SHE LOVES ME to Play Foothill Music Theatre This February

Multi-award winning Foothill Music Theatre presents SHE LOVES ME, the charming 1963 musical adaptation of Miklos Laszlo's play Parfumerie (which later inspired the Tom Hanks-Meg Ryan feature film You've Got Mail), with a score by Jerry Bock and Sheldon Harnick (Fiddler on the Roof) and a book by Joe Masteroff (Cabaret). This intimate and touching show centers on two feuding perfume clerks, who don't realize they are also deeply in love with each other, having met through the mail via the same "lonely hearts" advertisement. SHE LOVES ME plays February 18 - March 6 (press opening: February 19) with performances Thursday-Saturday 8pm, Sunday 2pm at the Lohman Theatre at Foothill College (12345 El Monte Road, Los Altos Hills). Foothill's production of SHE LOVES ME will be directed by Milissa Carey, with musical direction by Dolores Duran-Cefalu. For tickets ($12-$24) and more information, the public may visit www.foothillmusicals.com or call (650) 949-7360.

This beautifully orchestrated musical opens at a perfume shop, where reserved young manager Georg Nowack is none-too-pleased when the spunky Amalia Balash arrives to inquire about a job. Much to his dismay, the brash Amalia is hired on the spot after impressing the boss with her quick wit and sparkling personality. Despite daily bickering, the pair also unknowingly exchange love letters, each believing they are writing to a mysterious "dear friend" met through a lonely hearts advertisement.

SHE LOVES ME is the third adaptation of the quiet and heartfelt play Parfumerie, following the 1940 film The Shop Around the Corner starring Jimmy Stewart at Margaret Sullavan and the 1949 Judy Garland musical In The Good Old Summertime. SHE LOVES ME opened on Broadway in 1963 at The Eugene O'Neill Theatre, in a production directed by the inimitable Harold "Hal" Prince. Called a "rare theatrical jewel" by Howard Taubman of the New York Times, SHE LOVES ME five captured five Tony nominations, and transferred to the West End in 1964. Its 1994 Roundabout Theatre revival was followed by another London revival, productions which also garnered accolades including the Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Revival of a Musical, and the Olivier Award for Best Musical Revival. The newest revival, starring Laura Benanti and Zachary Levi, opens on Broadway this spring as part of Roundabout Theatre's 50th anniversary celebration.

Jerry Bock (music) and Sheldon Harnick (lyrics) were long-time collaborators who co-wrote the scores for seminal theatrical works including the Fiddler on the Roof, the Tony Award-winning classic, and Fiorello!, for which they earned the Pulitzer Prize. Harnick wrote lyrics for two dozen Broadway musicals, working largely with Bock on projects including The Apple Tree, Tenderloin, The Rothschilds and others, as well as with Michael LeGrand, Richard Rodgers ,and others. His most recent musical was The Phantom Tollbooth, a collaboration with author Norton Juster, which premiered at The Kennedy Center in 2007. He has received three Tony Awards and three nominations, as well as numerous lifetime achievement awards. Bock met Harnick in 1956 and began a partnership with The Body Beautiful a musical which did not win over critics but which caught the attention of director George Abbott and producer Hal Prince, who hired the team to compose a biography of legendary New York Mayor Fiorello La Guardia, launching one of Broadway's longest most successful pairings. Bock was honored with three Tony Awards and four nominations, and passed away in 2010 at the age of 81.

Joe Masteroff (book) captured a Tony nomination for Best Book of a Musical for SHE LOVES ME. Three years later, he created the book for the Kander and Ebb musical Cabaret, which won the Tony Award for Best Musical in 1967, and was later adapted into the Academy Award-winning film starring Liza Minnelli. His only other Broadway productions were The Warm Peninsula, his debut play which opening in 1959 with Julie Harris, June Havoc, Farley Granger, and Larry Hagman in the lead roles, and his final project, 70, Girls, 70, which had an unsuccessful run in 1971.

This production of SHE LOVES ME stars Jessica Whittemore as the vibrant leading lady Amalia Balash. Jessica starred as Philia in Foothill's production of A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum this July, and has appeared in productions around the Bay Area at Portola Valley Theatre Conservatory, Palo Alto Players, and Hillbarn Theatre, among others. Michael Doppe stars opposite Jessica as her nemesis-turned-lover Georg Nowack. He regularly performs with companies including 42nd Street Moon, Contra Costa Musical Theatre, Center REPertory Company, and more.

The small and dynamic cast also features Morgan Dayley as Ilona Ritter, Nick Mandracchia as Head Waiter, George Mauro as Mr. Maracek, John Rinaldi as Ladislav Sipos, Nick Rodrigues as Steven Kodaly, and Anthony Stephens as Arpad.

Additional ensemble members include Rex Bressler, Kimberly Cohan, Lydia Cuffman, Kimberly Kay, Hayley Lovgren, Peter Mandel, Sam Nachison, Nima Rakhshanifar, Peter Spoelstra, and Meb Steiner.

Milissa Carey (Director) joined the Foothill faculty in 2003 and teaches in both the Theatre and Music Departments. Carey has directed Foothill Music Theatre productions of All Shook Up, Spring Awakening, Little Shop of Horrors, South Pacific, Sunday in the Park with George, Working, and most recently A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum. Other recent directing credits include Kiss Me Kate at Broadway By The Bay and Almost, Maine at SFCM. She has directed projects at RADA (The Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts in London), the A.C.T. MFA Program, Los Altos Stage Company, and Opera Academy of The West, among others. An award-winning Bay Area actress, Carey has performed leading roles with many Bay Area theatre companies including TheatreWorks, Center Repertory Theater of Walnut Creek, San Jose Repertory Theatre, American Musical Theatre of San Jose, CentralWorks and 42nd Street Moon. She was in the cast of the 25th Anniversary Broadway National Tour of Evita under the direction of Hal Prince. Carey is on the faculty of the San Francisco Conservatory of Music as Stage Director and the Head of Acting, as well as a member of the MFA Faculty at A.C.T.

Dolores Duran-Cefalu (Musical Direction) returns to Foothill after serving as Musical Director for Little Shop of Horrors and Sunday in the Park with George. She has worked as a music director and conductor extensively throughout the Bay Area, and credits include The Snow Queen at San Jose Rep, Kiss Me Kate and Guys and Dolls at Broadway By The Bay, Stuck Elevator at A.C.T, and Next to Normal and A Minister's Wife at San Jose Rep. She recently orchestrated and music directed The Real Housewives of Walnut Creek for the production at Center REPertory Company and the Falcon Theatre reading in Los Angeles. She has played for several touring shows in San Francisco, including Book of Mormon, Wicked, Shrek, In The Heights, and Mamma Mia!, and has music directed or played more than 60 different productions around the Bay Area. Duran-Cefalu has two Bay Area Theatre Critics Circle Award nominations, and is currently Music Director for California's Great America.

Foothill Music Theatre has won Bay Area Theatre Critics' Circle Awards and Theatre Bay Area Awards for Outstanding Production, Outstanding Ensemble Production, and Best Direction, among others. The company has also garnered numerous awards from the Los Angeles-based Drama-Logue, and kudos from myriad Bay Area critics for its sharp, handsomely mounted productions of Sunday in the Park with George, Little Shop of Horrors, Damn Yankees, Spring Awakening, The Producers, Bat Boy: The Musical, The Pajama Game, Sweeney Todd, and many other musicals.

Photo Credit: David Allen

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