Review: SHE LOVES ME at Palm Canyon Theatre

It seems like only a few weeks ago that Palm Canyon Theatre (PCT) began their 26th Season with the magnificent Titanic. Now that season is coming to an end with a delightful little jewel box called She Loves Me. There have been many high points in the season, but for me, the bookends - Titanic and She Loves Me - have been the outstanding pair, though two musicals could not be more different. Titanic was overwhelming with its epic scope, including 43 singers onstage together powerfully singing about the doomed ship. She Loves Me is virtually a chamber musical with its seven principals onstage for the majority of the show, and it was magical because Director/Choreographer Derik Shopinski managed to corral seven of the most talented singer/actors in the Valley. There were simply no weak links, and each performer was a star.

The musical which hit Broadway in 1963 is the third adaptation of the 1937 play Parfumerie by Hungarian playwright Miklós László, following the 1940 film The Shop Around the Corner and the 1949 musical version In the Good Old Summertime. It surfaced again in 1998 as the movie You've Got Mail with Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan. The plot revolves around Budapest shop employees Georg and Amalia, who, despite being consistently at odds with each other at work, are unaware that each is the other's secret pen pal met through lonely-hearts ads.

The show begins in front of Maraczek's Perfume Shop, a fully dimensional art nouveau beauty. The employees arrive individually and greet each other as they arrive. Then the shop's facade splits in two and the walls pivot around to reveal the interior of the shop - frilly drapes, gold sales tables, upholstered stools, looking like a true jewel box.

The store is owned by Mr. Maraczek (Sheldon Safir), a no-nonsense boss. The manager is Georg Nowak (Ben Reece), salespeople are Iona (Demetria Clemons), Mr. Kodaly (Eric Stein-Steele) Mr. Sipos (Tom Warrick), and Arpad the Delivery Boy (Nick Wass). They are joined by a new salesperson, Amalia (Se Layne). All seven characters are onstage much of the time and there is not one weak singing voice amongst them.

Layne, channeling Mary Tyler Moore as the flighty new clerk, and Reece as the store manager, butt heads over anything and everything. We know that they each have a secret pen pal whom they have never seen face-to-face, and if we have ever sat through a single Rom Com, we know that they are going to end up together, but the show is so darned charming throughout that we willingly follow their battles. Both of them are obviously at home in the spotlight, and each is charming, singularly and -- eventually -- together.

Sheldon Shafir, Eric Stein-Steele and Tom Warrick have all earned their status as top musical theatre performers, and all three of them are delightful in their characterizations. Demetria Clemons as Iona, the sales clerk of somewhat easy virtue, is a delight. Her verbal and physical comedy along with a rubber face and great singing voice kept the audience's eyes on her. It's often a surprise when someone so good looking can also do comedy, which she does so very well. But the happiest surprise for me was Nick Wass as the delivery boy. Nick has been around most of the theatres in the Valley for a half-dozen years or so. He has been a stage manager and walk-on actor, and in his early days, wasn't always that noticeable. However, in this show he really deserves his spotlight. I was delighted to hear how well he sings now, and he really presents that transitional age where he wants to segue from being a delivery boy to being a sales man ("Perhaps if I grew a moustache?"). All seven leads took comfortable and took complete ownership of the stage whenever they had solos, and harmonized both musically and socially when there were group scenes. Kudos to Director Shopinski and his actors.

Neil Badham, Jackson Enzler, Adam Hieter, Denise Rooney, Tim Steele, Lisa Walters, and Sanai Wright were busy playing customers, carolers, people on the street and quite a few speaking roles such as The Waiter, Busboy, and Keller. Their vocal and acting talents gave depth to the show and quite a few laughs as well. Each had individual character moments which were handled smoothly.

J. W. Layne's set design was a delight. I've mentioned the front walls of the store pivoting to become the side walls of the interior. The entire floor is painted to look like tiles, with significant painting detail. There is also an upstage mezzanine in the store, accessed by a spiral staircase, which gave an added dimension to the layout. Layne's lighting design is serviceable except for that mezzanine which remained a bit murky. By drawing a white curtain across the stage at the proscenium line, additional locations such as the stock room, a restaurant, a hospital, etc., were efficiently established with some great projections. Hats off to Nick Edwards for his wonderful projections and special effects in virtually every PCT show.

I feel like a cracked record commenting on the magnificence of Derik Shopinski's costumes, but once again they are a gift that keeps on giving. They firmly nail the period, the location, and the class of people who would work or shop at a perfumery. Even the ensemble on the streets or shopping at the store beautifully display the seasons of the year and the social comfort of pre-war Hungary.

The technical staff was a well-oiled machine: Jackson Enzler doing double duty as Stage Manager and ensemble, Matilda Moss operating lights, Nick Campbell continuing his great work as sound designer, Virginai Sulick, Colleen Walker, Kathryn Ferguson assisting with costumes, and Neil Kapple, Delinda Angelo, and Marsha Berry contributing to sets and props.

And once again I offer praise to Musical Director Steven Smith who conducts the show from the piano, joined by Larry Holloway on Bass and David Bronson on drums. Very professional indeed!

The music for the show was written by Jerry Bock and lyrics by Sheldon Harnick. Though those names aren't instantly recognized by many, they started their artistic partnership in 1959 with a musical about NYC's mayor LaGuardia called Fiorello! They went on to write Tenderloin (1960), Man in the Moon (1963), She Loves Me (1963), Fiddler on the Roof (1964), The Apple Tree (1966), and The Rothschilds (1970). I love the score for this show because its simple melodies, often in ¾ time, are easy to imagine as music box tunes (an image used early in the show) and can be instantly grasped. The characters seldom sing more than one verse, which allows us to sample 22 songs in a relatively short show, though I promise you several of the tunes have been "earworming" since I saw the show.

I think a lot of the professionalism of this show comes first from the fact that it is an "old-fashioned" musical. Not creaky. It's just that the characters are allowed to sing their solos directly to the audience without a lot of "acting," and each of the leads showed the confidence of being "stars." Also, the dancing in the show was either variations on a waltz or seemingly simple movements such as pushing a character around the stage on a rolling ladder. These moves were carried out smoothly and effortlessly, whereas some bigger dance numbers in other shows are a challenge for Valley casts.. Lastly (and I'll have my knuckles rapped for this), it was nice to see a show without children gratuitously inserted. I know the kids are training and kids' relatives buy a lot of seats, but I don't melt and get all gooey when I see youngsters on stage (nor dogs in grocery stores!). There, I got that off my chest.

Unfortunately, She Loves Me is only scheduled for two weekends and it truly deserves to be seen before it closes on May 14, 2023, so make a special effort to see its one remaining weekend -- and bring friends. I heard two couples behind me, one couple attending for the first time and the other experienced veterans. At intermission, the newbies excitedly said that they would make PCT a regular part of their social calendar.

For tickets, sponsorship opportunities, or other information, call the PCT Box Office at (760) 323-5123 or order online at PalmCanyonTheatre.org. Palm Canyon Theatre is located at 538 North Palm Canyon Drive at the corner of Alejo Road. Box Office hours are currently Tuesday-Saturday from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.

Next up at Palm Canyon Theatre is production of a very current Broadway Show, being presented in conjunction with PSUSD and their Music Theatre University. The title is posted in the lobby but not on PCT's website so I'm not going to spill the title here. Once I'm allowed to, I will certainly tell you about it on this site and it is an absolute MUST SEE!! Stay tuned!

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