"She Loves Me" - Woodland Opera House


Andrea St. Clair (who plays Ilona Ritter in 'She Loves Me'). Clever, unexpected lyrics in her songs (e.g., "I must stop thinking with my skin: I will not be a mandolin"). I've never even thought about thinking with my skin before (...this is your brain ...this is your brain on hand lotion)

Went up to the Woodland Opera House last night to see "She Loves Me." Met people I half-expected to see (J.P. Villa, light board operator; Meg and Tom Stallard, longtime WOH supporters; actors Matt and Chris Taloff), but also people I did not expect to see (Peter William Wagner, Davis bicycle maker and fellow player in WOH's 1997 "Fiddler..."; Jason McDowell and Kelly Daniells, and her parents), and also failed to meet others in the cast I wanted to say hello to (isn't that how it always seems to go in the chaotic post-show rush?)

Nice production. Fine set and costumes. I found the show itself to be a bit puzzling, which made me wish I understood its genesis better. For example, the characters have Hungarian names, which suggests an urban, ethnic origin (think, say, Chicago), but then locating the show in a high-class parfumerie, catering to the well-to-do, just opens more questions, like, did I miss a Jewish subcurrent that was supposed to be there (these aren't Catholics, are they?). My head is full of wool - I had trouble following several patter-type songs (particularly 'A Trip to The Library')- so I know I was missing valuable clues to helping my understanding. I guess I should investigate the show and the lyrics further, or even see the show again, tonight or tomorrow.

According to Wikipedia, the origin is European - Budapest - not American at all, which begins to make more sense. But then, why don't we have more central European musicals in the Anglo-American musical theater repertoire? I also found it strange that Ilona Ritter's love interest, the optometrist, never even arrives on stage, when Mr. Kodaly is already available and apparently underemployed: kind of a 'Waiting for Guffman' quality there.

Nevertheless, it was fun to see everyone perform. I had tended to forget just how well Beth Monet Nilsen is as an actress and a singer: just fabulous! Andrea St. Clair and Tony Ruiz also put in excellent performances, but I felt they needed to be used even more (bring on that optometrist!) Tony is a wonderful singer, and I love watching Andrea perform and sing: she has a lapidary quality that I like: precise, swift-flowing movements; an economy of movement and expression.

Most of the men I hadn't seen perform before. Don Draughon was a fine singer. Jeff Nauer, who played Ladislav Lipos, was excellent throughout. Bob Cooner, the fellow who played Georg Nowack, is a real find - a superb performer and singer (he did 'She Loves Me' justice). The only problem he had is that, early on in the show, he is supposed to be something of a martinet, but that didn't quite come across. He's a very amiable fellow, and early-on martinet-ness was sacrificed for later-on amiability. Which is fine with me!

Someone, nearby in the audience, was wearing perfume, and that olfactory sensation added to the parfumery ambience. Scents are underemployed in the theater, in general. Perhaps the air-conditioning systems of theaters can be rigged to suit: pine-scents for forests, a parfumery for this show, etc. Wait: ("Guys and Dolls" 'Luck Be A Lady' - ah, maybe that's a bad idea after all....)