San Francisco Playhouse Strikes Gold With "She Loves Me"

When Susi Damilano came out on stage to introduce her latest SF Playhouse production, “She Loves Me,” the audience was told that opening night jitters were contained by exhaustive preparation.

“The cast and entire crew are so well rehearsed that we just want to raise the curtain and get started,” she said.

As Bay Area arts critics agree, she delivered on that promise, and more. A complete triumph in every regard.

Amalia Balash (Monqiue Hafen*) and Georg Nowack (Jeffrey Brian Adams*) in front of Maraczek’s parfumerie.

The musical direction by David Aaron Brown was exceptional, too, with a tight jazzy ensemble blowing off the rafters.

For those unfamiliar with the plot:

She Loves Me follows Amalia and Georg, two perfume shop clerks who don’t quite see eye to eye. Constantly bumping heads while on the job, the sparring coworkers can’t seem to find common ground. After they each respond to a “lonely hearts advertisement” in the newspaper, they start to fall for their anonymous pen pals—but will love continue to blossom once their identities are finally revealed?

For more on SF Playhouse, check out past posts in Bay Crossings and this year's column.