For She Loves Me, a romantic musical that takes place in a “parfumerie,” in 1930s Budapest, Rockwell, who collaborated with Donald Holder on the lighting, employs a central device that wows audiences as soon as the curtain goes up, then keeps the action moving smoothly—without a pause—throughout the performance. Embellished with a playful nod to the city’s Art Nouveau motifs, a jewel-box of a shop sits center stage surrounded by a traditional street scene. As the play progresses, the structure’s external and internal walls pivot and unfold to reveal a charming Mittel-European retail space—with glowing glass cases, a mezzanine with wrought iron flourishes, and circular stair—as well as the stores wood-lined back rooms.

This engaging scene is literally upstaged (briefly) during Act II when two halves of a restaurant track-in from stage right and left, joining at the center as a dome-like skylight flies in from above to create an alluring Hungarian café. For two short scenes that follow, a hospital room and bedroom track in and out as well, before the shop glides back downstage to return for the show’s finale. 

Project Team

Founder and President: David Rockwell

Associate Set Designers: Dick Jaris and TJ Greenway

Staff: Gaetane Bertol, Mike Dereskewicz, Morgan Moore and Jim Waterhouse