Theatre Frisco stages a crowd-pleasing classic musical romantic comedy with “She Loves Me”

When Samantha Snow saw she would have an opportunity to audition for one of her dream roles, she wasted no time starting to prepare. A year later, she’s getting the chance to play that role onstage at Theatre Frisco in its production of the romantic comedy musical “She Loves Me.” The show, directed by Theatre Frisco Artistic Director Andi Allen, runs through August 11.

Snow plays Amalia Balash, a shop clerk at a Budapest perfumery in the 1930s. She works alongside Georg Nowack, a quirky and eccentric fellow clerk at the shop. The two often bicker with one another but don’t yet realize they’ve also been exchanging frequent love letters as each other’s anonymous admirers after responding to the same local “lonely hearts” newspaper advertisement. “She Loves Me” is based on the Hungarian play “Parfumerie,” which spawned several other adaptations like the popular Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan film “You’ve Got Mail.”

“Amalia is such a sassy character. There’s not very many classic musical theater roles like her for women,” Snow says, adding that the role is “a great showcase” for soprano singers like herself. A longtime fan of the show, Snow’s seen “She Loves Me” “a gazillion times.” Even with that familiarity, she started practicing the musical’s numbers as soon as she saw the show announcement “just in case” she had the opportunity to play Amalia.

Much like Snow, Jacob Catalano “jumped” at the chance to audition for “She Loves Me.” He describes his character, Georg, as a “very deep” role. “I get the opportunity to range the gambit of emotions in the show, which is a lot of fun,” Catalano says, noting that his character has both the profound, intense emotions that come with “being madly in love with someone” along with a shy and silly side.

Both Catalano and Snow praised the rehearsal process at Theatre Frisco for helping them prepare for their extensive roles. “The music in the show is deceptively difficult,” Catalano says. He and Snow credit Theatre Frisco’s personalized music rehearsals for helping them work through their different numbers.

Likewise, the preparedness of the rest of the cast and crew helped the actors quickly dive deep into their characters. “This rehearsal process has been an absolute dream because everyone came in knowing their stuff, and we were able to get it on its feet so quickly,” Snow says. “It’s been great to just be able to play around for a month or so to figure out the chemistry and the little beats.”

All that hard work comes together into a production that Catalano says is the kind of show that makes audiences “feel happy and relaxed.” “After so many years and decades of the show being around, it holds up,” Catalano says, calling “She Loves Me” a throwback to the big musical screen productions of the 50s and 60s. “It’s a funny, just happy-go-lucky show.”

The Theatre Frisco production of “She Loves Me” runs through August 11 at Frisco Discovery Center’s Black Box Theater. For more information, including how to purchase tickets, visit  https://www.theatrefrisco.com/.

These interviews have been edited for clarity.