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Students and faculty at the Las Positas Theater Arts department are preparing to bring classic musical theater to life to Tri-Valley audiences in the present day, with opening night for their latest production “She Loves Me” coming up this weekend.
The department’s upcoming spring musical is set to offer students in the college’s actors’ conservancy and other stagecraft programs the opportunity to bring lessons from the classroom to the stage, turning toward material from more than 50 years ago as a departure from their steady stream of musical theater productions showcasing more modern works.
“We’ve touched on Golden Age musical theater in class a lot, but I thought really it was about time for us as a school to produce one of these big, classic musicals,” said Dyan McBride, theater professor at Las Positas College and director of the upcoming show.
McBride said she had always been a fan of “She Loves Me,” and that it showcases one of the best scores of the 20th century, along with other characteristics of what define the “Golden Age” of musical theater.
“A Golden Age musical means that a song actually furthers the plot, so it’s not just a song that exists for nothing,” McBride said. “It’s a song that might explain more about a character, but for the most part it’s solving a problem, or it’s taking the plot further down the line or it’s a reaction to something that’s happened.”
The plot of “She Loves Me” takes place in the world of Maraczek’s Parfumerie set in Budapest in the 1930’s, showcasing the world of what McBride described as “funny, glamorous, and giddy clerks” in “a valentine of a musical.” It debuted in 1963 at the Broadway theater named after playwright Eugene O’Neill to wide acclaim, garnering five Tony Award nominations the following year.
“There’s nothing in the show that’s extraneous,” McBride said. “Everything moves something to a deeper and richer place.”
The plot centers around two perfume shop clerks, Georg and Amalia, who butt heads at work yet find themselves unknowingly involved in a secret pen-pal romance with each other.
The 1963 musical was based on an earlier play called “Perfumery,” with the basic plot having taken on numerous other iterations since then.
“There have been a lot of different versions of this story told,” McBride said, pointing to the films “The Shop Around the Corner” and “You’ve Got Mail”.
“I like plays about love and I like plays about feelings,” McBride said. “So there’s all kinds of love that exists in this play, some that works out and some that doesn’t, and some that looks like mentorship and inspiration. And so there’s all these different iterations of love that I think it’s important to experience.
In addition to having strong material to work with, McBride pointed to the trials and tribulations of having access to a strong pool of talent in the form of students in the college’s actors conservatory and other performance arts programs.
“We have an incredibly robust program,” McBride said. “I could have cast this show two times over. I have a full understudy cast that could go on any time and be just as good, which is a really nice place to be.”
Nonetheless, she noted that the wide talent pool posed a challenge while casting.
“It’s really hard when you have that much talent to cast and decide who’s going to go where, because everyone is really good,” McBride said.
“She Loves Me” debuts this Friday (March 15) at 8 p.m. with additional performances set for Saturday at 8 p.m. and Sunday at 2 p.m. The show continues for a second and final weekend on March 22 and March 23 at 8 p.m. and on March 24 at 2 p.m. More information and tickets are available at laspositascollege.edu.
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