She Loves Me
February 2 – 25, 2024
GK Hardt Theater
book Joe Masteroff music Jerry Bock lyrics Sheldon Harnick
director Emily Cornelius, music director Lucas Sherman, choreographer Joey Favalora
What Happens when Anonymous Pen Pals Discover their True Identities?
“This was a sensational production of the Broadway classic “She Loves Me”, overlooked in its time but more appreciated now. The cast is outstanding, led by Lorenzo Alviso and Molly Larsen-Shine as Georg Nowak and Amalia Balash. The band is also great, and sets and costumes evoke the interwar Hungarian parfumerie. I highly recommend this show.”—Chris Alexander, Santa Rosa
“The cast was amazing. The sets and music too. We had a wonderful time and can’t wait to come back. Already told a bunch of friends and family that they need to see it too!”— Christine Thorne, Santa Rosa
“The show was outstanding. I loved the performance. The actors were marvelous, set design wonderful and amazing costumes for the era. Loved the music, humor and overall writing of the play. Well done!!”—Yvonne Koslowsky, Cloverdale, CA
She Loves Me is a charming, sentimental and romantic musical comedy set in an elegant 1930s parfumerie in Budapest. Inside the jewel-box shop, love is in the air, but it doesn’t always smell like roses.
Combative shop clerks, Amalia and Georg have disliked each other since they met. He thinks she is stuck up. She thinks he’s arrogant and mean. What they don’t realize is that they are each other’s ‘lonely hearts’ pen pals.
The story may be familiar. Miklós Láslós’s play, Parfumerie, on which it is based, has inspired many adaptations, including the beloved films The Shop around the Corner and You’ve Got Mail.
Featuring a score by Jerry Bock and Sheldon Harnick (Fiddler on the Roof) and a book by Joe Masteroff (Cabaret), She Loves Me is an enduring favorite among true lovers of musical theatre. Among connoisseurs, it is widely considered one of the best-constructed musicals ever written.
Featured Cast
Molly Larsen-Shine
Molly Larsen-Shine (she/her) has been doing theater around Sonoma County for almost two decades! Favorite credits include Polly Peachum in Threepenny Opera and Mouse/Squirrel/Mole/Bird in A Year with Frog and Toad (6th St Playhouse), Cosette in Les Misérables (Music to My Ears), Little Becky Two Shoes in Urinetown, Waitress/Gayle/Rhonda in Almost, Maine, and Alma Hix in Music Man (Spreckels Performing Arts Center), and most recently Elsa Schraeder in The Sound of Music (Cinnabar Theater)
Lorenzo Alviso
Lorenzo Alviso is a Sonoma County-grown Bay Area actor and vocalist who has been seen on the 6th Street stages as Nigel Bottom in Something Rotten, Duarte in The River Bride, Sebastian in Illyria, and Jean-Michel in La Cage Aux Folles. Other favorite roles include Raoul in The Phantom of the Opera, David in Company, Prince Herbert in Spamalot, Brad Majors in The Rocky Horror Show, and John Ernest Worthing in The Importance of Being Earnest.
Julianne Bretan
Julianne Bretan is excited to return to 6th Street Playhouse in this beautiful show. Last summer, you may have also seen her sing about the magic of books as Portia in Something Rotten! Favorite roles include Marian Paroo in The Music Man, Hope Cladwell in Urinetown, Kate McGowan in Titanic, the Musical, Ariel in Disney’s The Little Mermaid (Spreckels), Johanna in Sweeney Todd, Natalie Goodman in Next to Normal (NTC/Theater-at-Large), Sally Brown in You’re a Good Man, Charlie Brown!, Cathy Hiatt in The Last Five Years (NTC), Babe Williams in The Pajama Game (MMTC), and Olive Ostrovsky in …Spelling Bee (STM).
Drew Bolander
Drew Bolander is delighted to be making his 6th Street Playhouse debut. A Santa Rosa native, he spent most of his life based in NYC where he performed in anything they would let him: from opera to circus. There he helmed the short lived but critically acclaimed Little Flame Theatre Co., that produced classical theatre with a queer bent, until the company folded due to the 2020 pandemic. Since returning to the best coast he has become an avid gardener and is excited to get to know the SoCo theatre scene. Favorite MT roles include: Joseph in Joseph…Dreamcoat, John Jasper in The Mystery of Edwin Drood, Johnny Cash in Ring of Fire, Kid Conner in The Red Mill, Sparky in Forever Plaid, and Lawrence in The Andrew’s Brothers. Education: BFA North Carolina School of the Arts, and SRHS Artquest Music and Drama. Go Panthers!
Sean O’Brien
Sean O’Brien (Sipos) is happy to be making his 6th Playhouse debut with this show. He has appeared elsewhere around the area with the Spreckels Theater Company, Sonoma Arts Live, Lucky Penny Productions, the Mountain Play, and Theatre-at-Large. Some of his favorite roles have been the Mysterious Man and also the Baker (Into the Woods), Daddy Cane (Bright Star), the Doctor (Next to Normal), Mr. Andrews (Titanic), Beadle Bamford (Sweeney Todd), and Scuttle (The Little Mermaid).