LOVE CAN’T HIDE
BEHIND PAPER AND PEN.
Another day in the local perfume shop, circa 1930. Two clerks hate each other, not knowing that they are secret pen pals on their way to falling in love. Two other clerks are having an affair, but one of them is not playing by the rules. As fall gives way to winter, will love prevail?
With its charming score, witty lyrics, and sophisticated story, She Loves Me is the perfect romantic comedy. Brighten up winter with some happily-ever-after!
She Loves Me
Friday, February 18 at 8 pm
Sunday, February 20 at 2:30 pm
Capitol Theater
Sung in English with projected text
approximate run time: 3 hours, including one intermission
She Loves Me
Music by Jerry Bock
Lyrics by Sheldon Harnick
Book by Joe Masteroff
Based on a play by Miklós László
Premiered 23 April 1963
Eugene O’Neill Theatre, New York City
Madison Opera premiere
Budapest, 1930s
ACT I
On a beautiful summer day, the employees of Maraczek’s Parfumerie arrive at work. Working at the shop are salesman Ladislav Sipos; delivery boy Arpad Laszlo; Ilona Ritter, who is having an affair with Steven Kodaly; and Georg Nowack, the assistant manager.
Georg has been exchanging letters with an anonymous woman he knows only as “dear friend,” and he shares today’s letter with Sipos. Mr. Maraczek advises Georg to get married and recalls being a bachelor.
Arpad stocks the shelves with a new musical cigarette case that Mr. Maraczek insists will sell rapidly. A young woman named Amalia Balash enters, hoping to obtain a job at the Parfumerie. When Georg tells her they are not hiring, she takes one of the cigarette cases and sells it to a customer. Mr. Maraczek is impressed and immediately hires her.
As summer turns into autumn and then early winter, tension grows in the shop. Ilona and Kodaly are at odds, Mr. Maraczek is increasingly short-tempered with Georg, and Georg and Amalia bicker constantly. Georg finds solace in his anonymous romantic pen pal, not suspecting that his correspondent is none other than Amalia.
Finally, in early December, the two “dear friends” arrange to meet in person. In one part of the shop, Georg tells Sipos that he will be meeting his “dear friend” that evening. In the storeroom, Amalia explains to Ilona that even though she has not met her “dear friend” yet, she knows him very well from his letters.
Mr. Maraczek insists that everyone stay late to decorate for Christmas, but Amalia says she must leave early for her date. Georg asks to leave, too, but Mr. Maraczek refuses to let him go, so Georg angrily quits.
Kodaly romances Ilona, only to break their date at the last minute. Ilona declares that she will never fall for a man like him again.
Mr. Maraczek’s private investigator tells him that Kodaly is having an affair with his wife. Maraczek had assumed that her affair was with Georg. The investigator leaves, and Maraczek’s wife calls to say she’ll be out late. Maraczek points a gun at his head and pulls the trigger.
In the Café Imperiale, Amalia waits with a copy of Anna Karenina and a rose, so her “dear friend” will recognize her. Georg and Sipos enter and are shocked to realize that Amalia is Georg’s date; however, Amalia does not know Georg is her “dear friend.” Georg sits at Amalia’s table and mocks her. They argue, and Georg leaves. As the café closes, Amalia is left waiting for her “dear friend.”
ACT II
The next day, Arpad visits Mr. Maraczek in the hospital and begs to be promoted to sales clerk. Georg also stops by; Mr. Maraczek apologizes and asks him to return to his job. Mr. Maraczek tells Georg to fire Kodaly and mentions that Amalia has called in sick.
Worried about Amalia, Georg visits her at her apartment. Worried that he has come to spy on her and tell the others she is not really sick, she attempts to get ready for work. Georg forces her back to bed and presents her with a gift: ice cream. He apologizes for his rudeness the previous night, but Amalia tells him that he was right; if “dear friend” really loved her, he would have come. Georg, meaning well, makes up a story that he saw an old, bald, fat gentleman looking into the café. Georg says the man told him that he had to work and could not meet his date, and Georg surmises that he must be her “dear friend”. After Georg leaves, Amalia begins a letter to “dear friend,” but can only think of Georg’s kindness.
Outside the shop, Georg happily muses to himself that Amalia loves him. At Maraczek’s, Ilona tells Sipos that she has met a new man while visiting the library. Georg fires Kodaly, who bids everyone a semi-threatening goodbye.
In the days before Christmas, the employees are busy helping shoppers, and Georg and Amalia enjoy each other’s company. On Christmas Eve, Amalia tells Georg she has invited “dear friend” to spend the evening with her and her mother. She invites Georg as well, and he hesitatingly accepts. Ilona announces her plans to accept her new boyfriend’s proposal that night. Sipos leaves to join his family’s Christmas party, and Maraczek takes Arpad for a night on the town.
Georg helps Amalia with her packages as she leaves the shop, and they accidentally drop one of the musical cigarette boxes. Amalia intends to give it to “dear friend,” but Georg says he would like it, as it will remind him of the day he met her. He admits that he thought he could fall in love with her; she confesses to having similar feelings. Georg begins reciting aloud one of Amalia’s letters, and Amalia realizes that Georg really is “dear friend.” The two embrace.
Photos
Video
Cast
Susannah Biller
Amalia Balash
Madison Opera Debut
Recently: Countess Almaviva, The Marriage of Figaro (Opera Theatre of St. Louis); Musetta, La Bohème (Austin Opera); Madame White Snake, Madame White Snake (Hong Kong Arts Festival); Kitty Packard, Dinner at Eight (Wexford Festival Opera, Minnesota Opera); Rosalinde, Die Fledermaus; Eurydice, Orphée et Eurydice (Des Moines Metro Opera); Lieschen, Der Ring des Polykrates (Dallas Opera); Norina, Don Pasquale (Minnesota Opera)
Upcoming: Micaëla, Carmen (Opera Colorado); Mother, Woman with Eyes Closed (Opera Philadelphia)
Emily Glick
Ilona Ritter
Madison Opera Debut: Petra, A Little Night Music (2019)
Recently at MO: Digital 20/21 Season
Recently: Rona, The Amateurs (Forward Theatre Company); Demeter, Hephaestus (Music Theatre of Madison); Mrs. Bucket, Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory (Children’s Theatre of Madison); Rose, A Shayna Maidel; Mary Boyle, Juno (TimeLine Theatre Company); Quintet, Sweeney Todd (Paramount Theatre); Colette, La Cage aux Folles; Marie, The Nutcracker (Marriott Theatre); Clara, The Yiddisher Teddy Bears (The Public Theatre)
Upcoming: Juno, Orpheus in the Underworld (Madison Opera)
Ben Edquist
Georg Nowack
Madison Opera Debut: Opera in the Park 2019
Recently at MO: Hawkins Fuller, Fellow Travelers; Digital 20/21 Season
Recently: Anthony Hope, Sweeney Todd (Des Moines Metro Opera); Hannah Before, As One; Figaro, The Barber of Seville (Painted Sky Opera); Older Thompson, Glory Denied (Houston Grand Opera, Opera Fayetteville); Emperor, The Emperor of Atlantis; Pierrot, L’Île de Merlin; Father, The Juniper Tree; William, The Fall of the House of Usher (Wolf Trap Opera); William Dale, Silent Night (Austin Opera); Remo, The Skating Rink (Garsington Opera); Manfred, Out of Darkness (Atlanta Opera); Belcore, The Elixir of Love (Houston Grand Opera)
Upcoming: Virgil, Lavinia; Alexios, Anna Komnene (Lincoln Center); Papageno, The Magic Flute; Dr. Sanson Carrasco, The Man of La Mancha (Utah Festival Opera)
Andrew Bidlack
Steven Kodaly
Madison Opera Debut: Tamino, The Magic Flute (2017)
Recently: Lyonnel, Le roi Arthus (Bard Festival); Rob Hall, Everest (Austin Opera, Calgary Opera, Chicago Opera Theater); Young Gypsy, Aleko; Greenhorn, Moby Dick (Chicago Opera Theater); Tony, West Side Story (Lyric Opera of Kansas City, Liepāja Symphony Orchestra); Andy, Stonewall (New York City Opera); Nikolaus Sprink, Silent Night (Arizona Opera)
Upcoming: Lyonnel, Le roi Arthus (Tirolier Festival); Rob Hall, Everest (BBC Symphony Orchestra); Doctor, The Diving Bell and the Butterfly (Dallas Opera)
Alan Dunbar
Ladislav Sipos
Madison Opera Debut: Alidoro, Cinderella (2012)
Recently at MO: Digital 2020/21 Season; Sen. Joseph McCarthy/Interrogator/Estonian Frank, Fellow Travelers; Papageno, The Magic Flute; Schaunard, La Bohème; Dr. Bartolo, The Barber of Seville; Owen Hart, Dead Man Walking
Recently: Bass soloist, Bach Cantata BWV 56 (Water Music at the Minnesota Marine Art Museum); Bass soloist, Messiah (Bach Roots Festival); Tarquinius, The Rape of Lucretia (An Opera Theatre, Minneapolis)
Upcoming: Bass soloist, Bach B Minor Mass (Bach Society of Minnesota); Die schöne Müllerin (Winona, MN)
Jeff Mattsey
Zoltan Maraczek
Madison Opera Debut: Count Almaviva, The Marriage of Figaro (2010)
Recently: Uncle John, The Grapes of Wrath (Michigan Opera Theatre); Germont, La Traviata; Mayor Shinn, The Music Man (Pacific Symphony); Alfred Doolittle, My Fair Lady (Utah Symphony); Montano, Otello; Marco, Gianni Schicchi; Vicomte Cascada, The Merry Widow (Metropolitan Opera)
Upcoming: Montano, Otello (Pacific Symphony)
Walker Stephenson
Arpad Laszlo
Madison Opera Debut
Recently: Adam (understudy), Mom, How Did You Meet The Beatles?; Wyatt Cameron, Two Steps Forward: Monologue Festival; John/Christian, Fun Home (Forward Theater); Charlie, Willy Wonka; Mowgli, Jungle Book (Children’s Theater of Madison); Dr.Gibbs, Our Town; Prez, Pajama Game; Peter, Peter and the Starcatcher (Madison Country Day School)
Robert A. Goderich
Headwaiter
Madison Opera Debut: Amelia’s Servant, A Masked Ball (2012)
Recently with MO: Digital 20/21 Season; Beppe, Pagliacci; 1st Priest / Armored Man, The Magic Flute; Spalanzani, The Tales of Hoffmann; Pirelli, Sweeney Todd
Recently: Beadle Bamford, Sweeney Todd (Middleton Players Theater); Pirelli, Sweeney Todd (Skylight Music Theater, cover San Francisco Opera); Albin, La Cage aux Folles (Music Theater of Madison)
John DeMain
Conductor
Madison Opera Debut: The Magic Flute (1995)
Recently at MO: Lucia di Lammermoor, Digital Opera in the Park 2020, Fellow Travelers, La Traviata
Recently: Blue (Glimmerglass Festival); Candide (Gran Teatre de Liceu); Porgy and Bess (Seattle Opera, Glimmerglass Festival); Lost in the Stars (Washington National Opera)
Upcoming: Orpheus in the Underworld (Madison Opera)
Doug Scholz-Carlson
Stage Director
Madison Opera Debut: The Tender Land (2008)
Recently at MO: A Little Night Music, Romeo & Juliet, The Barber of Seville, The Turn of the Screw
Recently: Intimacy Director, Fire Shut Up in My Bones, Eurydice, Rigoletto (Metropolitan Opera); Stage Director, Cymbeline, Richard III (Great River Shakespeare Festival); Stage Director, Albert Herring, La Fanciulla del West (Minnesota Opera)
Recently: Intimacy Director, Hamlet, Lucia di Lammermoor (Metropolitan Opera)
