Love is sometimes closer than you think. That’s the case in the musical “She Loves Me” where two employees of a 1930s European perfumery, who don’t really get along, are unknowingly corresponding with each other after responding to a lonely-hearts club ad.
Kevin Long, Director of Theatre and Professor of Theatre at Harper College, is directing the delightful musical by Joe Masteroff (book), Jerry Bock (music), and Sheldon Harnick (Lyrics), Nov. 14-23 at the Performing Arts Center of Harper College, 1200 W. Algonquin Rd. in Palatine.
Long noted that this musical, as well as two movies—“The Shop Around the Corner” and “You’ve Got Mail”—are based on a 1937 play by Miklos Laszlo, which is set in Eastern Europe in the 1930s, “a few years before the rise of fascism and the start of World War II. This is Budapest, Hungary on the brink of the Great Depression.”
He added, “In the States, ‘The Shop Around the Corner’ was adapted during the uncertainty of World War II. And ‘She Loves Me’ opened in ’63, another tumultuous time in our country where we were on the brink of another major transformation. So, when the world is in distress, this beautiful story surfaces and is met with great success.”
Long decided that this time of upheaval, where we are focusing on differences, is the right time to revisit “She Loves Me.”
“It’s a show with a giant heart, and it couldn’t come at a better time,” Long asserted. “It’s literally the perfect musical.”
Bethany Brautigam plays Amalia, the female half of the letter-writing couple. Sam Garrison plays Amalia’s male counterpart Georg.
Long noted that he has the actors verbalize the backstories of their characters during rehearsal.
Brautigam developed such a fascinating backstory for her character’s relationship with her father that they put a photo of the father on Amalia’s dresser in the set.
Brautigam, who earned a master’s degree in vocal performance from North Park University, said that playing Amalia is “such a fun role for a soprano. The music is beautiful. The character is really smart and funny and endearing. It’s a good challenge for an actor, too, because you have a lot to work with and there’s a lot of room to grow when you’re working on the character.”
The actor admitted that it’s a role that has been on her list to perform for a while.
Despite the character’s strengths, Brautigam noted, she is “a little bit insecure when it comes to romance.”
The role is interesting to play because the character’s situation is relatable to many women, Brautigam indicated. That includes “to have the wrong first impression of someone,” she said.
The actor added that playing Amalia “gives me a lot of emotion to work with. “We get to see her at her lowest and we get to see her at her highest,” Brautigam said.
The actor admitted having two favorite songs in the show, “Dear Friend” and “Where’s My Shoe?”
In the first song, Amalia is at “the lowest of lows,” Brautigam said. The second song “is very silly and manic. Georg and I are running across the stage up to all kinds of antics.”
In comparing the way Amalia connects with someone through a long exchange of letters with the modern way of checking an app, Brautigam said, “It can feel like you don’t really want to stop and get to know someone. There’s always more people. If you don’t spend the time to get to know someone, you might miss out on a really incredible emotional and intellectual connection.”
Garrison, who earned an associate degree in arts and theater from Lake Michigan College, has been in 20 shows in the last 10 years but “She Loves Me” is his first show in Chicago since moving from Indiana a year ago.
Garrison said he wanted to play the part of Georg because “There was a real connection between my personality and his. I’m very walled-off and shy at moments. I have my moments where I’m more energetic and better. And I felt like being in a different time period than I’m used to is very liberating.”
Despite being walled-off, Garrison said that Georg “is a very romantic kind of person. He wants to find love and he doesn’t know how so he resorts to a lonely-hearts club.”
Garrison has three favorite songs in the show, “Grand Knowing You,” “She Loves Me” and “12 Days to Christmas,” the last because, “It’s good chaos all around and I love that,” he said.
In terms of letter-writing as opposed to looking for someone on apps, “It gives more personalization than we would give in today’s dating scene,” he said.
Director Long praised designer Lauren Nichols, who created the art nouveau set. He also praised the creative solutions they have come with for shifting to different locations despite a limited budget.
The director noted that the members of the ensemble all have specific things to do when, for example, they are playing diners in a restaurant.
“This show is like a piece of finely-woven fabric,” Long said. “Everybody’s got to be tightly tied to the world of the play.”
Performances of “She Loves Me” will be at 7:30 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays, and 2 p.m. Sundays, Nov. 14-23. Tickets are $15-$25.
There will be free Coffee with the Director and Dramaturg (Mary T. Christel) sessions at 1 p.m. on Nov. 16 and 23 in the Performing Arts Center Lobby
On October 29, from 7-10 p.m., a free screening of You’ve Got Mail will be held in the E109 Film Lab at the college, hosted by Director Long and Dramaturg Christel. Singers will perform songs from the show.
From 1-3:30 p.m. on Nov. 1, there will be a free screening of “The Shop Around the Corner” at the Palatine Public Library, 700 N. North Court. Long and Christel will host, and singers will perform. Register at palatinelibrary.org/event/shop-around-corner-movie-screening-harper-theater-193000.
For more information about “She Loves Me,” call 847-925-6100 or visit events.harpercollege.edu/event/she-loves-me.
Myrna Petlicki is a freelance reporter for Pioneer Press.