SHE LOVES ME in Savoy and Springfield Cinemas December 1 at 7

She Loves Me, the Bock/Harnick/Masteroff musical that has landed at the top of musical lovers' Best Ever lists since it first opened in 1963, was revived for what was pretty much an all-star production directed by Scott Ellis under the auspices of Broadway's Roundabout Theatre Company last year. The show was nominated for eight Tony Awards and took home one, for scenic designer David Rockwell, who created a beautiful little confection of a set that moved seamlessly from a twinkly Hungarian street to the inside of Maraczek's perfume shop, a small jewel box of a store. That lighter-than-air romantic atmosphere is essential for the show if it's to reflect the continental charm of Parfumerie, the 1937 Miklós László play it's based on, and the better-known movie The Shop Around the Corner that followed Parfumerie.

All three of those versions of the story follow the bumpy romance between Georg, a stand-up guy and employee at Maraczek & Co., and Amalia, who talks her way into a job there, too. Georg and Amalia clash almost from the moment she enters the store, both unaware that they've been corresponding with each other -- and falling in love -- as secret pen pals who call each other "Dear Friend" in their letters. Their coworkers make things even more complicated, as family man Sipos offers advice and sympathy, Ilona longs for love but has a tendency to pick the wrong men, Kodaly can't stop seducing women, wrong or otherwise, delivery boy Arpad is trying to move up in the world, and their boss Mr. Maraczek is getting crankier by the minute because he thinks his wife is cheating on him. He thinks it's with Georg. Silly Mr. Maraczek. Of course it's Kodaly. Look at his villainous mustache!

Like most Roundabout show, She Loves Me had a limited run. It closed July 10 after 132 performances. But that doesn't mean you can't see it. No, not in person. Laura Benanti (Amalia), Zachary Levi (Georg), Gavin Creel (Kodaly), Jane Krakowski (Ilona), Michael McGrath (Sipos), Byron Jennings (Maraczek) and Nicholas Barasch (Arpad) aren't getting together to perform it again anytime soon. One of their performances at Studio 54 was captured on film for Fathom Events, however, and December 1, that film will be screened in cinemas nationwide.

Although there is no Bloomington-Normal movie theater on the list, you do have options. The Savoy 16, just south of Champaign-Urbana, and the Springfield 12 will both be showing She Loves Me Thursday night at 7 pm.

With a song called "Twelve Days to Christmas," as well as frantic shopping, gift-giving and a little snowy romance, this She Loves Me is a perfect way to kick off your December.

Zachary Levi and Laura Benanti embrace Christmas in SHE LOVES ME
Photo credit: Joan Marcus, 2016

SHE LOVES ME Live From Broadway, Tonight on BroadwayHD

If you want to see the current Broadway production of She Loves Me, but you can't get to New York right now, never fear. BroadwayHD.com will be live-streaming the show tonight at 8 pm Eastern time. And after the live broadcast, BroadwayHD will offer the show on demand for another week.

The cost to see it tonight is $9.99, and Olivia Clement at Playbill says this livestream is included in an annual subscription to BroadwayHD, although not a monthly subscription. And once the video has been edited, it will be added to the BroadwayHD library, where titles are available for $7.99. However you slice it, that's a lot better than current Broadway ticket prices.

What is She Loves Me? A confection from Broadway's golden years, based on the Miklos Laszlo play Parfumerie, which spawned the films The Shop Around the Corner, In the Good Old Summertime and You've Got Mail as well as the Masteroff/Harnick/Bock musical She Loves Me. Masteroff's book hews close to the original, with its charming Hungarian perfume shop setting and a romantic plot that pairs two clerks from the same store who can't stand each other at work even as they are falling in love as anonymous pen pals.

In its original Broadway production in 1963, Hal Prince directed She Loves Me with Barbara Cook and Daniel Massey as the pair in question, with Barbara Baxley as a co-worker who doesn't have the best taste in men and Jack Cassidy as the snake in the parfumerie. In its current version, Laura Benanti and Zachary Levi star as Amalia and Georg, Jane Krakowski and Gavin Creel take on Ilona and Kodaly, the secondary pair of lovers, under the direction of Scott Ellis for the Roundabout Theatre. It opened in March of this year, was nominated for eight Tony Awards, and won one for its delicate and beautiful scenic design by David Rockwell.

In other She Loves Me news, Ghostlight Records will release the cast recording online and in stores on July 29. The cast recording featuring Benanti, Creel, Krakowski and Levi is already up at iTunes and other digital sources.

SHE LOVES ME Will Be Back on Broadway in 2016 with Benanti and Radnor

Laura Benanti

Good news, musical fans! She Loves Me is coming back. With Josh Radnor and Laura Benanti!

Although this sweet little Bock/Harnick/Masteroff musical has on occasion been called the best musical of all time, it has never really been a big boffo hit with name recognition or tons of revivals. The source material, a Hungarian play called Parfumerie, spawned the much-beloved movie The Shop Around the Corner as well as lesser lights In the Good Old Summertime and You've Got Mail, showing there's staying power in the story of two feuding coworkers who don't realize they are also secret (romantic) pen pals.

From the original Broadway production, featured actor Jack Cassidy won a Tony for playing snaky bad boy Kodaly, but star Barbara Cook wasn't even nominated, and the show itself lost Best Musical, Book, Producer and Director to Hello, Dolly!

Still, She Loves Me was revived on Broadway in 1993 and given a starry one-night concert version in 2011. The concert was like a tryout of sorts, with How I Met Your Mother star Josh Radnor taking the role of Georg Nowack, the hardworking store manager who clashes with new employee Amalia Balash.

Josh Radnor

This week, it was announced that She Loves Me -- with Radnor as Georg, joined by Laura Benanti, the luminous Broadway star who's shown up on TV recently in Nashville, The Sound of Music, Nurse Jackie, Law and Order: SVU and The Good Wife -- will be back on Broadway in the spring of 2016. Will having a TV star like Radnor and a Tony winner with a good deal of TV visibility like Benanti in the mix make She Loves Me a hot ticket this time? The show made it to 301 performances in 63-64 and 354 in 93-94. It may be tough to break the one-year barrier in 2016, but hope springs eternal for this lovely little musical.

Scott Ellis, who directed the 1993 revival and the 2011 concert, will be at the helm of the 2016 Roundabout production, although there's no information so far on who will fill the musical's other roles. Victor Garber (probably best-known for Alias on TV and Lend Me a Tenor and Damn Yankees on Broadway) and Jane Krakowski (Ally McBeal and 30 Rock on TV and Grand Hotel and Nine on Broadway) played store owner Mr. Maraczek and shopgirl Ilona in the concert, and they would certainly be right for the full production, as well. Who else? Somebody from Newsies or Glee as Arpad the delivery boy? And speaking of Glee... Matthew Morrison was a Broadway star before he became Old Shoe Mr. Shue. He might make a nifty Kodaly.

If more casting news leaks, I'll update this post to include who's doing what.

Drama Desk Awards Love GENTLEMAN'S GUIDE

Benanti with her own Drama Desk Award in 2011

It doesn't get much better than Laura Benanti if you need a host for your awards. The Drama Desk Awards were lucky enough to have the lovely Ms. Benanti there this week to glam up their awards, given to outstanding Broadway, off-Broadway and off-off-Broadway shows from the 2013-14 season. Benanti is a Tony-winner herself, and she was joined by a fleet of stars like Christian Borle, David Byrne, Marge Champion, Toni Collette, Sutton Foster, Michael C. Hall,  Judy Kuhn, Tracy Letts, John Cameron Mitchell, Jessie Mueller, Laura Osnes, Steven Pasquale and Billy Porter.

And who came out on top? The musical A Gentleman's Guide to Love and Murder was a big winner, with seven awards, including Outstanding Musical and a share of Outstanding Actor in a Musical for star Jefferson Mays. That one was a tie, with Mays and Neil Patrick Harris, for Hedwig and the Angry Inch, sharing the honors. Gentleman's Guide also nabbed trophies for director Darko Tresnjak and for its book, by Robert L. Freedman, and lyrics, by Freedman and Steven Lutvak, but not for its music. Instead, Jason Robert Brown picked up the award for Outstanding Music and Outstanding Orchestrations for The Bridges of Madison County.

Gentleman's Guide was part of another tie, too, with both Anika Larsen, from Beautiful--The Carole King Musical, and Lauren Worsham from Gentleman's Guide getting a piece of the Outstanding Featured Actress in a Musical prize.

Beautiful won three awards overall, for Outstanding Actress in a Musical Jessie Mueller, who plays Carole King, and Outstanding Sound Design in a Musical for Brian Ronan, along with Larsen's award.

Robert Schenkkan's All the Way, a play about President Lyndon Johnson that originated at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival and won the prestigious ATCA/Steinberg Award, won Outstanding Play, and star Bryan Cranston, who plays LBJ, won Outstanding Actor in a Play.

Audra McDonald added to her already crowded trophy case with an award for Outstanding Actress in a Play for Lady Day at Emerson's Bar and Grill.

This year's special awards went to Soho Rep, Veanne Cox, Ed Sylvanus Iskandar, and the ensembles of Off-Broadway’s The Open House (Hannah Bos, Michael Countryman, Peter Friedman, Danny McCarthy and Carolyn McCormick) and Broadway’s The Realistic Joneses (Toni Collette, Michael C. Hall, Tracy Letts and Marisa Tomei) as well as Will Eno, the playwright behind The Open House and The Realistic Joneses.

You'll find nominees in all the categories at the Drama Desk site or listed below, with winners listed first and given two asterisks. 

Outstanding Play
**Robert Schenkkan, All the Way
Nell Benjamin, The Explorers Club
Steven Levenson, Core Values
Conor McPherson, The Night Alive
Richard Nelson, Regular Singing
Bruce Norris, Domesticated
John Patrick Shanley, Outside Mullingar

Outstanding Revival of a Play
**Twelfth Night (Shakespeare’s Globe Production)
I Remember Mama
London Wall
No Man's Land
Of Mice and Men
The Cripple of Inishmaan
The Model Apartment

Outstanding Actor in a Play
**Bryan Cranston, All the Way
Hamish Linklater, The Comedy of Errors
Ian McKellen, No Man's Land
David Morse, The Unavoidable Disappearance of Tom Durnin
Chris O'Dowd, Of Mice and Men
Daniel Radcliffe, The Cripple of Inishmaan
Denzel Washington, A Raisin in the Sun

Outstanding Actress in a Play
**Audra McDonald, Lady Day at Emerson's Bar and Grill
Barbara Andres, I Remember Mama 
Tyne Daly, Mothers and Sons
Laurie Metcalf, Domesticated
J. Smith-Cameron, Juno and the Paycock
Harriet Walter, Julius Caesar

Outstanding Featured Actor in a Play
**Reed Birney, Casa Valentina
Chuck Cooper, Choir Boy
Peter Maloney, Outside Mullingar
Bobby Moreno, Year of the Rooster
Bill Pullman, The Jacksonian
Brian J. Smith, The Glass Menagerie

Outstanding Featured Actress in a Play
**Celia Keenan-Bolger, The Glass Menagerie
Betty Buckley, The Old Friends
Julia Coffey, London Wall
Diane Davis, The Model Apartment
Jan Maxwell, The Castle
Sophie Okonedo, A Raisin in the Sun

Outstanding Director of a Play
**Tim Carroll, Twelfth Night
Joe Calarco, A Christmas Carol
Thomas Kail, Family Furniture
Bill Rauch, All the Way
Anna D. Shapiro, Domesticated
Julie Taymor, A Midsummer Night's Dream

Outstanding Music in a Play
**Nico Muhly, The Glass Menagerie
Lewis Flinn, The Tribute Artist
Elliot Goldenthal, A Midsummer Night's Dream
Rob Kearns, The Life and Sort of Death of Eric Argyle
Tom Kochan, Almost, Maine
Duncan Sheik, A Man's a Man

Outstanding Sound Design in a Play
**Matt Tierney, Machinal
M.L. Dogg, The Open House
Katie Down, The Golden Dragon
Paul James Prendergast, All the Way
Dan Moses Schreier, Act One
Christopher Shutt, Love and Information

Outstanding Musical
**A Gentleman's Guide to Love and Murder
Aladdin
Beautiful--The Carole King Musical
Fun Home
Love’s Labour’s Lost
Rocky
The Bridges of Madison County

Outstanding Revival of a Musical or Revue
**Hedwig and the Angry Inch
Les Misérables
Violet

Outstanding Actor in a Musical
**Neil Patrick Harris, Hedwig and the Angry Inch
**Jefferson Mays, A Gentleman's Guide to Love and Murder
Adam Jacobs, Aladdin
Andy Karl, Rocky
Steven Pasquale, The Bridges of Madison County
Bryce Pinkham, A Gentleman's Guide to Love and Murder

Outstanding Actress in a Musical
**Jessie Mueller, Beautiful--The Carole King Musical
Sutton Foster, Violet
Idina Menzel, If/Then
Kelli O'Hara, The Bridges of Madison County
Margo Seibert, Tamar of the River
Barrett Wilbert Weed, Heathers: The Musical

Outstanding Featured Actor in a Musical
**James Monroe Iglehart, Aladdin
Danny Burstein, Cabaret
Nick Cordero, Bullets Over Broadway: The Musical
Joshua Henry, Violet
Rory O’Malley, Nobody Loves You
Bobby Steggert, Big Fish

Outstanding Featured Actress in a Musical
**Anika Larsen, Beautiful--The Carole King Musical
**Lauren Worsham, A Gentleman's Guide to Love and Murder
Stephanie J. Block, Little Miss Sunshine
Adriane Lenox, After Midnight
Sydney Lucas, Fun Home
Laura Osnes, The Threepenny Opera
Jennifer Simard, Disaster!

Outstanding Director of a Musical
**Darko Tresnjak, A Gentleman's Guide to Love and Murder
Sam Gold, Fun Home
Michael Mayer, Hedwig and the Angry Inch
Bartlett Sher, The Bridges of Madison County
Susan Stroman, Bullets Over Broadway: The Musical
Alex Timbers, Rocky

Outstanding Choreography
**Warren Carlyle, After Midnight
Steven Hoggett and Kelly Devine, Rocky
Danny Mefford, Love's Labour's Lost
Casey Nicholaw, Aladdin
Susan Stroman, Bullets Over Broadway: The Musical
Sonya Tayeh, Kung Fu

Outstanding Music
**Jason Robert Brown, The Bridges of Madison County
Andrew Lippa, Big Fish
Steven Lutvak, A Gentleman's Guide to Love and Murder
Alan Menken, Aladdin
Kevin Murphy and Laurence O’Keefe, Heathers: The Musical
Jeanine Tesori, Fun Home

Outstanding Lyrics
**Robert L. Freedman and Steven Lutvak, A Gentleman's Guide to Love and Murder
Howard Ashman, Tim Rice, and Chad Beguelin, Aladdin
Jason Robert Brown, The Bridges of Madison County
Michael Friedman, Love's Labour's Lost
Michael Korie, Far from Heaven
Lisa Kron, Fun Home

Outstanding Book of a Musical
**Robert L. Freedman, A Gentleman's Guide to Love and Murder
Chad Beguelin, Aladdin
Joe Kinosian and Kellen Blair, Murder for Two
Lisa Kron, Fun Home
Douglas McGrath, Beautiful--The Carole King Musical
Marsha Norman, The Bridges of Madison County

Outstanding Orchestrations
**Jason Robert Brown, The Bridges of Madison County
John Clancy, Fun Home
Larry Hochman, Big Fish
Steve Sidwell, Beautiful--The Carole King Musical
Michael Starobin, If/Then
Jonathan Tunick, A Gentleman's Guide to Love and Murder

Outstanding Sound Design in a Musical
**Brian Ronan, Beautiful--The Carole King Musical
Kai Harada, Fun Home
Peter Hylenski, Bullets Over Broadway: The Musical
Peter Hylenski, Rocky
Dan Moses Schreier, A Gentleman's Guide to Love and Murder
Jon Weston, The Bridges of Madison County

Outstanding Set Design
**Christopher Barreca, Rocky
Alexander Dodge, A Gentleman's Guide to Love and Murder
Richard Hoover, Small Engine Repair
Santo Loquasto, Bullets Over Broadway: The Musical
Ian MacNeil, A Doll's House
Donyale Werle, The Explorers Club

Outstanding Costume Design
**William Ivey Long, Bullets Over Broadway: The Musical
Constance Hoffman, A Midsummer Night's Dream
Zane Pihlstrom, Nutcracker Rouge
Loren Shaw, The Mysteries
Jenny Tiramani, Twelfth Night
David C. Woolard, The Heir Apparent

Outstanding Lighting Design
**Christopher Akerlind, Rocky
Jane Cox, Machinal
David Lander, The Civil War
Peter Mumford, King Lear
Brian Tovar, Tamar of the River
Japhy Weideman, Macbeth

Outstanding Projection Design
**Aaron Rhyne, A Gentleman's Guide to Love and Murder
Robert Massicotte and Alexis Laurence, Cirkopolis
Sven Ortel, A Midsummer Night's Dream
Shawn Sagady, All the Way
Austin Switser, Sontag: Reborn
Ben Rubin, Arguendo

Outstanding Revue
**After Midnight
I'm a Stranger Here Myself: Musik from the Weimar and Beyond
Le Jazz Hot: How the French Saved Jazz
Til Divorce Do Us Part
What's It All About? Bacharach Reimagined

Outstanding Solo Performance
**John Douglas Thompson, Satchmo at the Waldorf
David Barlow, This is My Office
Jim Brochu, Character Man
Hannah Cabell, Grounded
Debra Jo Rupp, Becoming Dr. Ruth
Ruben Santiago-Hudson, August Wilson's How I Learned What I Learned

Unique Theatrical Experience
**Cirkopolis
Charlatan
Mother Africa
Nothing to Hide
Nutcracker Rouge
The Complete & Condensed Stage Directions of Eugene O'Neill Vol. 2

Let's Pay Some Attention to Laura Benanti

Laura Benanti is one of those people. You know what I mean. Beautiful, gorgeous voice, spark and sparkle for days, and she doesn't seem to take herself too seriously.

She also adds something special to all her projects, whether that's Broadway's Into the Woods revival (she was Cinderella, of course), taking over for Rebecca Luker as Maria in The Sound of Music, acting as Antonio Banderas's muse in Nine or Matthew Perry's foil on TV in Go On, giving The Playboy Club more class than it deserved, enlivening Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown, or making Louise seem like a whole new person in Gypsy opposite Patti Lupone. Benanti won a Tony and a Drama Desk for Gypsy, and she was nominated for Into the Woods, Swing! and Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown. She just released a live album called "In Constant Search of the Right Kind of Attention" that serves as a record of her performance at New York's 54 Below and she will be appearing as Sherlock's first "killer" on CBS's Elementary.

So about that album...

Benanti's infectious personality is on full display in the segues between songs, and her amazing voice elevates a range of songs. You may be expecting more Broadway than what you get -- she has a taste for folk-pop material from the likes of Joni Mitchell and Harry Chapin as well as a couple of things she wrote herself when she was young -- but what you get is quite wonderful.

Her way with "My Time of Day" from Guys and Dolls is exquisite, "On the Street Where You Live" from My Fair Lady becomes "On the Street Where I Lived" and an entry point into Little Laura's childhood, and I can't tell you how pleased I am to hear her sing "Unusual Way," one of my favorite songs from Nine, straight up, without the Italian accent that put a fly in the ointment of the Broadway cast album. When you hear "Model Behavior" from Women on the Verge, you will understand the Tony nomination for that one, too.

Benanti also shines on "He Comes for Conversation," a Joni Mitchell song infused with light and color here. I think Benanti sounds more like Judy Collins than Joni Mitchell, but that's a good thing as far as I'm concerned. And the songs from Todd Almond, Benanti's musical director and accompanist, are lovely, as well.

All in all, this 54 Below cd comes off as light and charming, as effortlessly beautiful, as Laura Benanti herself. I'd like to know what the folks who were seeing her in person were laughing at at times, but that's just a teaser to try to catch her live. And isn't that a perfect way to make an album?

"In Constant Search of the Right Kind of Attention" is available on iTunes, from Amazon or at Broadway Records.