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.