Crazy for You

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For other uses, see Crazy for You (disambiguation).
Crazy for You
Music George Gershwin
Lyrics Ira Gershwin
Book Ken Ludwig
Based upon Adaptation of the Gershwins' 1930 musical Girl Crazy
Productions 1992 Broadway
1993 West End
Awards Tony Award for Best Musical
Laurence Olivier Award for Best New Musical

Crazy for You is a musical with a book by Ken Ludwig, lyrics by Ira Gershwin, and music by George Gershwin. Billed as “The New Gershwin Musical Comedy”, it is largely based on the songwriting team’s 1930 production, Girl Crazy, and interpolates songs from several other productions as well. Crazy for You won the 1992 Tony Award for Best Musical.

Contents

[edit] Production history

The Broadway production was directed by Mike Ockrent and choreographed by Susan Stroman. After 10 previews, it opened at the Shubert Theatre on February 19, 1992 and ran for 1,622 performances. The cast included Jodi Benson as Polly, Harry Groener as Bobby Child, Bruce Adler as Bela Zangler, John Hillner as Lank Hawkins, Michele Pawk as Irene Roth, Jane Connell as Mother, Kiana Fussner as Tess, Stacey Logan as Patsy, Judine Hawkins Richard as Sheila, Paula Leggett as Mitzi, Ronn Carroll as Everett Baker, and Quentin Hampton and Hannah Jeffrey as Eugene and Patricia Fodor. Pia Zadora, Karen Ziemba, Carleton Carpenter, and Ann B. Davis were among the replacements who joined the cast later in the run.

In his review in the New York Times, Frank Rich enthused, “When future historians try to find the exact moment at which Broadway finally rose up to grab the musical back from the British, they just may conclude that the revolution began last night. The shot was fired at the Shubert Theater, where a riotously entertaining show called Crazy for You uncorked the American musical’s classic blend of music, laughter, dancing, sentiment and showmanship with a freshness and confidence rarely seen during the Cats decade . . . Crazy for You scrapes away decades of cabaret and jazz and variety-show interpretations to reclaim the Gershwins’ standards, in all their glorious youth, for the dynamism of the stage.”[1]

A cast album was released by Angel Records.

The West End production, directed by Ockrent, choreographed by Stroman, and starring Ruthie Henshall, Kirby Ward, and Chris Langham, opened at the Prince Edward Theatre on March 3, 1993 and ran for nearly three years [2][3].

On October 20, 1999, the PBS series Great Performances broadcast a production directed by Matthew Diamond, who was nominated for the Emmy Award for Outstanding Direction of a Variety or Music Program.

[edit] Musical numbers

Act I
Act 2

[edit] Synopsis

The curtain opens backstage at the Zangler Theater in New York in the 1930s. The last performance of the Zangler Follies is wrapping up for the season and Tess, the Dance Director, is dodging the advances of the married Mr. Zangler. Bobby Child, the rich son of a banking family, is backstage hoping for an audition with Zangler. Bobby performs "Crazy for You," but fails to impress Zangler after landing on Zangler's toe during the final flourish of his dance routine. Dejected, Bobby heads outside.

Bobby is met by Irene, the wealthy woman to whom he has been engaged for five years, and then by his mother who demands that Bobby carry out her piece of banking business for her. Bobby is told to go to Deadrock, Nevada, to foreclose on a rundown theater. As the women argue over him, Bobby imagines dancing with the Follies Girls and joins them in a rousing rendition of "I Can't Be Bothered Now." Brought back to reality, Bobby decides to escape to Nevada.

When Bobby arrives in Deadrock, it is clear that the coal-mining town has seen better days. The men, who are cowboys, sing "Bidin' My Time" in a long, slow drawl. Everett Baker receives a letter from New York warning of the bank foreclosing on the Gaiety Theater. The only woman left in this forlorn town is Everett's daughter, the spunky Polly Baker, who vows to get even with Bobby Child if she ever meets him.

Bobby enters the town, almost dying of thirst, and falls in love with Polly at first sight, not realizing who she is, and expresses his excitement in "Things Are Looking Up." Lank Hawkins, the owner of Deadrocks Saloon, and ardent suitor of Polly, is not pleased to see a rival for Polly's affections.

Bobby finds himself in quite a bind. If he forecloses on the theater he will lose the girl of his dreams. Inspired, he comes up with the idea of putting on a show to pay off the mortgage. Polly agrees to this plan until she finds out who he is-- that banker from New York! Bobby is heartbroken, but he decides to put on the show anyway, disguised as Zangler. Polly, deeply hurt, expressed her loneliness in "Someone to Watch Over Me."

A few days later, ten Follies Girls on vacation from The Zangler Follies appear like a mirage in the desert. Bobby has asked them to help stage a spectacular show in Deadrock. When the men of Deadrock see the girls, the sleepy town becomes very lively. Meanwhile, to Bobby's dismay, Irene arrives, threatening to expose Bobby's charade, and Polly has fallen in love with Bobby's impersonation of Zangler. She expresses her love for Zangler with the song "Embraceable You."

Opening night arrives, but everyone is disappointed to find that the only people to arrive into the town are Eugene and Patricia Fodor, British tourists writing a guidebook on the American West. What starts out as a disappointment changes into the realization that the show has galvanized the once-sleepy town. They celebrate with a spirited rendition of "I Got Rhythm" while the real Zangler stumbles un-noticed into the town.

Act Two opens in Lank's saloon where Bobby is professing his love to Polly. Unfortunately, she is still in love with the man who she thinks is Zangler. Bobby is about to convince Polly that he has been impersonating "Zangler" when the real Zangler stumbles into the saloon looking for Tess.

Zangler finds Tess, but refuses her request to produce the show. Tess storms off, Zangler, now drunk after being disgusted by the town, bemoans his fate. Bobby, dressed like Zangler, reels in to drown his sorrow over losing Polly. The two men act as mirror images of each other, and lament their lost loves in "What Causes That."

Meanwhile, Irene seduces Lank with "Naughty Baby."

The next morning, Polly sees the two Zanglers and realizes what has happened. She slaps Bobby and leaves in a huff, while the townsfolk prepare for a meeting at the theater to discuss what to do with the show. Bobby is all for trying again, while Polly thinks they should abandon the venture. The Fodors counsel the dejected townspeople to keep a "Stiff Upper Lip," which includes a parody of the barricade scene from Les Miserables but by the end of the song, only Polly, Everett, Bobby, and Tess still think the show should continue.

Everyone but Bobby and Polly leave the theater; Bobby prepares to leave for New York, professing that his memories of Polly will never fade in "They Can't Take That Away from Me." Polly realizes, too late, that she does love Bobby, and after he leaves, laments her loss in "But Not For Me."

Meanwhile, Bela Zangler decides to put on the show as a favor to Tess; the two seem to be in love once more. Although he had been planning to cast Bobby as the lead, he makes Polly the star of the show after learning that Bobby has left.

Six weeks later, Bobby is still thinking of Deadrock as he works for his mother's bank. For his birthday, Mrs. Child gives him the Zangler theater (Zangler has used all his money on the show in Deadrock). While initially ecstatic, Bobby realizes that his love for Polly is worth more in "Nice Work if You Can Get It," and leaves for Deadrock with Mrs. Child to pursue her.

Polly, meanwhile, has decided to leave for New York to look for Bobby, who enters Deadrock just after she leaves. As he leaves the stage to "wash up" before driving back to New York to catch her, Bobby's mother and Irene (who is now married to Lank) notice each other, and start an argument. Everett notices Mrs. Child, and falls head-over-heels in love with her, as shown in a reprise of "Things Are Looking Up." His affections are reciprocated, and immediately afterwards, Polly reenters--her car has run out of gas, and she has missed the train to New York. The townspeople concoct a plan, and Polly and Bobby are reunited in the "Finale."

Note: While Eugene Fodor was the real-life founder of Fodor's Travel Guides, the character in the musical is highly fictionalized. The real Eugene Fodor was Hungarian-American, not British, and his first travel book was about Europe.

[edit] Awards and nominations

[edit] References

  1. ^ New York Times review
  2. ^ Crazy for You at ThisIsTheatre.com
  3. ^ 1992-93 Laurence Olivier Awards

[edit] External links

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v • d • e
Tony Award for Best Musical

A Chorus Line (1976) · Annie (1977) · Ain't Misbehavin' (1978) · Sweeney Todd (1979) · Evita (1980) · 42nd Street (1981) · Nine (1982) · Cats (1983) · La Cage aux Folles (1984) · Big River (1985) · The Mystery of Edwin Drood (1986) · Les Misérables (1987) · The Phantom of the Opera (1988) · Jerome Robbins' Broadway (1989) · City of Angels (1990) · The Will Rogers Follies (1991) · Crazy for You (1992) · Kiss of the Spider Woman (1993) · Passion (1994) · Sunset Boulevard (1995) · Rent (1996) · Titanic (1997) · The Lion King (1998) · Fosse (1999) · Contact (2000)
v • d • e
George and Ira Gershwin musicals and operas
Together
George
La La Lucille • Morris Gest "Midnight Whirl" • Blue Monday • Limehouse Nights • George White's Scandals • The Broadway Whirl • Our Nell • By and By • Innocent Ingenue Baby • Walking Home with Angeline • The Rainbow • Sweet Little Devil • Song of the Flame
Ira
Ladies First • The Sweetheart Shop • Two Little Girls in Blue • For Goodness Sake • Molly Darling • Captain Jinks • Garrick Gaieties • Sweet and Low • Shoot the Works • Life Begins at 8:40 • Thumbs Up! • Lady in the Dark • The Firebrand of Florence • Park Avenue
v • d • e
Olivier Award for Best New Musical

A Chorus Line (1976) · The Comedy of Errors (1977) · Evita (1978) · Songbook (1979) · Sweeney Todd (1980) · Cats (1981) · Poppy (1982) · Blood Brothers (1983) · 42nd Street (1984) · Me and My Girl (1985) · The Phantom of the Opera (1986) · Follies (1987) · Candide (1988) · Return to the Forbidden Planet (1989) · Return to the Forbidden Planet (1990) · Sunday in the Park with George (1991) · Carmen Jones (1992) · Crazy for You (1993) · City of Angels (1994) · Once on This Island (1995) · Jolson The Musical (1996) · Martin Guerre (1997) · Beauty and the Beast (1998) · Kat and the Kings (1999) · Honk! (2000) · Our House (2003) · Jerry Springer: The Opera (2004) · The Producers (2005) · Billy Elliot (2006) · Caroline, or Change (2007) · Hairspray (2008)