British theater critics have given generally positive reviews to the Sheffield revival of the 1963 musical She Loves Me, adapted from the 1937 play Parfumerie by Miklós László, which is playing at the Crucible Theatre through January 15. The creative team includes Joe Masteroff (book), Jerry Bock (music), Sheldon Harnick (lyrics), Robert Hastie (direction), Ben Stones (production design), Caroline Humphris (music direction), Ewan Jones (choreography), Jessica Hung Han Yun (lights), Jason Carr (orchestrations), and Mike Walker (sound).
The cast Includes Adele Anderson (Maitress D’), Lewis Cornay (Arpad Laszlo), Andy Coxon (Steven Kodaly), Marc Elliott (Ladislav Sipos), Kaisa Hammarlund (Ilona Ritter), Karl Seth (Zoltan Maraczek), David Thaxton (Georg Nowack), and Alex Young (Amalia Balash), with ensemble members Zac Adlam, Michael Anderson, Alex Christian, Kamau Davis, Lawrence Guntert, Samantha Hull, Kate Playdon, Gleanne Purcell-Brown.
Guardian (Nick Ahad): Characters in the grip of crushing loneliness, laments on a life wasted: it doesn’t feel very Christmassy. It does, however, feel like a musical for now; festive love in a time of Covid. … The story of a warring couple who fall in loathe-at-first-sight … brought together Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan in You’ve Got Mail. … David Thaxton and Alex Young have a charm … but play the piece with a postmodern sensibility. … The pair find layers to their performances; this is deeper than your average romcom and while it lacks the big numbers … it does have something to say about the sadness that can accompany the sleigh bells at this time of year. 4 out of 5 stars.
WhatsOnStage (Ron Simpson): Sheffield Crucible has a fine record of high-energy blockbuster musicals at Christmas, but She Loves Me comes out of quite a different stable. Not that there’s any lack of energy … but the tone is quite different, sophisticated, almost European. … David Thaxton and Alex Young play Georg and Amalia in suitably anti-romantic style, he disturbed by her intrusion into his nonchalantly self-satisfied lifestyle, she aspirational, prickly, more obviously on the edge, both revealing romantic dreams in stolen moments. … This is an intimate musical successfully translated into an epic acting area. 4 out of 5 stars.