There's a fair amount of romantic, character charm in Manoa Valley Theatre's production of "She Loves Me," although most of its Act 1 labors under 90 minutes of almost nonstop waltz tempo.

Audiences will recognize the story of the squabbling young salesclerks who fall in love as unknown pen pals from the movie "You've Got Mail," starring Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan. But the 45-year-old Broadway musical now at MVT is adapted from the Hungarian play "Parfumerie" and the Jimmy Stewart movie "The Shop Around the Corner."

Simply the number of adaptations alone suggests that there's plenty of audience appeal in a love story where the principal characters don't fully recognize each other until the final scene. Until then, the acting, the comedy and — in the case of a musical — the songs must carry the freight.

But Act 1 at MVT seems condemned to a numbing 1-2-3 waltz beat. Only its final number, "Dear Friend," begins to break the musical stranglehold and allow the characters to emerge.

Music and lyrics are by Jerry Bock and Sheldon Harnick, who had better success with "Fiddler On the Roof." The book, by Joe Masteroff, is also overshadowed by his work a few years later on "Cabaret." This characterizes "She Loves Me" as a qualified early success by some Broadway heavy-hitters, but not a show that will send a casual audience home humming the tunes.

Most of the songs are storytelling, exclamatory narratives. The two best go to Amalia (Kirsten Dixon) and Georg (Pedro Haro) late in the play when each begins to celebrate their awakening realization that they are in love.

"He brought me ice cream!" sings an astonished Amalia.

"She Loves Me!" thunders an amazed Georg, with enthusiasm that has him blissfully dancing in the street.

Each of the supporting characters gets his or her own narrative number. "Try Me" pleads Arpad (Justin Hashimoto), the young delivery boy who wants to wait on customers. Salesclerk Ritter (Katie Beth Hicks) falls in love during "A Trip to the Library," and the just-fired philandering clerk Kodaly (Elitei Tatafu Jr.) plans his future and makes his goodbyes with "Good Knowing You."

The MVT production staged and choreographed by John Rampage with musical direction by Mark Minasian doesn't hit enough consistent highs to make it a standout, but it has a "show must go on" glow resulting from Dixon taking over the female lead with only two days' preparation. While she's still on book for some of the dialogue scenes, she's fully up for the musical numbers.

Lorena Jones costumes give the show a pseudo-1930s authenticity, but Justin DeLand's rather plain set falls far short of the architectural detail that could have enlivened its Budapest setting.