Synopsis Songs such as "I've got Rhythm", "Embraceable You", "They Can't Take That Away From Me", "Nice Work if You Can Get it". The heart-warming story of Bobby Child's dream to be a dancer on the stage combined with a boy-meets-girl love story. Lots of songs and dancing. Popular with amateur clubs who perform by arrangement with MusicScope and Stage Musicals Ltd of New York. Running time 2hrs 30mins
Crazy For You opened earlier this week (8 August, previews from 28 July 2011) at the Open Air Theatre, Regent's Park, the final show in the theatre's season.
Artistic director Timothy Sheader is reunited with the team behind last year's multi-award winning production of Hello, Dolly! - choreographer Stephen Mear and designer Peter McKintosh as well as musical director Gareth Valentine - to stage Ken Ludwig's 1992 Broadway musical, which transferred to the West End's Prince Edward Theatre in March 1993 starring Ruthie Henshall, Kirby Ward and Chris Langham for a run which lasted almost three years.
Set at the time of the Great Depression, the escapist musical follows Bobby Child's attempts to become a show business success, incorporating a Gershwin soundtrack which includes hits such as “I Got Rhythm”, “Someone To Watch Over Me”, “Embraceable You” and “Nice Work If You Can Get It”.
"Timothy Sheader's revival opened at the Regent's Park Open Air Theatre in the second week of August, with the next stage of the world economic meltdown suddenly overshadowed by riots breaking out all over London … But this beautifully crafted, enchanting piece of escapist frivolity still does what it did in recession-bound London in 1993… it lifts the spirits and takes you away from all that for a while … Sheader has assembled a fine ensemble cast: Sean Palmer as the beaming Bobby; one-time EastEnderKim Medcalf as his imperious fiancée Irene; Amy Adams-lookalike Clare Foster as Polly, the yee-haw desert girl he falls for; Harriet Thorpe as Bobby's gorgon mother; and the ever-charismatic David Burt as the cock-of-the-walk impresario Bela Zangler. They're backed by a sumptuously clad chorus of leggy blonde Follies… and a something-for-everyone array of numbskull cowboys. Ludwig's script is littered with bitchy backchat and groan-worthy gags… but it's the exuberance of the big numbers… complete with pot-and-pan percussion that puts that crucial spring in your step as you make your way back to the real world."
"'The world is in a mess,' sings one character in Crazy for You, 'with politics and taxes / And people grinding axes / There's no happiness.' Suitably glum words, some might say - and if right now you need a little summery escapism, look no further than this superb and for the most part uplifting musical. With tunes by George Gershwin and lyrics by his brother Ira, it's a ripely entertaining piece. Ken Ludwig's book contains some zippy one-liners, and there's a lovely sense of showmanship throughout. No one embodies this better than Sean Palmer … He seduces the only woman left in town, Polly Baker. Played by Clare Foster, she's a tomboy who morphs into a romantic. The result is a deliberately improbable story of mistaken identity and musical redemption, and Timothy Sheader's production is full of youthful exuberance. The leads are sublime: Palmer is suave but also warm, while Foster almost bursts with charm … Sustaining a high level of poise and energy throughout, the show brims with a sassy joie de vivre that no unseasonal shower can dampen. In the words of the Gershwin classic 'I Got Rhythm', 'Who could ask for anything more?'"
"Timothy Sheader's delightful staging of the Gershwin revamp Crazy for You has everything you could wish for, with the possible exception of a roof … Sheader… has an uncanny knack for matching material to his unique space and this, the first London revival of the 1992 Ken Ludwig/Mike Ockrent confection, is no exception … Winning casting right from Alexis Owen Hobbs' nicely played lamebrain Patsy through to the beautifully relaxed leads gives the show rare charm. The suitably ostritch-like showgirls don't overdo the squealing and the lanky, heavy men actually look like unfit townsfolk, not chorus boys … Mear has ideas of his own too. His take on 'Stiff Upper Lip' becomes a celebration of all things English … In the gloriously extended 'I Got Rhythm', he revolves McKintosh's set to open the stage right out for a vast, advancing kickline that sends the audience's pulse-rate rocketing. And while 'Slap that Bass' repeats Stroman's trick of plucking ropes to mimic double-basses, Mear's vise-like grip on the rhythm, courtesy of Gareth Valentine's tight dance arrangements, builds the number into the production's finest."
Libby Purves The Times ★★★★
"It's the sort of night where you sit down tired and grumpy, and three hours later skip happily across the damp grass wondering if there's a party anywhere. Deep? No. Escapism? Ah yes. This is a starlit tunnel to showbiz heaven, born of a squib that the Gershwins wrote in 1930 to raise spirits after the Wall Street crash. Reworked by Ken Ludwig with a better story, it suits the moment … Timothy Sheader's return to directing in his theatre's triumphant season conjures light and joy, wisecracks and whirling feet … Actually, there are so many peaks in Stephen Mear's witty choreography that I couldn't make notes for fear of missing a gag … Even Bobby and Polly (a spirited Clare Foster) have a hard time stealing the show from the cowpokes, not to mention Kim Medcalf's wicked 'Naughty Baby' and Harriet Thorpe doubling an English memsahib with a New York matriarch stumping through Death Valley 'with my girdle on!'. Dancing home after the fairy-lit finale, don't watch Newsnight. Grim life can wait until the morning."
"Ken Ludwig has rewritten the book of a 1930 Gershwin musical, Girl Crazy, but retained only five of the original 19 numbers and made up the deficit by raiding the George and Ira Gershwin back-catalogue. The result is a buoyant evening, but one that never feels wholly authentic. Ludwig ditched the original book, about a city slicker who creates a dude ranch in Arizona, on the grounds it was unrevivable. He has, however, replaced it with one that is, if anything, even dottier … Even if the show makes little sense, it is put across with tremendous verve in Timothy Sheader's production. Stephen Mear's choreography is more than a match for … the original, and reaches a joyous peak in 'I Got Rhythm' in which the ensemble taps out the tune on tin cans, bath tubs and chamber pots: it also helps that Mear has assembled the best-looking chorus line I've seen on the London stage in a long time. Peter McKintosh's revolving sets and spangly costumes add to the gaiety, and Sean Palmer and Clare Foster as the sparring hero and heroine perform with charm and gusto. It's all very jolly but, if you want proof that Girl Crazy can still work, simply listen to the excellent John Mauceri 1990 recording."
"Gloom is banished and spirits soar during this delirious revival of the Gershwin musical Crazy for You … Asked to adapt the George and Ira Gershwin 1930 hit Girl Crazy, Ken Ludwig decided to junk the original book and write his own ... The result is a delight, a production that simultaneously spoofs and celebrates classic Broadway musicals with a score that doesn't contain a single dud tune. The director, Timothy Sheader, that superbly inventive choreographer Stephen Mear and an ebullient company all splendidly deliver the goods … The dancing is superb, with Mear offering several nods to the show's brilliant original choreographer Susan Stroman … The open-air setting means that the tap-dancing doesn't have quite the percussive volume one might wish, but the singing of such superb numbers as 'Someone to Watch Over Me' is terrific … As the spunky heroine, Clare Foster could usefully discover a touch more oomph and star-power, and occasionally turn off her ever-present grin. Sean Palmer has real charm and style … and there is smashing work in supporting roles from Kim Medcalf as his demanding fiancée, David Burt as the impresario he impersonates and Harriet Thorpe, who excels in two sharply drawn cameo roles. She also leads the company in the Gershwins' hilarious celebration of old-fashioned English values, 'Stiff Upper Lip'."
A musical transported seemingly from a different age, never mind a different theatre, Ken Ludwig's Gershwin musical Crazy for You transfers to the West End's Novello Theatre following an acclaimed run as the final instalment of this year's summer season at the Open Air Theatre, Regent's Park.
Ludwig was given free rein of George and Ira's back-catalogue by the Gershwin estate when tasked with rewriting the 1930 musical Girl Crazy. What he has managed, even though writing in the early 1990s, is to craft a colourful, escapist musical where his easygoing comedy - liberally splashed with slapstick and farce - is combined with a selection of Gershwin's greatest hits.
The humour of Ludwig's book is carried over wholeheartedly into Stephen Mear's choreography, which is brought to life by the gorgeous nine-strong ensemble of Zangler's Follies and a posse of cowboys - they make for something of a motley ensemble.
The large-scale tap number, "I Can't Be bothered Now", at the top of the show sets the tone and ambition for proceedings and introduces us to a bevy of showgirls still in their native New York. This energy is carried through to the whole-company extravaganzas built from songs which have now slipped into standards, such as "Slap That Bass" and, to close act one, "I Got Rhythm".
Sean Palmer as Bobby Child - the banking heir who just wants to tap dance and finds himself sent by his disapproving mother to foreclose on the Gaiety Playhouse in Deadrock, Nevada - looks every bit the knight in shining armour he was cast to play as Prince Eric in Disney's Little Mermaid on Broadway.
Palmer excels both in duet with the wonderful Clare Foster (who manages to look elegant even in dungarees, and is clad in plaid seemingly for the duration) and David Burt whose performance as the real impresario Bela Zangler is the night's stand out comic turn.
It is also great to watch Kim Metcalf as abrasive fiancé Irene, who gives local saloon owner Lank (Michael McKell) a run for his money before finding herself won over.
For all its frivolity and heart, some of the Gershwin numbers can feel slightly over-coaxed into this compiled show, and incidents such as a pair of English tourists arriving on the scene appear almost totally unexplained. But there is also a pronounced geo-political relevance to this piece, with Bobby's mother using her son as an instrument, apparently taking pleasure in foreclosing the mortgages of those who have borrowed from her family's bank against the backdrop of Depression-era America.
Open Air artistic director Timothy Sheader has staged a joyous revival of this old-fashioned, delightful show. He ensures every punchline - and it occasionally feels like every exchange of dialogue possesses a gag - is landed. Care has also been taken over the physical comedy and slapstick. The saloon's staged gunfights are a particular delight - as a the smell of the cordite clears, the stage the laughs remain strong in the auditorium.
The George and Ira Gershwin song "Slap That Bass", one of the many classics rebundled by Ken Ludwig in his award-winning Nineties musical Crazy For You, includes the lyrics: “The world is in a mess/ With politics and taxes/ And people grinding axes/ There’s no happiness.”
There never seemed a truer verse as Timothy Sheader’s revival opened at the Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre in the second week of August, with the next stage of the world economic meltdown suddenly overshadowed by riots breaking out all over London.
To cap it all the rain started the moment the actors set foot on the stage. But this beautifully crafted, enchanting piece of escapist frivolity still does what it did in recession-bound London in 1993, and what the Gershwins’ original musical Girl Crazy did way back in 1930 – it lifts the spirits and takes you away from all that for a while.
Sheader’s summer musical revival, using his crack team of choreographer Stephen Mear, designer Peter McKintosh and musical director Gareth Valentine, is becoming as reliable a summer treat as the weather isn’t – and even the rain couldn’t dampen the opening-night bonhomie. When the stage-hands mopping the stage during an unscheduled interval get an enthusiastic round of applause, something has clearly hit the spot.
Sheader's previous summer offerings, notably Gigi and Into The Woods, have used the natural sylvan setting in a way this production cannot. This year, the tree-lined backdrop to McKintosh’s versatile raw-wood sets does not add to the sense that we are really on Broadway or in the Wild West desert. But who cares when it’s this much fun?
And if there isn’t a stand-out performance in this gossamer-light tale of Bobby Child, the banking heir whose only dream is to tap-dance and who ends up shipping a troupe of Broadway dancers to Nevada to save a clapped-out theatre from repossession, that’s because Sheader has assembled a fine ensemble cast: Sean Palmer as the beaming Bobby; one-time EastEnderKim Medcalf as his imperious fiancée Irene; Amy Adams-lookalike Clare Foster as Polly, the yee-haw desert girl he falls for; Harriet Thorpe as Bobby’s gorgon mother; and the ever-charismatic David Burt as the cock-of-the-walk impresario Bela Zangler.
They’re backed by a sumptuously clad chorus of leggy blonde Follies – holding a tea-tray over their heads and managing to clang it with a high-kick is an impressive feat – and a something-for-everyone array of numbskull cowboys.
Ludwig’s script is littered with bitchy backchat and groan-worthy gags (“I did not come here to be insulted” – “Oh, where do you usually go?”) but it’s the exuberance of the big numbers – "I Can’t Be Bothered Now", "Nice Work If You Can Get It" and the never-let-it-stop "I Got Rhythm", complete with pot-and-pan percussion – that puts that crucial spring in your step as you make your way back to the real world.
Stephen Mear's choreography has played a major part in the success of the annual musical in the park and it has never been better than in this vibrant and exhilerating revival of Gershwin's wonderfully hoky piece of escapism. Thank goodness the rain kept away so that it was possible to fully appreciate the tap routines and the Follies chorus lines. Crazy for You is an early example of a jukebox musical as several Gershwin songs have been brought together from elsewhere and forced into a book by Ken Ludwig which makes Lend Me a Tenor look like Chekhov. It doesn't matter though as a terrific ensemble tackle it with great vivacity and there are a succession of showbiz standards superbly put across by Gareth Valentine's well-hidden band. Sean Palmer has been brought over from Broadway to lead the cast with great charm but we were especially pleased to see Clare Foster as his romantic foil, Polly. Clare's early training was at the same drama schools our daughter attended and we probably first saw her in end-of-year shows. She might not be the best actress in the West End but she sings beautifully and dances like a dream - Miss Wendy and Miss Kyla must be immensely proud. Crazy For You is a terrific end to another excellent Open Air season - perhaps a transfer indoors to the Novello beckons given the sad early closure of Betty Blue Eyes. - David Baxter
26 Aug 11
The raves are totally justified not just for the production but for the leads and none moreso than for Sean Palmer's gloriously charming Bobby. Simply cannot remember the last time I saw a leading man with so much presence and talent. Special mention for those glorious leggy chorus girls and the spectacular finale - you really could not ask for anything more as everything you had just seen was pure entertainment. - Owen
23 Aug 11
Terrific fun. Cast and audience have a wow of a time. Highly recommend! - habitue
12 Aug 11
This is the best musical at Regent's Park yet.Superb direction and choreography and the set and costume design are stunning.Not even heavy rain could dampen this stunner.Don't take my word for - just go and enjoy it. - Rob
10 Aug 11
Absolutely outstanding. The Open Air Theatre has staged some first class musicals over the past few years and this more than maintains the standard. To think, all they used to put on were endless versions of the Dream! - DCH
10 Aug 11
Loved it! Near perfect production.
Congratualtions to a superb cast and creative team.
Go see it! - R Patterson
10 Aug 11
An absolute delight. The acting is first class, the girls are glamorous the songs are classics the choreography is stunning and the one liners are great. Give yourself a treat and go and see it as soon as you can. - Brian Nathan
10 Aug 11
Heavenly! That is all I have to say!!!
Don't miss this sublime evening of musical theatre! Sean Palmer dances like a dream!!! - SteveC
10 Aug 11
This is as good as the original 1993 production, which won many Olivier Awards, including Best New Musical. I think it will be up there for Best Musical Revival this year. Go see! - Kevin Darnell
09 Aug 11
Almost twenty years ago, American writer Ken Ludwig (best known for Lend Me A Tenor) and British director Mike Ockrent had the bizarre idea of staging a ‘new’ Gershwin musical. Using Girl Crazy as their starting point they created a new book and added Gershwin songs from elsewhere. Not exactly a ‘jukebox’ musical, but close. They may well have inadvertently given us the best musical the Gershwin’s (n)ever wrote.
Bobby is a banker (there, I’ve said it!) who yearns to be a Broadway boy. To divert him from his attempts to join the Zangler Follies, his haridan of a mother sends him to the Wild West to foreclose on a theatre that has defaulted on its mortgage. Of course, he falls in love with both the theatre and the owner’s daughter and sends for the Follies girls (on their vacation) to stage a show with the local rednecks to rescue the theatre. Cue lots of east coast meets wild west culture clash and knowing jokes about how gambling will never catch on in Nevada.
Peter McKintosh has created a terrific set which starts with the neon lights of Broadway but soon moves to the dusty streets and saloon bars of the old west; a few real horses tied up outside the saloon and you’d think you were there. Timothy Sheader’s staging and Stephen Mear’s choreography sparkle with ingenuity and wit and there’s a fine ensemble of hapless cowboys and pretty chorus girls. It’s packed full of Gershwin tunes, from solo gems like Someone to Watch Over Me, Embraceable You and They Can’t Take that Away From Me to big chorus numbers like the show-stopping I Got Rhythm, which closes the first act leaving you desperate for the second to start. The book is very funny and the drunken scene where the real Zangler and his imposter meet is a comic masterpiece.
Sean Palmer is terrific as Bobby and Clare Foster is delightful in her transition from tomboy to lovestruck girlfriend. David Burt and Harriet Thorpe give us great cameos as Zangler and Bobby’s mum. The band is as big and as brash as it should be when necessary, but plays tunes delicately when needs be.
This season, the OAT has gone from desert island crash site to Hogarthian London to Broadway / the Wild West and all three show have been hits. The new policy of a more varied repertoire is paying off and the space is proving it can just about stage anything. Now all they have to do is replace the caterers! Miss this at your peril.
- Gareth james
This open air theatre is only open May to early-September and there is no cover in case of rain. 1187 seats (plus 60 on the grass). Current auditorium since 1975. Member of the Society of London Theatre. Renovated after the 1999 season to include improved facilities.
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