PA Playhouse’s ‘She Loves Me’ is a charming holiday confection
Pennsylvania Playhouse has delivered up a sweet confection of a show with it its delightful production of the hopelessly romantic musical comedy “She Loves Me” at the Bethlehem theater through Dec. 22.
Set in another time in a fussy European perfumery, this is a gracious shop where customer service is everything, even down to the sales clerks lining up and singing “goodbye” every time a customer leaves.
The clerks are all comfortably convivial under the patriarchal leadership of shop owner Mr. Maraczek, played alternately with irascibility and benevolence by Paul Bonnici.
Brian Houp is engaging as Georg Nowack, a love-lorn clerk who has taken to writing mushy love letters to a woman he knows only as “Dear Friend,” through a lonely-hearts column.
When the object of his amorous letters gets a job at Maraczek’s, the two clerks are unaware they are writing to each other and take an instant dislike to one another. Elizabeth Marsh-Gilkeson is spunky and feisty as the besotted Amalia.
Marsh-Gilkeson’s voice soars on lovely songs like “Will He Like Me?” and “Vanilla Ice Cream” in which she starts to realize she may actually care for Georg. She is equally entertaining on the lighter songs, such as the humorously clutzy
“Where’s My Shoe?”
Houp also brings a strong voice to his songs, particularly the joyous “She Loves Me.”
Beth Sucro is perpetually hopeful as the naive clerk, Ilona, who is looking for love and is reluctantly seduced by Mike Corcoran’s oily but charming Steven Kodaly in “Ilona.” She is sweet in her romantically optimistic “A Trip to the Library.” Corcoran also displays strong vocals on Kodaly’s exit song “Grand Knowing You.”
Ted Williams ably mines the comedic depths of the amiable but self-preserving clerk Ladislav Sipos.
Joshua Mitchell is adorably earnest as the delivery boy turned clerk Arpad Laszlo who convinces Mr. Maraczek to give him a promotion in his heartfelt “Try Me.”
Jaedon Muhl and Phillip Wallens provide comedy relief as a bumbling busboy and an overly solicitous head waiter in a club that caters to lovers in the playful “A Romantic Atmosphere.”
One of the visual highlights of the show is “Twelve Days to Christmas,” when the entire cast joins together to create the accelerating frenzy of the holidays, as the harried clerks wait on the crowd of customers filling the shop and carolers sing outside. The scene palpably recreates that hectic lastminute hustle and bustle of the last days before Christmas, building to the satisfying finale.
Director Rody Gilkeson has retained the show’s appropriately intimate feel, while making good use of the stage by bringing the cast along the side aisles for some scenes.
Costume designer Mary Catherine Bracali has clothes the cast in attractive, classic period fashions and set designer Brett Oliveira has created a perfect perfume shop with display tables covered with lace tablecloths that practically closes for outdoor scenes.
7:30 p.m. Dec. 13-14, 20-21 and 3 p.m. Dec. 15 and 22. Pennsylvania Playhouse, 390 Illicks Mill Road in Bethlehem. Tickets: $25; $22 students and seniors Fridays and Sundays. 610-865-6665.