She Loves Me! (and I loved her, too) - at Arena Stage

[DottieD'Luscia]

Posted: 12/3/06 at 6:17pm

I attended a performance of She Loves Me and I must say I absolutely loved this production at Arena Stage. Strong cast, excellent production values equaled a wonderfully satisfying time at the theatre.

Brynn O'Malley (Amalia) - wonderfully nuanced performance and what a beautiful singing voice she has. Her rendition of "Vanilla Ice Cream" was great. Her chemistry with Kevin Kraft (Georg) was excellent. They made a wonderful pair.

Kevin Kraft (Georg) - Again, great chemistry with Ms. O'Malley. His acting and singing were excellent.

Nancy Lemenager (Ilona) - I've seen Nancy in the ensemble of a couple of Broadway shows and it was nice to see her in a featured role. Not only was her Ilona sassy, yet vulnerable, she got the laughs as well.

Sebastian La Cause (Steven Kodaly) - I'll start off by saying, the guy can sing!! His acting was confident and his number, "Grand Knowing You" was quite enjoyable.

Special mention to both J. Fred Shiffman (Head Waiter) and the extremely acrobatic and flexible Roger Rosen (Bus Boy) who were hilarious in the "A Romantic Atmosphere" number.

One of my favorite numbers of the show was, "Twelve Days of Christmas" and the entire cast accurately captured the frenziness of that particular piece.

The other featured roles were very well done, and the strong ensemble rounded out the cast. My only complaint (and a directorial one at that), was of the violin player who showed up on stage throughout the show, but he was "faking" it. If you're going to have this on stage, at least have the guy play for real. It was a distraction, but it didn't keep me from enjoying the show.

The set design was great and I loved how they utilized the space. The costumes right down to the women's shoes were beautiful. I loved, loved, loved the snow effect. It just added that little "something" special to the show. Between that and the ending, I'll admit I got choked up at the end.

I have seen several shows at Arena stage and all were very good. I will say though, my favorites so far are last season's "Damn Yankees" and the current feature, "She Loves Me". It's only playing until December 31st, and I can't wait to see it again. It was nice to see a piece so utterly charming and it was great experiencing it with an audience who seemed to enjoy it just as much as I did.

DCer's go and see this, if you haven't already.

Updated On: 12/3/06 at 06:17 PM

[miss pennywise]

Posted: 12/3/06 at 6:38pm

Mamie, BwayAddict and I are all going on December 28, don't worry!

[Caroline-Q-or-TBoo]

Posted: 12/3/06 at 6:42pm

Ice cream... he brought me ICE CREAM!

[DottieD'Luscia]

Posted: 12/3/06 at 6:45pm

Miss Pennywise, I'm so happy to hear that. I'm hoping that Day Dreamer gets to see it when he's in town.

The show just made me so happy!!

I have to pull out the 1994 Revival Cast Recording and listen to it again. It's been a while.

[All_For_Laura]

Posted: 12/3/06 at 7:28pm

Brynn made the show for me!

Updated On: 12/3/06 at 07:28 PM

[DottieD'Luscia]

Posted: 12/3/06 at 8:56pm

Attached is the Washington Posts' review:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn?node=cityguide/profile&id=1049002&categories=Performing%20Arts&venueid=792506

[Atrias]

Posted: 12/3/06 at 8:57pm

Can Arena Stage do no wrong?

[miss pennywise]

Posted: 12/3/06 at 8:59pm

Atrias,

YES it can!!!!!!

[Steph_DeVo]

Posted: 12/3/06 at 10:47pm

I LOVE this show - its nice to see it being done (and done well) to such a receptive audience...