Beginner’s Guide to She Loves Me
She Loves Me is a musical from 1963 based on the play Parfumerie by Miklós Lázlós, which also inspired the more well known movies The Shop Around the Corner and You’ve Got Mail. Anonymous pen pals fall in love through letters, but cannot stand each other in real life at work. It’s classic and you know you love it. Also the music/book work beautifully together, it’s perfect for what it is: a romcom musical.
A recording of the 2016 Broadway revival was done in June 2016 that was livestreamed. We’ve been told it will be edited and put back on BroadwayHD in a few months.
You can search for a production near you here if you look under the “upcoming” tab at the bottom.
A 1978 BBC TV movie that isn’t completely faithful, but still enjoyable, is here.
A delightful 1995 stage production is here. It’s from a worn copy, but the leads are wonderful.
Rumor also has it you can find a bootleg of the 2016 revival. I can neither confirm or deny such a thing at this time.
Which is the best cast recording?
Well, of course, that’s a matter of personal taste.
1963 Original Broadway Cast - includes the incredible Barbara Cook as Amalia, and Daniel Massey as Georg. Classic, of course, and slightly different lyrics than most later productions.
1964 Original London Cast - Anne Rogers as Amalia, Gary Raymond as Georg, and Rita Moreno as Ilona. Many lyric/song changes and cuts across the pond (more on this later).
1993 Broadway Revival Cast - Boyd Gaines won a Tony for his Georg, and it was deserved. Diane Fratantoni is Amalia on the recording, but it actually opened with Judy Kuhn.
1994 London Revival Cast - Ruthie Henshall is Amalia and she has been my favorite Amalia for many years (and is now tied with one other), and John Gordon Sinclair is Georg.
2016 Broadway Revival Cast - beautifully orchestrated and recorded. Laura Benanti was born to play Amalia (she’s now tied with Ruthie for my favorite), and Zachary Levi deserved his Tony nomination for Georg. Just about the whole cast is amazing, honestly.
Any great videos I need to see?
Judy Kuhn performing “Vanilla Ice Cream”
Boyd Gaines performing “She Loves Me”
Sally Mayes performing “A Trip to the Library”
Ruthie Henshall performing “Vanilla Ice Cream” at the Olivier Awards (the video is low quality, but definitely worth watching)
2016 Tony Award Medley of “Ilona,” “She Loves Me,” and “Vanilla Ice Cream” (featuring Gavin Creel, Jane Krakowski, Nicholas Barasch, Tom McGowan, Zachary Levi, and Laura Benanti)
Jonathan Groff singing “Try Me” just ‘cause.
How about some great audios?
Goddess Kelli O’Hara was Amalia at the 2011 Roundabout concert, alongside Josh Radnor (Georg), Jane Krakowski, Gavin Creel, and Rory O’Malley. Here are the audios. And here’s just Vanilla Ice Cream, because duh.
Judy Kuhn’s run of Amalia was never recorded in a studio, but there is an audio from her run, which can be found here.
In 1977, there was a concert with Madeline Kahn (!), Barry Bostwick, and Rita Moreno. All audios here, Vanilla Ice Cream here.
In 2013, Santino Fontana and Alexandra Silber led a great cast in a 2-3 performance run and thank goodness there is audio.
Has the show changed much over the years?
Honestly, it’s hardly changed! But there are a few fun differences between productions (…and a lot in the London one).
The lyrics to “Will He Like Me?” have changed slightly - in 1963, they were “it’s absurd for me to worry so this way” and are now usually sung “carry on this way.”
A portion of the lyrics to “Twelve Days to Christmas” were removed. Original here, later incarnation here.
After the original production, a song called “Tango Tragique” was cut - I’ve heard (but never seen it substantiated) that it was cut because it was difficult for the men to sing. Instead of Georg telling Amalia about his “friend” in a lonely hearts club through dialogue, it was a song. I love the song a lot. Here’s off of the OBC, and here’s Santino Fontana in 2013.
The 1964 London production has a whole mess of differences, many of which made it into the 1978 TV movie, largely due to pronunciation and choosing to use words more common to England. They can be found here, but the most notable is that “I Resolve” was replaced with “Heads I Win” and it’s definitely worth listening to. I mean, it’s Rita Moreno.
And here is the composers demo! Many songs with little differences, many cut songs, a lot of fun to listen to.
For the 2016 Broadway Revival, Josh Radnor was originally announced as our Georg - but Zachary Levi replaced him in September ‘15 due to Radnor’s scheduling conflicts.
The writing process for this musical was a little different than most. Masteroff wrote the book, then gave it to Bock and Harnick to turn into music - this is why the songs flow so well with the dialogue!
Judy Kuhn was Amalia in 1993 for the entire original scheduled run, but the show proved popular enough that it was granted an extension, which is when Diane Fratantoni replaced her and the album was recorded.
Rumor has it there was talk of a Hollywood She Loves Me movie back in the ‘60s, starring Julie Andrews and Dick Van Dyke. The fact that this didn’t happen still makes me want to cry.
Julie Andrews did record a couple of songs from the show though! - “Dear Friend” and “He Loves Me”
Actors cast very rarely match the descriptions from the 1963 libretto.
There is at least one English translation of Parfumerie available to buy. Here are some highlights, it’s fascinating to see the differences!
If there are any dead links or outdated information, click here or go to the original post for more current info.
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