Broadway veteran Steven Pasquale has joined the cast of a one-night only concert reading of the beloved romantic musical She Loves Me, celebrating Roundabout Theatre Company’s 20th anniversary of producing on Broadway. Pasquale replaces the previously announced Cheyenne Jackson, who told his Twitter followers that he had to drop out "because of pilot filming." Pasquale joins a cast that features Tony winner Jane Krakowski, three-time Tony nominee Kelli O’Hara, Josh Radnor, Tony nominee Michael McGrath, Tony nominee Rory O’Malley and four-time Tony nominee Victor Garber. The performance will take place on December 5 at the Stephen Sondheim Theatre, directed by Scott Ellis.
She Loves Me features a book by Joe Masteroff (Cabaret), music by Jerry Bock and lyrics by Sheldon Harnick (Fiddler on the Roof). It is a musical adaptation of Parfumerie by Hungarian playwright Miklos Laszlo, which also served as the inspiration for the films The Shop Around the Corner and You’ve Got Mail. Perfume shop employees Georg Nowack (Radnor) and Amalia Balash (O’Hara) are constantly at odds with each other at work, unaware that each is the other's secret pen pal met through lonely-hearts ads. Pasquale will play the suave Steven Kodaly and Krakowski is cast as flirtatious Ilona Ritter. Garber plays perfume shop owner Mr. Maraczek, O'Malley plays Arpad Laszlo and McGrath is Ladislav Sipos.
The company of She Loves Me will also include Peter Bartlett, Jane Brockman, Rachel de Benedet, Rebecca Eichenberger, Gina Ferrall, Rob Lorey, Jeffrey Schecter, Jessica Vosk and Jim Walton. The show, which includes musical theater favorites like “Tonight at Eight,” “Will He Like Me?,” “Vanilla Ice Cream” and “She Loves Me,” debuted on Broadway in 1963 under the direction of Harold Prince. Roundabout revived the show in 1993 in a production (directed by Ellis) that transferred to Broadway and earned a Best Actor Tony for Boyd Gaines as Georg.
She Loves Me will feature musical staging by JoAnn M. Hunter and musical director Paul Gemignani will lead a 15-member orchestra with orchestrations by Don Walker. The design team includes Derek McLane (sets), Jeff Mahshie (costumes), Peter Kaczorowski (lights) and Brian Ronan (sound).