With songs like "Vanilla Ice Cream" and "No More Candy" and a story set in a 1930s Hungarian parfumerie, you better believe that Arizona Repertory Theatre's latest musical, "She Loves Me," drips with unfettered sweetness.
Perhaps a little too sweet for some.
If you are looking for a contemporary musical drama tackling tough issues through song, "She Loves Me" may not be the production for you.
But if it is a charmingly nostalgic, lighthearted love story you crave, the 2 1/2-hour show, based on Miklos Laszlo's 1937 play "Parfumerie," will make you feel just like a kid in a candy store.
"She Loves Me" harks back to a more innocent time and place — 1934 Budapest, to be exact.
Georg Nowack (Joey Snider) and Amalia Balash (Alison Pahler) are co-workers at a well-to-do parfumerie that caters to Hungary's finest.
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They also happen to hate each other.
Nowack finds Balash to be pushy and rude. Balash can't stand Nowack's condescending attitude.
If they only knew that, thanks to a simple twist of fate, they had made an anonymous love connection with each other through a Lonely Hearts letter-writing club long before they met in person. And while they yell and argue relentlessly at work, it is their "Dear Friend" letters to each other that lift their spirits and brighten up their lives.
"When a day brings petty aggravations / and my poor frayed nerves are all askew / I forget these unimportant matters / pouring out my hopes and dreams to you," sings Nowack, going over his latest love note early in the performance.
It is hard to believe that all of the actors involved in "She Loves Me" are mere students with the University of Arizona's School of Theatre Arts.
Many members of the musical's cast handled their roles like seasoned pros. Actors like Snider; Christopher Violett, who plays ladies man Steven Kodaly; and Sarah Spigelman as parfumerie worker Ilona Ritter nearly put the original 1963 cast recording to shame with their well-honed vocal performances.
And Pahler exudes unbridled emotion in her role as Balash.
"Will he like me when we meet / Will the shy and quiet girl he's going to see / Be the girl that he's imagined me to be," Pahler sings in a moment of hesitant anticipation for Balash, who makes plans to meet with her mystery pen pal later that evening.
Keeping things light and elegant are the beautiful set and costume designs, which were conceived in a Fabergé-egg style, according to director Richard Hanson.
Audience members were treated to bright costumes — gold, purple and blue dresses — and the elaborate two-story parfumerie, with its gold-striped wallpaper motif and bathed in colorful lighting, pleased the eye.
Added treats to an already decadently sweet production.
● Arizona Repertory Theatre's production of "She Loves Me" is at 7:30 p.m. today. Shows run through April 30 at the UA Laboratory Theatre, located on the southeast corner of North Park Avenue and East Speedway. Tickets cost $29, with discounts available. 621-1162.
