Head in the Clouds, Heart on the Ground

Been gone awhile...but I feel compelled to write my immediate thoughts of “She Loves Me”, a Broadway musical that I just finished minutes ago on Broadway HD. I’ve been wanting to see the show for a while, since I am a HUGE Zachary Levi fan (from the “Chuck” days), and a recent Laura Benanti fan. Sadly, I’m not able to make it to NYC in time to see it live in person before it closes this weekend, and so the encore of the Live Screening will have to do.

Overall, I found the show to be better-than-average, and maybe even great, but not spectacular. The book was surprisingly not well-paced, with much of the best Georg-Amalia scenes at the end. I found the best scene to be when Georg goes to Amalia’s apartment and the best song to be the ensuing “Vanilla Ice Cream”. For me, I kept waiting for the romance between Georg and Amalia to begin...after all, it is called “She Loves Me”. And so, I was a bit disappointed when they wrapped much of the romance into “Twelve Days of Christmas” (though it was a delightful montage). It would have been better if there was more of the romance throughout the second act... and more of the “happily ever after”. After all, isn’t that the best part? I mean seriously, they find out about “Dear Friend” being Georg, and that’s IT?! I also found the side plots to be distracting and unnecessary (especially the abruptly hot-cold Ilona-Kodaly relationship, which was blazing with passion in “Ilona” and then, two seconds later, extinguished without reasonable justification in “I Resolve”).

The music was good, but not extremely memorable. Some of the songs seemed trivial (“Days Gone By”, “I Don’t Know His Name”, “A Trip to the Library”) and banal (“I Resolve”). A few will remain in my mind (“Where’s My Shoe”, “She Loves Me”), but maybe only “Vanilla Ice Cream” will stay there past tomorrow. I’d say the singing was definitely impressive overall, with Laura Benanti standing out the most. Zachary Levi was also surprisingly good, considering that this is only his second try at Broadway musicals (He was definitely better than Robert Fairchild in “An American in Paris”). In terms of acting, both Levi and Benanti were excellent, but Benanti really sparkled. It brought to mind what her husband said about her performance of Instagram: “My wife was born to play this role”. Indeed, there were moments when I was so impressed that I wondered why she didn’t win the Best Leading Actress in a Musical Tony Award.

David Rockwell, the set designer, did win the Tony Award for Best Scenic Design in a Musical, and it was very well deserved. I loved the set design, especially the shop, which swiveled around to show the interior and then closed like a book to show the exterior. That was genius. The costumes were also gorgeously designed, with Zachary Levi looking as handsome as a true 1930s gentleman. Laura Benanti, beautiful as always, was also especially ravishing in her perfectly tailored dresses.

One aspect of the show that I found particularly disappointing overall was the choreography. While there were definitely highlights that stood out (“Where’s My Shoe”, “Twelve Days of Christmas”, “Ilona”), there was only one big technique-heavy, impressive dance number (“A Romantic Atmosphere”). There were many small moments that were well-choreographed, but nothing obviously worthy of the Tony Awards (as in, that’s why they performed the mismatched medley of songs during the Tonys).

Overall, there were very few moments in the show when I yearned to be in the actual theater. And that to me is a sign that this is a musical that will be forgotten in the dust next season, and while immortalized as the first Broadway show to be live-screened, won’t be frozen in time as one of the best.