She Loves Me on Broadway

One of the shows that Esther and I were able to see while in NYC was the Broadway revival of She Loves Me.  Quite a few people from my HCT group saw it and loved it so I was really looking forward to it.  The setting is 1934 in Budapest at Maraczek's Parfumerie, a little shop with a group of eccentric clerks.  Two of the clerks, Georg Nowack (Zachary Levi) and Amalia Balish (Laura Benanti), bicker constantly in the shop but, of course, they are secretly corresponding with each other (this musical was the basis for the movies The Shop Around the Corner and You've Got Mail).  Chaos ensues when they arrange to meet and Georg discovers that his "dear friend" is really his enemy at the shop.  This show is a lot of fun and I really enjoyed the songs "Tonight at Eight" and "Will He Like Me?" because they show both the male and female perspectives on getting ready for a date and I also really loved Levi's enthusiastic rendition of "She Loves Me."  I was actually quite star-struck by both Levi (from the TV show Chuck and the movie Tangled) and Jane Krakowski (from the TV show 30 Rock) who gives a marvelous performance as Ilona, one of the clerks. Laura Benanti has gotten quite a bit of buzz for her portrayal of Amalia but, in my opinion, Jane Krakowski steals the show as Ilona, especially in the big production number "Ilona" where she is pulled across the stage in the splits!  In addition to the great performances and fun musical numbers, the stage is absolutely spectacular and I was particularly struck by all of the different views and levels of the perfume shop. I loved how they changed the shop for the different seasons, especially for winter which Esther and I got to experience first-hand sitting on the second row! I really enjoyed this show.

Note: Esther and I decided to wait at the stage door after the show (a first for me) and we got to meet both Zachary Levi and Jane Krakowski.  Both of them signed my Playbill!  Jane Krakowski didn't stay out very long but Zachary Levi signed everyone's Playbill and posed for pictures with anyone who wanted one.  He was really cool!  He talked to me for a few minutes and some people around me asked me if I knew him because he seemed so friendly towards me! While we were waiting for autographs, Lin-Manuel Miranda drove by and shouted to us.  No big deal!