A Nonstop Smile

By WILLIAM A. HENRY III

TITLE: SHE LOVES ME

AUTHORS: MUSIC BY JERRY BOCK; LYRICS BY SHELDON HARNICK; BOOK BY JOE MASTEROFF

WHERE: BROADWAY

THE BOTTOM LINE: The cult secret is out: this comic charmer about pen paramours who meet is one of the all-time greats.

When it opened during the 1963-64 Broadway season, this sweet, sly string quartet of a musical was drowned out by the brass of Funny Girl and the percussion of Hello, Dolly! -- not to mention star turns by Bea Lillie in High Spirits, Bert Lahr in Foxy and Bob Fosse in Pal Joey. During the decades since, She Loves Me has become a closet favorite of theater insiders. At last, the cognoscenti have let the rest of the world in on the secret. A perfect revival opened last week, a 2 1/2-hour nonstop smile punctuated by laughter and a lacing of sentimental tears.

Set in 1934 Budapest, an eerily familiar time of economic troubles when store clerks fret about losing their jobs and customers are kings, She Loves Me is based on a Hungarian play that also inspired movies: The Shop Around the Corner with Jimmy Stewart and In the Good Old Summertime with Judy Garland. Its situation is delicious: two employees of the same cosmetics shop "meet" through an equivalent of a personals ad and write passionate letters without | any idea that they know -- and despise -- each other. In daily life they are dull and ordinary. Setting pen to paper, they are romantic dreamers. They stand for the poetic souls we all believe lie hidden within us. With the help of Joe Masteroff's witty book, Sheldon Harnick's playful lyrics and the winsome performances of Boyd Gaines and Judy Kuhn, they are also completely believable people doing fetchingly silly things.

Jerry Bock's instantly hummable score gives them verve, simplicity and just enough pixilation. Typical of his understated craft is Vanilla Ice Cream. After the squabblers have made peace, still without sharing their secret, the love-struck leading lady solos. She alternates between a fizzy melody about the man she sees every day and a darker, more complex one about the man she hopes she knows through letters. The song is about the choice between reality and fantasy views of, in fact, the same man. In this sensible look at love, reality makes her more confident, and happier.

An impeccable supporting cast is headed by Louis Zorich as a store owner facing advancing age. Brad Kane, the movie voice of Aladdin, is a cuddlesome delivery boy. Lee Wilkof captures the humor and pathos of a mediocrity who will endure anything to keep his job. Howard McGillin deftly sketches an oily ladies' man. As his most frequent victim, the dazzling Sally Mayes is all submission, then all self-esteem after her superbly comic ballad, A Trip to the Library.