stage matters / By William Kowinski

Little Shop of Ardors

Old-fashioned musical sings at NCRT

(Nov. 20, 2008) She Loves Me at the North Coast Repertory Theatre is a delight not because the show features classic songs, or because the story has major surprises. It’s because NCRT, which usually does these nostalgic musicals well, has put together a polished production with an accomplished ensemble cast to express the show’s musical and character charms.

This show by stage veterans Joe Masteroff (book), Jerry Bock (music) and Sheldon Harnick (lyrics) was an old-fashioned musical comedy even at its premiere. She Loves Me opened on Broadway in April 1963. The Beatles released “She Loves You” that August. That pretty much tells the tale: Though there were a few classic shows to come, changing musical tastes and other factors meant that particular golden age of the Broadway musical was coming to an end.

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That first production was considered a flop, but the double album of its music kept the show alive. It became a staple of regional and community theatre, leading also to somewhat more successful Broadway (and especially London) revivals in the mid-1990s. In 1983 it was the first production of the brand new North Coast Repertory Theatre in Eureka. It’s now back on stage at NCRT to celebrate the theatre’s 25th anniversary year.

Based on a play set in Hungary (which accounts for character names like “Arpad” and “Ladislav”), She Loves Me is set in a shop that sells perfumes, beauty creams and trinkets in an unnamed 1930s European city where unseen economic and political woes have no impact on sales or romance. Ignoring the Depression was common in 1930s film musicals, too, and crucial to their success.

The romantic plot — two people fall in love through the mail with someone they’ve never seen, then unknowingly become involved in an antagonistic relationship with each other in real life — has been done so many times (as in Nora Ephron’s movie, You’ve Got Mail, which adds elements of the Tracy-Hepburn comedy Desk Set, penned by her screenwriter parents), that it’s obvious from the first moments what’s going to happen, and to whom.

So no surprises there, and no hit songs or rescued gems in the score. But the tunes are pleasant, and the lyrics deft and witty. (I envy these songwriters. “What did you did at the office today, dear?” “Oh, I rhymed ‘adolescent’ with ‘incandescent.’”) Most of the principal actors get at least one spotlight number, and they all shine.

In the romantic leads, Caitlin McMurtry as Amalia is particularly winning, and Rigel Schmitt as Georg capably leads us through the story with his character’s ups and downs. Phil Zastrow hits the character notes of shopkeeper Mr. Maraczek, from blustery authority to wistful retirement.

Patrick Carlisle is convincingly reptilian as Kodaly, the perfume store Lothario. Kimberlee Brown’s fine costuming is especially apt for this character: His polka dot bow tie and checked jacket are the definition of what once was called “snazzy.”

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