She Loves Me Next for Neglected Musicals

Sydney based Neglected Musicals has announced She Loves Me as the next Neglected Musical presentation. Directed by Nicholas Hammond with Musical Director Craig Renshaw, She Loves Me is to be presented on Monday 21 May at 2pm and 8pm at the Darlinghurst Theatre.

The cast will include Emma Cooperthwaite, Shaun Rennie, David Whitney, Belinda Wollaston, Tyran Parke, Chris Horsey, Jay James-Moody and Phillip Lowe.

An adaptation of the play Parfumerie by Hungarian playwright Miklos Laszlo, it is also the subject of three films; the 1940 James Stewart-Margaret Sullavan film The Shop around the Corner and the 1949 Judy Garland-Van Johnson musical version In the Good Old Summertime and yet again in 1998 as the Tom Hanks-Meg Ryan feature You've Got Mail.

The musical has a book by Jo Masteroff, music by Jerry Bock and lyrics by Sheldon Harnick.

The plot of She Loves Me revolves around Budapest shop employees Georg Nowack and Amalia Balash who, despite being consistently at odds with each other at work, are unaware that each is the other's secret pen pal met through lonely-hearts ads.

"She Loves Me is so many people's favourite musical for a very good reason; it is a sheer delight. A beautiful score, a storyline that has been repeated in countless variations and a message of the true meaning of love that is timeless,” said Director Nicholas Hammond.

The musical premiered on Broadway on April 23, 1963, running for 302 performances. The musical was directed by Harold Prince and choreographed by Carol Haney with the cast that featured Daniel Massey as Georg Nowack, Barbara Cook as Amalia Balash, Barbara Baxley as Ilona Ritter, Jack Cassidy as Stephen Kodaly, Nathaniel Frey as Ladislav Sipos, Ralph Williams as Arpad Laszlo, and Ludwig Donath as Mr. Maraczek.

Emma Cooperthwaite returns to Neglected Musicals to play Amalia and opposite her in the role of Georg is Shaun Rennie, whose credits include Cats and Music of Andrew Lloyd Webber. David Whitney, most recently seen in Rock of Ages, plays the role of Maraczek; Belinda Wollaston, credits include Doctor Zhivago, Side by Side with Sondheim and Jekyll & Hyde, plays Ilona Ritter.  Most recently appearing in the New Zealand production of Anything Goes, Tyran Parke will play Kodaly and Neglected Musicals regular Chris Horsey will play Sipos. 

“This will be the seventh Neglected Musical presentation since its inception in March 2010,” said producer Michelle Guthrie. “When we first launched we had many requests for She Loves Me, it is truly a special show.”

Neglected Musicals is an initiative dedicated to presenting musical theatre that has never (or rarely) been seen in Australia, whether it be that the musicals were not considered commercial enough for an Australian season or they just didn’t get picked up by an Australian producer. A musical chosen to be presented by Neglected Musicals may have had a long run on Broadway and the West End but never made it to Australia or may have had a short run off Broadway to critical acclaim but didn’t go any further for one of a hundred reasons. It may even have been a financial flop overseas but have artistic merit and worth a look.

Neglected Musicals presents a reading of a chosen show with scripts in hand, with the musical numbers sung through, after only a few rehearsals. Although the presentations do not have set or costume design – there are some design elements.

Neglected Musicals is not for profit, where the participants are volunteers. All proceeds from ticket sales fund the next Neglected Musical.

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Bookings via the Neglected Musicals website or by calling 0487 436 709

www.neglectedmusicals.com.au