From: aku@leland.Stanford.EDU (Andrew Chia-Tso Ku)
Subject: Crazy for You
Summary: review 
Organization: DSG, Stanford University, CA 94305, USA
Date: Tue, 7 Apr 92 22:35:24 GMT

Crazy for You

music by George Gershwin
lyrics by Ira Gershwin
book by Ken Ludwig
directed by Mike Ockrent

choreography by Susan Stroman
sets by Robin Wagner
costumes by William Ivey Long
lighting by Paul Gallo
orchestrations by William Brohn
musical direction by Paul Gemignani

Bobby Child		Harry Groener
Polly Baker		Jodi Benson
Tess			Beth Leavel
Bela Zangler		Bruce Adler
Mother			Jane Connell
Lank Hawkins		John Hillner
Everett Baker		Ronn Carroll
Irene Roth		Michele Pawk


Crazy for You, a revamped version of Girl Crazy, is rousingly
entertaining despite being assembled almost entirely from borrowed
parts.  Besides the obvious borrowings from the Gershwin catalog, this
musical evokes many other shows, some as recent as City of Angels,
Grand Hotel, and Jerome Robbins (to name a few).  The musical's saving
grace is Susan Stroman's spectacularly imaginative choreography and
musical staging.  I think many reviews are already predicting that she
is THE choreographer (in the mold of Tommy Tune and Gower Champion) to
watch in the future.  I wouldn't be surprised if she'll get to direct
AND choreograph her next project.  Without Stroman's participation,
CfY would have seemed more heartlessly manufactured than it does now.

The plot of CfY retains only a skeletal resemblance to Girl Crazy:
Bobby Child, a city boy who dreams of being a singer and a hoofer,
comes to Deadrock, a dusty western town, to foreclose on a theatre in
order to appease his banking family.  He becomes smitten with Polly
Baker, the only female in town, and wants to save the theatre by
"putting on a show" (yes, the show's campy).  She's resistant to his
charms and his plan, so he disguises himself as Bella Zangler,
impresario of the world-famous Zangler Follies, and recruits the
Follies girls to help him put on the show.  The book, which is a bit
more streamlined than Girl Crazy's ramshackle boy meets girl story,
sometimes seems like a mere framework from which to hang a series of
superlative musical numbers.  Songs from Girl Crazy, like "Bidin' My
Time", "Could You Use Me?", "Embraceable You" (sung first by Polly),
"I Got Rhythm", and "But Not for Me" are smoothly interpolated into
the story, along with "Someone to Watch over Me", "They Can't Take
That Away from Me", and "Nice Work if You Can Get It".  Indeed, the
creators may have had too easy a time finding songs to fit into the
show: CfY feels almost too overstuffed with a running time approaching
three hours.  The book has a lot of gags, many of them groaners, but I
admit I laughed at some of them.  Mike Ockrent keeps things light and
swift-moving.

After seeing Forbidden Broadway and The Most Happy Fella, I had almost
forgotten the pleasure of hearing a full pit orchestra, but the
opening bars of the overture, were immensely satisfying and quickly
restored my enthusiasm for full orchestrations.  (There is a "musical
consultant" credit to Tommy Krasker, btw.)

Robin Wagner's sumptuous and massive sets had me wondering what a
mammoth task it must have been to mount the pre-Broadway tryout in
Washington.  Several of the sets elicted gasps and spontaneous
applause, including an early scene showing the New York's theatre
district lit up at night from a skewed, boy's perspective (reminiscent
of Wagner's Jerome Robbins set); a plush theatre interior; and the
show's final "dancing in the clouds" tableau.

As I've said before, Susan Stroman's work really made the show work
for me.  She's a marvel at incorporating everyday objects into her
dances and musical staging in clever and delightful ways.  The dancing
is energetic and joyful and makes excellent use of the stage area; I'm
no expert on choreography so I won't go much further, except to say
that the numbers in CfY make Tommy Tune's work in Will Rogers look
pretty bland in comparison.  (My favorite numbers were "Slap that
Brass" and the act I finale "I Got Rhythm", which seemed to go on and
on - in a good way - as Stroman kept topping herself.)

Some reviews have complained about the lack of charisma of its two
stars, Harry Groener and Jodi Benson, which I partly agree with.  I
thought both were certainly adequate, with Groener likeably
good-natured and earnest (and rubber-limbed!) but I had a harder time
with Benson, who was definitely game, but didn't seem to fully give
herself over to the role: she always seemed a bit too stolid for my
tastes.  Perhaps I'm unfairly comparing her with Judy Blazer's
sterling (studio) performance in the recent Girl Crazy recording.  I
just couldn't feel any ache in Benson's rendition of "But Not for Me"
nor any abandon when she sings "I Got Rhythm".  Benson isn't helped by
the fact that she's heavily miked and the quality of amplification
imparts an unfortunate nasality to her voice.  Near the end of the
show, Michele Pawk does a slinky showstopping number - "Naughty Baby"
- on a table that would give Michelle Pfeiffer a run for her money.

All in all, CfY amounts to a very enjoyable diversion, but that's
about it.  The show is perhaps a bit too hardworking and a little
short on charm to be the frothy confection it wants to be, but I'm
probably nitpicking.  It'll definitely be around awhile; although it's
not a sellout just yet, enthusiastic word of mouth and a spot on the
Tony Awards show are guaranteed to send the show through the roof.

Andrew
Newsgroups: rec.arts.theatre