After a successful run at
Regents Park Open Air Theatre this summer, Crazy For You is now at the Novello Theatre. I saw it at Regents Park and was
not so crazy about it then. Now in a theatre and away from evening chills, planes flying overhead and the occasional moth, it is a chance to ignore those distractions and focus on the vibrant singing and dancing, and spectacular costumes. There is so much energy on stage conveyed through a series of spectacular dances. Legs kick, flip and dance their way through nearly three hours of entertainment. You will be exhausted just watching it.
The show with a book by
Ken Ludwig is a "lets put on a show" story set between sophisticated New York and an old Nevada mining town. It is best described as something to hang twenty Gershwin songs off. What makes it work well is how the story and orchestrations make these songs so fresh and as if they were written for the piece. You will forget the near century of jazz and vocal interpretations and think that I Got Rhythm obviously needs a big dance number complete with drink trays and banging the set. Of course the likability of the characters and the charisma of the leads also means that they can get away with almost anything.
It is hard to leave the theatre without being impressed by some very spectacular dance numbers, in particular the closing number of the first act and the dancing with the follies girls. Sean Palmer (who appeared in a few Sex and The City episodes as Stanford Blatch's
Broadway calibre dancer) is great in the lead as Bobby with his good looks and dreams of being in a Broadway show rather than going into the family business of banking. In this day and age who could blame him? Besides his singing and dancing are part of the charm of this show.
There is also a particularly strong supporting cast that includes
Michael McKell as a rough hotelier and
Kim Medcalf as Bobby's old girlfriend. Both provide some naughty laughs and give the show a bit of edge.
But this show is really about having fun and becoming reacquainted with some old Gershwin standards. And it is hard not to want to sit back and take it all in. Legs and all. If there is a quibble it is that it feels as if there is an awful lot of dialogue to get through at times and the timing of it could be picked up to dispense with it as quickly as possible. Particularly when there is all that good singing and dancing to get to. It is booking until July 2012 and look out for the new recording. Discounts should be available at the usual places.
