." Still, she's absolutely perfect in it.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0K1By1P8G4Y "
Yes, I did mean Miss Frantantoni. Thank you very much for the correction: the longer the error remained unchecked, the more embarrassing it would have been.
No, I don't have anything but the commercial CD. Too bad.
Posted: 5/23/15 at 8:27pm
"Perhaps Gaveston was fidgeting by the end had more to do with his age."
Why do you assume you know at what age I saw the show? At 60, I'm actually far more patient with slow spots and dramaturgical problems than I was at 20. (And, no, I don't eat at Early Bird Specials, nor do I go to bed at 9.)
But I saw SHE LOVES ME about 20 years ago, so I was roughly 40.
***
I absolutely agree that the ending is moving. And I certainly wasn't proposing that a scene be added so that "A Trip to the Library" could be staged in the present. "Grand Knowing You" was a vocal triumph for Jack Cassidy, but it's roughly 2 minutes long. "12 Days to Christmas" is, as I said, brilliant writing, but it's a time killer that has little to do with the action of the show.
I don't even claim to have a solution; I'm saying the show when performed (as opposed to the recording) gives me a feeling of treading water between the title number and the ending (which we all adore, in nearly every version of the story). The problem is that the main plot has come to overshadow everything else. Blame the aforementioned one-two punch of "Ice Cream" and "She Loves Me".
The issue isn't just gentleness. RAGTIME has a similar problem and I doubt anyone would call it a "gentle" or "small" show. The Colehouse/Younger Brother plot so dominates Act II that the other plots (which must be resolved) feel like they are just killing time. Again, I am speaking of in the theater, not on the various recordings, because both shows fill the space with some brilliant songs. But brilliant songs are not the same as compelling action.
All of which only goes to show that Hammerstein was smart to wind up the Will/Ado Annie plot in basically one, very funny, Act II number. The audience is too involved with Curley/Laurie/Judd to want to spend much time with the comic subplot.
P.S. Thank you, henrik. I never said SHE LOVES ME isn't very moving. It's a lovely show. I was only quarreling with "perfect" (and because you and I so often agree).
I know prices were lower when SHE LOVES ME first opened, but my impression from my decade in New York was that to be a hit, a musical needs audiences to rush home and call their friends to say, "You MUST see this new show!" (There are exceptions: shows with great TV commercials, shows heavily hyped by the NYT or pre-sold based on the London production, etc.) I think the lull in the second acts of both SHE LOVES ME and RAGTIME hurt them commercially, because they discouraged that rush to the phones. Audiences liked, even loved, the shows, but they didn't create that "gotta see this" momentum; I blame their structures (even though I don't know how to fix either one). CARMELINA is another show with a lovely score and great performances, but a momentum problem in Act II. All IMO, obviously, but all shows I loved.
Posted: 5/23/15 at 8:33pm
Confidential to HeyMrMusic:
I hope it's clear that nearly all the participants in this debate actually LOVE the show. Our discussion may be compared to family gossip about a beloved family member or an argument over how many angels can fit on the head of a pin.
Please don't let us discourage you. Go see SHE LOVES ME in any form, whenever you get the chance. I know I will.
Posted: 8/6/15 at 1:20pm
Does anyone know when they will reveal the actual artwork for the show?
