A Charming Play That Sings: What's Not to Love?

Even though "She Loves Me" is too well known to qualify as an unsung treasure, its praises -- and for that matter, its melodies -- aren't sung enough. This romantic 1963 musical, based on a play by Hungarian writer Miklos Laszlo, is as endearingly well crafted as any the genre has produced.

Which is why, at the moment, Arena Stage sits on what feels like the most festive corner in town. The company's enchanting revival bathes an audience in glad tidings. 'Tis the season to sing show tunes!

As guided to the Fichandler Stage by Kyle Donnelly, a director who has proved herself adept at bottling the spirit of American classics, this "She Loves Me" is a throwback in all the right ways. It turns out that remaking an old musical in one's own image is not a directorial imperative. A theater apparently can rent a score, hire actors, sew costumes, build a set -- and allow the show's original creative voices to speak the loudest.

That does not hold for every revival, of course, but as Donnelly affirms in "She Loves Me," implicitly trusting in the talents of composer Jerry Bock, lyricist Sheldon Harnick and book writer Joe Masteroff is the way to proceed. The musical's sophisticated mix of melodic flavors and its refinement in using songs to express character and advance plot have allowed it to age gracefully. Those virtues give the show a durable finish that does not require the application of new varnishes.

To avoid staleness, though, a musical's vitality must be replenished, and this is accomplished admirably in the Fichandler.

Among its other pleasures, the production introduces Washington audiences to a young actress, Brynn O'Malley, who plays the heroine, Amalia Balash, with a vivaciousness that studiously avoids any trace of the saccharine. The role has an impressive pedigree: It was originated by Barbara Cook, at the time Broadway's reigning ingenue. O'Malley, a worthy keeper of Cook's flame, possesses a vibrant soprano that's a match for Amalia's spunk. It's shown off to striking effect in "Vanilla Ice Cream," the character's ebullient Act 2 realization that she's in love with a man she thought she loathed.

"She Loves Me" is a rare thing indeed, a work of enormous generosity that treats the seven principal characters as if each is absolutely essential to the melodic point. Every one of them gets at least one solo, and their songs tend to define something deeply individual. It's nearly impossible not to care about such people, whether the character in question is the self-protectively servile Sipos (Jim Corti), the unlucky-in-love Ilona (Nancy Lemenager) or even the oily womanizer Kodaly (Sebastian La Cause).

They all work together in a Budapest parfumerie run by gruff-but-softhearted Mr. Maraczek (Hal Robinson), and it's in the bustling scent shop that the epistolary romance between Amalia and Georg Nowack (Kevin Kraft) is set. (The movies "The Shop Around the Corner," with James Stewart and Margaret Sullavan, and "You've Got Mail," with Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan, share the musical's dramatic source.)

The twist is that unbeknown to either of them, the man with whom Amalia is carrying on a lonely-hearts affair-by-mail is Georg. In the shop -- which seems to be as well stocked in jealousy and romantic intrigue as it is in eau de toilette -- Amalia and Georg detest each other. As you might suspect, the amorous wrinkles get ironed out to almost everyone's benefit.

Include the audience in the column of the advantaged. A trip to "She Loves Me" is worth it for the score alone. The clever songs are embedded so skillfully into the story that never for a minute do you doubt any character's need to sing. When, for instance, delivery boy Arpad -- played delightfully by Clifton Guterman -- has to persuade Maraczek to promote him to a vacant clerk's position, his rendition of "Try Me" spills out as naturally as a sales pitch. And it would be hard to imagine La Cause's smooth-as-snakeskin Kodaly romancing the object of his affections with anything but a sleazy serenade such as "Ilona."

Kraft delivers a passionate version of the title song that reminds you a bit of Gene Kelly dancing through puddles in "Singin' in the Rain." Choreographer Kenneth Lee Roberson gives Kraft and other actors some fairly complicated moves with which to embellish their numbers. It's hard to tell whether some actors are under- or over-rehearsed, but in any event, there's awkwardness in some of their efforts at looking graceful -- you can almost see some of them counting their steps.

And although there are occasional frustrations with the limits imposed by theater-in-the-round -- we all get a turn staring at Lemenager's back during parts of the infectiously comic "A Trip to the Library" -- Donnelly is extremely good at using the space. Her set designer, Kate Edmunds, knows it well, too; her pop-up perfume counters convey an Old World jewel-box elegance, and are well matched with Nan Cibula-Jenkins's fine period costumes.

The expert tailoring is apt in a musical so illustrative of craftsmanship. Like the Christmas gifts piled on the display tables at Maraczek's, this show itself is one irresistible little package.

She Loves Me, music by Jerry Bock, lyrics by Sheldon Harnick, book by Joe Masteroff. Directed by Kyle Donnelly. Lighting, Nancy Schertler; sound, Garth Hemphill; music director, William Foster McDaniel. With Michael Scott, Roger Rosen, Jesse Terrill, Kurt Boehm, Ashlee Fife, Jennifer Irons, Joe Jackson, Rosalie Tenseth. About 2 hours 40 minutes. Through Dec. 31 at Arena Stage, 1101 Sixth St. SW. Call 202-488-3300 or visit http://www.arenastage.org.