A love letter to connection—just when we need it

At a time when swipes can feel like small talk and ghosting has become a verb, Harper College is betting on a musical that remembers how intimacy used to arrive—folded, stamped, and slow. She Loves Me, opening Nov. 14 at the college’s Performing Arts Center in Palatine, follows two coworkers at a 1930s Budapest perfumery who spar by day and unknowingly bare their souls to one another by night through anonymous correspondence. Director Kevin Long, Harper’s Director of Theatre and Professor of Theatre, leans into the show’s modest scale and enormous heart, framing an old-fashioned epistolary romance as a timely antidote to digital fatigue, and a reminder that vulnerability is the engine of any happy ending.

The production features book by Joe Masteroff with music by Jerry Bock and lyrics by Sheldon Harnick. Long points to the story’s lineage—from a 1937 Hungarian play to a pair of beloved films and a contemporary rom-com classic—as proof that the premise evolves with every era while the feelings remain the same, a throughline documented by Wikipedia.

Letters vs. apps

She Loves Me’s secret-pen-pal device doesn’t just drive the plot; it asks what we reveal when we write. Research into communication suggests that the slower pace and tangibility of letters encourage reflection and deeper emotional expression, aspects often blunted in rapid-fire digital exchanges, according to arXiv. That’s partly why this musical’s yearning—hope, dread, and the jittery anticipation of the next envelope—still hits home for audiences accustomed to push notifications. Reporting on the show’s Broadway revival likewise emphasized the enduring pull of its epistolary longing, as public radio coverage noted, drawing a clear contrast with modern courtship rituals, per WEKU.

Long also situates the production firmly in its historical moment. The story unfolds in 1930s Budapest, a period when European daily life balanced grace with anxiety. Musicals set in that era often mix escapism and resilience—romance on the surface, economic and social tremors underneath—an interplay that deepens the show’s warmth without ignoring its backdrop, according to TheatreTrip. That balance has helped She Loves Me thrive on big and small stages alike; critics frequently praise productions that keep the focus on character and craft. The 2016 Roundabout Theatre Company revival, for instance, earned notices for its intimate, performance-forward approach, as reported by BroadwayWorld.

The production: heart, craft, and a photo on the dresser

Harper’s staging stars Bethany Brautigam as Amalia Balash and Sam Garrison as Georg Nowack—the combative coworkers who discover, slowly and hilariously, that the strangers whose letters they cherish are standing right across the counter. Long asks actors to build robust backstories in rehearsal, a process that, in Brautigam’s case, inspired a subtle touch: a photograph of Amalia’s father nestled on her dresser as part of the set, a small prop that signals a deeper life beyond the love story. Brautigam, who holds a master’s in vocal performance from North Park University, relishes the role’s musical and comedic demands. Garrison, an associate-degree graduate of Lake Michigan College with a decade of stage work behind him, identifies with Georg’s guarded exterior and surprising romantic streak.

Design matters in a show built on reveals. Long credits designer Lauren Nichols with shaping a stylish, art nouveau environment that suggests the perfumery’s charm while flexing nimbly for scene changes. With a limited budget, the team has embraced creative transitions and precise ensemble choreography; even a simple restaurant sequence hums with specifics. Long likens the staging to an intricately woven fabric, where each performer threads the world together by action as much as by song.

A story with many lives

If the premise feels familiar, that’s by design. She Loves Me adapts Miklós László’s 1937 play Parfumerie, which later became the classic film The Shop Around the Corner (1940), then the musical In the Good Old Summertime (1949), and, decades later, the email-age rom-com You’ve Got Mail (1998), according to Wikipedia. Each version reframes anonymous affection for its own technology and temperament; Harper’s production restores the rustle of paper and the suspense of waiting.

When and how to go

She Loves Me runs Nov. 14–23 at the Harper College Performing Arts Center, 1200 W. Algonquin Rd., Palatine. The venue seats just over 400 and serves both campus and community as a professional performance hub, according to Harper College Events.

  • Performances: 7:30 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays; 2 p.m. Sundays (Nov. 14–23)
  • Tickets: $15–$25
  • Box office: 847-925-6100
  • Tickets and venue info: Harper College Events

Related free events extend the experience beyond the stage. On Oct. 29 (7–10 p.m.), Long and dramaturg Mary T. Christel host a screening of You’ve Got Mail in the campus E109 Film Lab, with singers performing selections from the show. On Nov. 1 (1–3:30 p.m.), they host The Shop Around the Corner at the Palatine Public Library (700 N. North Court), again with live musical snippets; the library requests advance registration via its website. For theatergoers who want to dig deeper, Coffee with the Director and Dramaturg sessions take place at 1 p.m. on Nov. 16 and Nov. 23 in the Performing Arts Center lobby.

A campus ready to connect

Harper’s audience is as varied as its student body, which reflects a multigenerational, multicultural mix—majorities of women, significant representation of students of color, and a wide spread of ages—data that suggests a production with broad appeal across life stages and backgrounds, according to MeetYourClass. That diversity dovetails neatly with a musical about misunderstandings, empathy, and seeing past the surface.

She Loves Me isn’t just nostalgic; it’s practical in its optimism. In a world organized by algorithms, choosing to write—to think, to wait, to risk—feels almost radical. Harper’s new staging invites audiences to practice that openness together in a shared room, to laugh at familiar foibles, and to let a single letter change the ending. In the glow of Building R’s house lights, and in a community eager for connection, that old-fashioned spark may be exactly what spills over the envelope’s edge next.