The plot revolves around Budapest shop employees Georg and Amalia, who, despite being consistently at odds with each other at work, are unaware that each is the other's secret pen pal met through lonely-hearts ads.
The musical premiered on Broadway in 1963 and ran for 301 performances, was produced in the West End in 1964, and received award-winning revivals on each side of the Atlantic in the 1990s (as well as numerous regional productions).
Working at the shop are Ladislav Sipos, a fretful middle-aged salesman with a family; teenage delivery boy Arpad Laszlo; thirty-something Ilona Ritter, who is having an affair with suave Steven Kodaly; and Georg Nowack, the shy assistant manager.
Georg finds solace in his anonymous romantic pen pal, not suspecting that his correspondent is none other than Amalia ("Three Letters").
He apologizes for his rudeness the previous night, but Amalia tells him that he was right about her date; if "dear friend" really loved her, he would have come.
After he leaves, she begins a letter to "dear friend" but can only think of Georg's kindness and his gift of ("Vanilla Ice Cream").
Sipos leaves to join his family's Christmas party, and Maraczek takes Arpad for a night on the town.
Georg helps Amalia with her packages as she leaves the shop, and they accidentally drop one of the musical cigarette boxes.
The musical premiered on Broadway on April 23, 1963, at the Eugene O'Neill Theatre not long after the settlement of the four-month-long 1962–1963 New York City newspaper strike.
The musical was directed by Harold Prince and choreographed by Carol Haney, with the cast that featured Daniel Massey as Georg Nowack, Barbara Cook as Amalia Balash, Barbara Baxley as Ilona Ritter, Jack Cassidy as Stephen Kodaly, Nathaniel Frey as Ladislav Sipos, Ralph Williams as Arpad Laszlo, and Ludwig Donath as Mr. Maraczek.
[5] The Roundabout Theatre Company produced a Broadway revival, directed by Scott Ellis and choreographed by Rob Marshall (assisted by his sister Kathleen).
The cast included Boyd Gaines as Georg, Judy Kuhn (replaced by Diane Fratantoni when the show transferred) as Amalia, Sally Mayes as Ilona, Howard McGillin as Kodaly, Lee Wilkof as Ladislav, Brad Kane as Arpad, and Louis Zorich as Mr. Maraczek.
The West End revival, also directed by Ellis and choreographed by Marshall, opened on July 12, 1994, at the Savoy Theatre, where it ran for one year.
The cast included John Gordon Sinclair as Georg, Ruthie Henshall as Amalia, and Tracie Bennett as Ilona.
[7] The Roundabout Theatre Company presented a revival in 2016, again directed by Scott Ellis and choreographed by Warren Carlyle, on Broadway which opened at Studio 54 on March 17 following previews from February 19 in a limited engagement to June 5.
The production starred Laura Benanti as Amalia, Zachary Levi as Georg, Jane Krakowski as Ilona, Gavin Creel as Kodaly, Byron Jennings as Maraczek, and Michael McGrath as Sipos.
[11] The revival's run was extended to July 10, 2016, and Tom McGowan replaced Michael McGrath in the role of Sipos beginning May 10, 2016.
[17][18] A slightly abridged BBC-TV production was made in 1978 starring Gemma Craven as Amalia, Robin Ellis as Georg, and David Kernan as Kodaly.
[19] A critically acclaimed, small-scale Australian production opened at Sydney's Hayes Theatre Company, which began previews on 22 August 2018.
[20][21][22] The show featured Rowan Witt as Georg opposite Caitlin Berry as Amalia, with Tony Llewellyn-Jones as Maraczek.
[23][24] MGM bought the screen rights for the musical in 1967 with plans to make it into a film starring Julie Andrews and to be directed by Harold Prince.
Production was well underway when Kirk Kerkorian bought MGM and installed James T. Aubrey Jr. to run the studio to make sweeping changes.
With a major company restructuring and focus shifting to more youth oriented films, the musical was among the many projects abruptly dropped.