Michelle Bolliger, Julie Ann Kornak, Gary Charles Metz, Ken Rubenstein, Jon Cunningham, Logan Baffico in BrightSide’s “She Loves Me”/Photo: CM Stage Photography
BrightSide Theatre kicks off its tenth-anniversary season with “She Loves Me,” a charming musical that follows the relationships of the staff of a 1930s European parfumerie from summer to winter.
Coworkers Amalia Balash and Georg Nowack bicker daily in front of their colleagues: dignified store owner Mr. Maraczek, content to fly-under-the-radar Ladislov, lovelorn Ilona (a vivacious Michelle Bolliger), Ilona’s on-again/off-again lover Steven, and eager-to-please delivery boy Arpad. When they’re not fighting, Amalia and Georg are writing, trading letters with a “dear friend,” an anonymous pen pal connection made after each responded to a lonely hearts advertisement in the newspaper. Neither Amalia nor Georg have met their respective pen pals in person, or know their real names, but the romantic correspondence continues with hopes of an eventual rendezvous.
You probably see where this is going.
If “She Loves Me” sounds like a familiar story, that’s because its source material, the Hungarian play “Parfumerie” by Miklós László, was the basis for movies like 1939’s “The Shop Around the Corner” and the 1998 rom-com “You’ve Got Mail.”
Jon Cunningham and Julie Ann Kornak in BrightSide’s “She Loves Me”/Photo: CM Stage Photography
Jeffrey Cass’ direction of the show keeps it sweet but never cloying. Jeni Donahue’s choreography shines during ensemble-heavy numbers, particularly the humorous “A Romantic Interlude” and frenetic “Twelve Days to Christmas.”
There are minor things that can easily be fixed for the rest of the show’s run. Early sound issues made it difficult to hear some dialogue, and a few cues could be tightened to ensure timing.
The animosity between Julie Ann Kornak’s Amalia and Jon Cunningham’s Georg could also be a bit more barbed, if only to make the payoff at the end of the show more satisfying. True, Amalia and Georg immediately get off on the wrong foot at Maraczek’s Parfumerie, but there isn’t an obvious crescendo to their loathing for one another. The existing relationship never seems so acerbic as to surprise the audience and justify the delightful reveals along the way. Two of the show’s most beloved songs specifically reflecting on the changing relationship are standouts. Kornak’s voice soars through Amalia’s Act Two number “Vanilla Ice Cream” and Cunningham’s ebullient delivery of the title song, “She Loves Me,” is breezily exhilarating.
There are no bad seats in the intimate theater at Meiley-Swallow Hall, and it’s a pleasure to momentarily escape the October chill into this heartwarming show.
“She Loves Me” at the Theatre at Meiley-Swallow Hall at North Central College, 31 South Ellsworth, Naperville, (630)447-8497, brightsidetheatre.com, $28-$33. Through October 30.
