The show begins on summer's day in 1930s Budapest, Hungary and employees of Maraczek's Parfumerie, salesman Ladisov Sipos (Ted Cancilla), teenage delivery boy Arpad Laszlo (Will Flamm); sexy and trusting Ilona Ritter (Madeline Orton); ladies man Steven Kodaly (Todd Shumpert), manager Georg Nowack (Michael Campbell) arrive at work in the song "Good Morning, Good Day". Georg has been sending letters to a "dear friend", and shares a romantic letter with Sipos. Maraczek, the owner advises Georg to get married and recalls being a bachelor in the song "Days Gone By". Young Arpad begins stocking the shelves with a new musical cigarette case when a nervous young woman, Amalia Balash (Molly Dunn), arrives hoping to get job at the Parfumerie and in the song "No More Candy" convinces a customer that the cirgarette case is actually a candy case. Maraczek (Rich Maloy), impressed with the salesmanship hires Amalia but Georg takes an instant dislike to the new employee. As the two constantly bicker they take comfort in their mutual anonymous romantic pen pals, all the while they are actually writing to each other in the song "Three Letters". Their colleagues at the Parfumerie feel that the reason the two constantly argue is that they secretly like each other.
PHOTO: Ted Cancila, Madeline Orton Photo by Tom Schopper
As Amalia and George finally arrange to meet their mystery pen pals, a preoccupied Maraczek is becoming agitated and takes his frustration out on Georg. On the evening of the date, George insists that he can't work late and quits in a huff concentrating on meeting his mystery woman. Meanwhile womanizing Kodaly is putting the moves on Illona but is also having an affair with Maraczek wife which was the true reason of Maraczek's frustration. Illona, at first into Kodaly's moves is put off by his assertion that he squeeze a date in with her while seeing someone else. This affair with Maraczek's wife is later confirmed by a private investigator and Maraczek is distraught that he mistook the adulterer for Georg. A despondent Maraczek tries to kill himself but is saved by Arpad.
Meanwhile, Georg gets cold feet for his date and is accompanied by his friend Sipso. The men are shocked to realize that Amalia is Georg's date; however, Amalia does not know. Georg sits at Amalia's table and mocks her, singing a "Tango Tragique" about a woman who was murdered on a blind date. They argue, and Georg leaves. As the cafe closes, Amalia, still waiting, begs her "Dear Friend" not to abandon her.
PHOTO: Rich Maloy, Will Flamm Photo by Tom Schopper
The next day, Mr. Maraczek has survived and is impressed with how Aprad has taken over in his absence and reconciles with Georg. Georg realizes he was a bit of jerk to Amalia and checks up on her but Amalia is suspicious. The two grow closer to each other as they spend time together but Amalia remains in the dark that Georg is her secret pen pal. He soon realizes he's actually in love with her. Amalia mentions that she intends to give one of the musical cirgarette cases to her "dear friend" and the cigarette case plays a central role in resolving the "Dear Friend" dilemma.
"I have always loved the Bock and Harnick score of ‘She Loves Me', yet I have only ever seen one production of it (the Broadway revival), so I presented it to the board as part of a season of love stories, and they jumped at the chance to give the show to our audience. The show is a real charmer," said Kate Swan on selecting the show to start off their season.
The circumstances of "She Loves Me" where lovers who hate each other that are actually in love each other are is a standard musical theater trope but the Hungarian setting and names offer an interesting flavor to story as director Josh Penzell notes, "The score does a fantastic job of using Hungarian musical references (the names of Kodaly and Liszt are made jokingly in the script show), which I think does this for us, conjuring the romanticism of pre-war Hungary. Aside from that, the story and the feelings it conjures are universal--so we didn't need to do anything special. Additionally, because we are doing a concert-staging, we focused less on the design elements, and more on the words and music."
PHOTO: Molly Dunn, Michael Campbell
"I think [the setting] provides a nice counterpoint to a story about the many faces of love and romance, and in that regards it certainly affects the story. However, in terms of our approach to the show, I think it can also be a trap. I used to think a perfume bottle to be the perfect metaphor for the show--beautiful and fragile. Now I think of it as the plain musical cigarette box that brings the female lead into the shop--simple and strong," Penzell adds.
About 4th Wall Theatre
Eight friends, who all worked as performers or artistic staff members at the Montclair Operetta Club in Montclair, NJ, conceived the idea of the non-profit 4th Wall Musical Theatre in 1996. 4th Wall is now celebrating our 18th season and specializes in producing diverse, seldom-performed and original musicals, celebrating a wide spectrum of visions and voices in theatre. You can come to 4th Wall and see musicals and plays which tackle the tough issues of our time, as well as works by new writers. We work to live by our motto of producing "theatre on the edge."
She Loves Me Book by Joe Masteroff Lyrics by Sheldon Harnick Music by Jerry Bock Directed by Josh Penzell Music Directed by Markus Grae-Hauck Choreographed by Amy Shera 4th Wall Theatre Friday, October 24, 2014, at 8:00pm Advertise with New Jersey Stage for $50-$100 per month, click here for infoTickets: Adults $26, Seniors $23, Students $19 and can be purchased on the site here | Character - Actor Amalia Balash - Molly Dunn Arpad Laszlo - Will Flamm Georg Nowack - Michael Campbell Ilone Ritter - Madeline Orton Ladislav Sipos - Ted Cancila Mr. Maraczek - Rich Maloy Steve Kodaly - Todd Shumpert Ensemble/Waiter - Peter Downing Ensemble/Busboy - Brian James Grace Ensemble - Jodi Freeman-Maloy Ensemble - Jennifer Ambler Ensemble - Sharon Smolen Ensemble/Dancer - Adrian Rifat Ensemble.Dancer - Heather Jones Ensemble - Julie Galorenzo Ensemble - Oliver Mayes |
TOP PHOTO: From left Ted Cancila, Molly Dunn, Will Flamm, Michael Campbell, Madeline Orton, Rich Maloy. Photo by Tom Schopper
