She Loves Me previews — Page 11

She is flawless.

Despite loving the score for many years, I'd never seen this show before, so my expectations were high coming into the theatre tonight. Fortunately, they were absolutely surpassed- this is a perfect revival of one of the most thoroughly charming musicals ever written. I had a big stupid grin on my face from the first note of the overture.



As epected, Benanti is absolutely flawless as Amalia- she's alternately hysterical and moving, and she looks stunning in those costumes. Her Amalia is outwardly quite brittle, but she does great subtle work at showing us the soft and shy side to this women, especially in the cafe scene at the end of the first act. And her voice is without comparison in this role. I actually gasped at the end of Vanilla Ice Cream, and I've heard that song hundreds of times before. Krakowski is also marvelous as Ilona. Her voice is in great shape, and of course she's very funny, but she plays her arc beautifully. As written, Ilona makes a major shift from I Resolve to the second act with very little text, but because Krakowski starts the song much sadder and builds it into a triumphant declaration, the character development never felt rushed or unearned. And her dancing in Ilona is also phenomenal and drew applause mid-song.



The ladies are of course beyond lovely, but the men are equally excellent. Levi is adorable and has excellent chemistry with Benanti. McGrath, Barasch, and Jennings are also very strong. In particular, Jennings made me actually enjoy Days Gone By, which is a song I've always disliked. Creel doesn't make as much of an impact, but his role is also much smaller than I expected. He sounds wonderful on his numbers though, and is quite fun when he really gets to be nasty in the second act.



Performances aside, the whole production is perfectly pitched, from the gorgeous set and costumes, to the direction, which moves the show beautifully and never feels forced. I did feel that the dance in the cafe was a little bit too brash for such a light show- it seemed like someone transplanted Hernando's Hideway from a production of The Pajama Game. But that's an incredibly small quibble, and I can't think of anything else to dislike about this show. It's a perfect night at the theatre, and I'm so glad it's on Broadway.

I saw this tonight and thought it was thoroughly lovely. I am so thrilled I got to see this show and I can see why people call it a perfect musical. The two ladies were, as expected, completely flawless and engaging. The real surprise to me was Levi. I was not expecting him to be such a good singer. Somehow both he and Benanti were both thoroughly charming yet made you believe why they could butt heads. I found myself smiling the whole time. This is the kind of show I could see over and over and over again.



I don't know how the Tony voters can possibly choose between Benanti and Erivo's performance in the Color Purple. Nor do I know how they can choose best revival. Makes me glad I'm not a voter and I can just enjoy this wonderful season without comparing!

Saw this last night as well and absolutely loved it. The entire cast was phenomenal with the obvious standout being Laura Benanti. I would see this again in a heart beat. I also managed to score the last singed poster they had last night so I was pretty pleased.

I know a few marriages he could break up.

Creel maybe wasn't as overtly slimy as other portrayals of Kodaly, but I found him incredibly sexy in the role, especially during Ilona. He moves like a lithe fox during that number, and it really suits him.

If anyone is interested, Laura is out of today's matinee. I'm going still. But, I know people are sometimes interested in seeing understudies.

I'm a bit weirded out by the idea that Gavin Creel isn't "slimy" enough or "too nice." He is a wonderful actor with great comedic timing. As someone who hadn't seen the show before and didn't know where it was going, I was on a similar journey as Ilona. I was utterly charmed by him, especially after his spectacular, completely persuasive rendition of "Ilona" (not to mention the sexual and comedic chemistry Krakowski and Creel develop so nicely which reaches its climax in the number but runs throughout the earlier parts of the show), so when he turns on Ilona without hesitation, I was as surprised as she is. The fact he is not some obvious slime is key to the story. First, it adds to Krakowski's refusal to turn Ilona into a simple airhead; second, it makes sense that Marechek doesn't even consider him when he learns that one of his clerks is sleeping with his wife; third, it allows Creel to go through various character beats without playing the same note throughout. And please, he is sexy as hell, the idea he couldn't break up a marriage makes no sense.

Hi all, I won the lotto for tonight's performance of SHE LOVES ME and I know Laura's been sick so was wondering if she's scheduled to perform tonight. I don't see a mention on Understudies, but wanted to be sure before I confirm and head into the city. Thanks!

According to twitter, it looks like she's back in tonight! Enjoy! :)

https://twitter.com/LauraBenanti

Loved the show so much. Everyone is fantastic but Krakowski stole the show for me.



Laura Benanti sings like an angel. I've never heard a more beautiful "Will He Like Me".

Okay so I saw the show last night after winning the lottery, as stated above.

I absolutely LOVED this show. I have never seen a production of it and barely knew the music, but I was truly charmed by everything and left humming the songs already. Laura Benanti was an absolute dream, and the chemistry between her and Levi was palpable and exciting. The whole cast was wonderful, though Jane was out unfortunately. Her understudy was great though, but I will have to go back and catch Krakowski at some point.

I'm so happy I got a chance to see this show, and my seat was fantastic (3rd row orchestra).

My only complaint has to do with the theatre staff itself, and I'm not sure if anyone else noticed this: they were so freaking strict about phones. I'm not saying this as someone who was yelled at, but watching them patrol the theatre was ludicrous. While they were doing the Broadway Cares speech, they were talking back and forth on their headsets and pointing out people taking pictures from the balcony to yell at, then laughing at them. It was completely distracting. I think they thought they were part of Seal Team 6 or something. When a guy raised his phone a few rows ahead of me, the security guy almost tackled him - and I'm not exaggerating. I think just calmly and assertively saying, "No phones please" will work, though I understand that it doesn't for certain people.

In any case, what a lovely show and I'm definitely going back to catch it again!

P.S. Victor Garber sat a few rows behind me. Nice guy.

KathyNYC2 said: "slumdogdelaware said: "
My only complaint has to do with the theatre staff itself, and I'm not sure if anyone else noticed this: they were so freaking strict about phones. I'm not saying this as someone who was yelled at, but watching them patrol the theatre was ludicrous.I think just calmly and assertively saying, "No phones please" will work, though I understand that it doesn't for certain people.


"

That is probably the first time I have ever heard anyone complaining about theater staff being too strict about phones. If you had to deal with them every day, I don't think you could really complain.

Some theaters have especially strict rules about pictures during curtain calls, etc...and the staff just has to follow. Good luck with the quiet calm approach.



"

It's the first time I'VE ever felt the need to complain about it, but there comes a point where the staff is becoming a blatant distraction to what the people on stage are trying to say. I only heard half of the speech because I was watching them go at it.

If I had to deal with it every day, then I would hope a better course of action would be implemented. I don't want to sound like I don't think it's right that they're yelling at people, but there has to be a better way than distracting from what's happening on the stage - what matters. The excuse of "they're just doing what they're told" can't be used forever.

But yeah, I guess what else can you do at this point?