She Loves Me—Winter Musical to Open January 25

The Gordon College Department of Theatre Arts presents their winter musical, She Loves Me, a heart warming story about two feuding perfume clerks each searching for love. Directed by Jeffrey S. Miller (theatre arts)with musical direction by Jess Modaff (music), She Loves Me runs January 25 to 27, 30 to 31 and February 1 to 3.

Originally set in 1930s Budapest at Maraczek’s Perfumery, She Loves Me tells the story of George Nowack and Amalia Balash, two perfume clerks who loathe each other. The clashing clerks have both been writing and receiving anonymous love letters from a lonely-hearts ad in the newspaper and long to know who their admirers are.

Director Jeff Miller emphasizes the appeal for patrons across the North Shore. “These are people we can relate to.” From stoic personal philosophies and heart-crushing emotional struggles, “its focus is working class shlubs like most of us, not glamorous elite who are greeted at posh restaurants by the entire singing and dancing wait staff. These people have to make a living and manage difficult bosses and negotiate last-minute Christmas shopping. Their songs aren’t 11 o’clock power ballads railing against the forces of the universe.”

She Loves Me is performed by an ensemble of 17 Gordon College students. Shows will be held in the Margret Jensen Theatre, a blackbox theater that creates an intimate and engaging theatrical experience. And for the fans of integrated musicals, Miller says, “you’ll admire the way the writers have given a fullness to all the central characters, not just the two leads.” Sharing one of his favorite aspects of the show, he says.

“There’s this wonderful little reminder at the core of the show that we, as flawed human beings, are all very quick to misjudge people,” Miller says, “to mistake appearances for reality or to point out the speck in another’s eye while failing to see the log in our own.”

She Loves Me first premiered on Broadway in 1963 and was nominated for five Tony Awards. The musical was adapted from the 1937 play, Perfumerie, by Hungarian playwright Miklós László, which was also adapted to the popular 1998 Tom Hank and Meg Ryan film, You’ve Got Mail. The show features music by Jerry Bock and Sheldon Harnick (Fiddler on the Roof) and book by Joe Masteroff (Cabaret).  She Loves Me was recently revived on Broadway in 2016 with a production starring Zachary Levi and Laura Benanti, which won the Tony Award for Best Scenic Design of a Musical.

She Loves Me is the second production of the Gordon College Theatre Department’s 2017-2018 main stage season and will be followed in the spring by William Shakespeare’s As You Like It, directed by Norman Jones (theatre arts).

Purchase tickets online or by calling the box office at 978.867.4282

She Loves Me
January 25–27, 30–31, February 1–3
Margaret Jensen Theatre
Barrington Center for the Arts
255 Grapevine Road, Wenham, MA 01984
www.gordon.edu/tickets

For more information, contact Peter Morse, manager of Barrington Center for the Arts at 978.867.4751 or via email at [email protected]