By Michael Hixon

February 16, 2011
STEPPING OUT
CLO reaches milestone
Susannah Hall (Amalia) and Jason Webb (Georg) star in 'She Loves Me.' (photo by Alysa Brennan)

The Civic Light Opera of South Bay Cities kicks off its 20th anniversary season with the acclaimed musical “She Loves Me” this week at the Redondo Beach Performing Arts Center.

Called the “theater lover’s season” by CLO executive director James Blackman, the 20th season also features “The Light in the Piazza,” “Company” and “Thoroughly Modern Millie.” Blackman opened the CLO in 1992 with “Mame.”

Now the 20th season opens with audience-friendly “She Loves Me” by the same team (music by Jerry Bock and lyrics by Sheldon Harnick) who created “Fiddler on the Roof.”

“It’s really special,” said director Stephanie Coltrin. “The story is so sweet and you really care about these people so much. The story isn’t overly complicated … it felt like a great show for Valentine’s Day. It’s also one of my favorite shows.”

Based on the Hungarian play by Miklos Laszlo, “Parfumerie,” “She Loves Me” follows the story of Amalia (Susannah Hall) and Georg (Jason Webb), who find themselves butting heads as employees of Maraczek’s Parfumerie. But the two are looking for love and join a lonely hearts club. Unknowingly, they join the same club and find themselves smitten with each other, at least as pen pals. With a cast of characters with their own love issues, Amalia and Georg must eventually overcome their animosity to find true love.

“She Loves Me” is the fifth adaptation of Laszlo’s play. Besides “She Loves Me,” it spawned the movies “The Shop Around the Corner,” released in 1940, starring James Stewart and Margaret Sullivan; “In the Good Old Summertime” in 1949 starring Judy Garland and Van Johnson; and “You’ve Got Mail” with Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan.

Olivier Award winner Lesli Margherita plays Ilona Ritter, a cash register girl who has bad luck with men. Her latest bad luck is with salesman Stephen Kodaly (Mark Edgar Stephens). Margherita said the main challenge is keeping the characters “real.”

“It’s so fun and you can be so over the top, so the challenge is keeping them real and real enough where you really understand why she’s with him, because he’s such a cad,” she said. “He has some redeeming qualities that she sees in him.”

Stephens said Kodaly has a “lot of things going with a lot of different women.”

“Though she suspects it, we never really talk about it, but it becomes really clear throughout the production that I’m quite the womanizer and enjoying it,” Stephens said. “Pretty much everyone here is for my pleasure, and if I don’t get something from it then they aren’t really useful for me.”

“She Loves Me” previews run Thursday, Feb. 17, and Friday, Feb. 18. The gala opening is Saturday, Feb. 19, at 8 p.m. The regular schedule is Tuesdays through Saturdays at 8 p.m. Saturday matinees at 2 p.m. take place Feb. 26 and March 5. Sunday matinees take place at 2 p.m. Feb. 20 and 27 and March 6.

The Redondo Beach Performing Arts Center is located at 1935 Manhattan Beach Blvd. For more information, visit www.civiclightopera.com or call (310) 372-4477.