She Loves Me to Romance Arena Stage; Replaces Vogel Work

Washington, DC's Arena Stage, which has been increasingly busy with musicals in recent years, has replaced Paula Vogel's A Civil War Christmas with the Bock and Harnick classic She Loves Me.

She Loves Me will now play the Fichlander Stage in the time slot that A Civil War Christmas was to have occupied: November 17th–December 31st.

"While great progress continues on this epic musical, Arena Stage does not feel that it will be ready in time for the 2006-07 premiere, originally slated for November," according to Arena notes on the new Vogel (How I Learned to Drive) work.  The theatre's artistic director Molly Smith said:  "In the meantime, we are very excited about bringing She Loves Me to Arena over the holidays, and have wanted to produce this musical for several years. It is a great match for director Kyle Donnelly, who truly has mastered the Fichandler Stage space. We are confident that our audiences will be thrilled with this musical gem."

She Loves Me features music by Jerry Bock, lyrics by Sheldon Harnick (both of Fiddler on the Roof, Fiorello!) and a book by Joe Masteroff, who based it upon the play by Miklos Laszlo.   "Georg and Amalia can't stand each other. Intensely competitive clerks in a shop in 1930s Budapest, they are constantly at odds with one another. Each secretly finds solace in an anonymous pen pal — totally unaware that they are actually writing romantic letters to each other."  The property is also familiar to audiences through such film incarnations as The Shop Around the Corner and In the Good Old Summertime.  The score includes the title song, "Tonight at Eight," "Ice Cream," "Dear Friend," "A Trip to the Library" and more.

She Loves Me opened at the Eugene O'Neill Theatre on April 23rd, 1963 and ran for 302 performance.  It originally starred Barbara Cook, Daniel Massey, Barbara Baxley and Jack Cassidy, who received a Tony Award for his performance.  The show was successfully revived by the Roundabout Theatre Company in 1993.

No casting has been announced.

Visit www.arenastage.org for more information on Arena Stage.