She Loves Me
She Loves Me is a a Broadway musical written by Joe Masteroff, Sheldon Harnick, and Jerry Bock. It is based on the same source material as You've Got Mail and The Shop Around the Corner. She Loves Me is set in a small Hungarian parfumerie in the 1930s. It centers around the relationship of shop clerk Georg Novak and his "Dear Friend," the woman with whom he has been anonymously corresponding. Shortly after the curtain rises, Maraczek's Parfumerie gains a new clerk, a young woman named Amalia Balash. When Georg and Amalia meet, it's antagonism at first sight. What neither knows is that they are each other's secret penpal love.
Tropes used in She Loves Me include:
- Belligerent Sexual Tension: Georg and Amalia
- Beta Couple: Ilona and Kodaly
- Dramatic Irony: "Three Letters" reveals to the audience that Georg and Amalia are in love with each other while the characters are still oblivious.
- "Falling in Love" Montage: In an unconventional version, vignettes during "Twelve Days to Christmas" show Georg and Amalia growing closer.
- I Have This Friend: In a variant, during the song "Tango Tragique," Georg tells Amalia a story about a made-up friend who met a man she'd met through letters and ended up missing.
- Love Before First Sight: The entire plot of the show.
- Love Epiphany: Georg in the title song.
- Mood Whiplash: After Maraczek attempts to kill himself, the next number is a humorous crowd song.
- Villain Love Song: "Ilona"