The Marriott Theatre in Lincolnshire announced casting this morning for its upcoming production of She Loves Me. The much-loved musical will be led by Elizabeth Telford (Eliza Doolittle in Light Opera Works’ My Fair Lady) as Amalia Balash and Alex Goodrich (Bud Frump in Marriott’s How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying, Mr. Darcy in Northlight Theatre’s Miss Bennet) as Georg Nowack.
Other principals include Terry Hamilton as Mr. Maraczek, David Schlumpf as Steven Kodaly, Jessica Naimy as Ilona Ritter and James Earl Jones II as Ladislav Sipos. Young actors Grant Kilian and Johnny Rabe will share the role of Arpad Laszlo; the ensemble includes Lillian Castillo, Aaron Holland, Johanna McKenzie Miller, Jeff Pierpoint, Laura Savage, Allison Sill, Cassie Slater, Jason Slattery, Brandon Springman, Steven Strafford and James Rank. Marriott artistic director Aaron Thielen directs, with musical direction by Matt Deitchman. The creative team includes scenic design by Jeff Kmiec, costume design by Sally Dolembo, lighting design by Jesse Klug, sound design by Robert E. Gilmartin, properties design by Sally Weiss; Patti Garwood is music supervisor and conductor.
The 1963 musical by Joe Masteroff, Sheldon Harnick and Jerry Bock, set in a Hungarian perfume shop, was adapted from Hungarian playwright Miklós László’s Parfumerie. The story of coworkers Amalia and Georg, who quarrel in person but are unknowingly also each other’s romantic pen pals, was also the inspiration for the 1940 James Stewart–Margaret Sullavan film The Shop Around the Corner and, decades later, the Tom Hanks–Meg Ryan vehicle You’ve Got Mail.
The new production is, somewhat surprisingly, Marriott’s first staging of the show. It was most recently revived on Broadway in 2016, in a production that starred Laura Benanti and Zachary Levi; in a first, a performance of that production was broadcast live via a streaming service last summer, and later shown in cinemas. Marriott’s production runs April 26 to June 18.