Crazy for You

[eatlasagna]

Posted: 6/14/08 at 2:23am

so i just came back from a production here in san diego. didn't know anything about the musical except for a few gerswhin tunes. i wanted to try something knew for a change and i absolutely loved it. it was very well done. good story, book, and of course music. excellent production for a local theater. ticket was free (goldstarevents.com rules!).... the actors really impressed me with their voices and dancing.

how did the broadway production do? how was it received?

[thetinymagic2]

Posted: 6/14/08 at 2:32am

BIG HIT!

[blaxx]

Posted: 6/14/08 at 2:44am

I'd love a Crazy for You revival.

[spell7107]

Posted: 6/14/08 at 2:54am

Me too! I would love see Gavin Creel as Bobby Child!

p.s. Crazy for You was Tony's Best Musical of 1992!

[CATSNYrevival]

Posted: 6/14/08 at 3:43am

It's good to hear that Starlight was able to deliver with Crazy for You. I stopped going and lost all respect for them after their atrotious attempt at Aida, though I did enjoy their Wizard of Oz using the Madison Square Garden sets, costumes and script changes. I'm not sure I'd ever pay to see another one of their shows again though. It's always hit or miss. I know Leigh Scarritt is playing the Witch in Into the Woods this season and I'm for sure staying far, far away. Luckily for her she won't need any prosthetics for act one. Her plastic surgeon saw to that.

[Eris0303]

Posted: 6/14/08 at 4:17am

I never got to see the Broadway production of Crazy for You but I do have a copy of the Papermill production that aired on PBS. LOVE it!

[fnyboi88]

Posted: 6/14/08 at 4:31am

I start rehearsals for this show in July! I'm way excited! Love the cast recording!

[Dre2387]

Posted: 6/14/08 at 5:36am

eatlasagna, funny you should mention that cause I saw it this past night too! and because I saw it on Broadway, West End, and Papermill (and it's my favorite musical since I was 5), my expectations were high. But I think they did a pretty good job. Dennis Clark had a great singing voice (and for some reason had a better Hungarian accent than Barry Pearl did who played Bela Zangler.) But I think the person who rocked in his role was Doug Bilitch. he was brilliant as Lank and had perfect timing on all his jokes. Anne Buck as Irene was really good too. And the dancing was better than what I thought it would be. Tap dancing is hard but they did a pretty good job.

I heard a lot of people around me saying how they knew the songs and were excited to see a musical with them in it. And they loved it, which they should cause it is a great musical. It's such a interesting story of how they wrote the story around all the songs (though it is slightly based on Girl Crazy) and how it fits perfectly.

This is a show that I would love to see on Broadway again. It's one that puts a smile on my face which never leaves, not until I get home.

[WickedBoy2]

Posted: 6/14/08 at 5:50am

A gorgeous old fashion Broadway spectacular!
I managed to see it twice in one weekend while in NY. It ran for 4 years at the Shubert theatre 1992/96.
It filled London's huge Prince Edward theatre for 3 years from 1993.

[Greekmusicalfan]

Posted: 6/14/08 at 5:55am

I saw it in London twice back then, and it still is one of my favorite shows ever ! A wonderful, dazzling, old-fashioned musical, with some of the most spectacular choreography I've ever seen !

[WickedBoy2]

Posted: 6/14/08 at 6:24am

'Slap That Bass'

[Dre2387]

Posted: 6/14/08 at 6:54am

that is my favorite big hit number from that show. 'They Can't Take That Away From Me' is my favorite love song from it.

Updated On: 6/14/08 at 06:54 AM

[WickedBoy2]

Posted: 6/14/08 at 7:17am

'I Cant Be Bothered Now!' -when all those girls come out of the car -seemingly hundreds of them!!! Musical theatre heaven!

[Marlothom]

Posted: 6/14/08 at 7:29am

"I'd love to see Gavin Creel as Bobby Child"

I don't think he is a hoofer. I recall an article where he was up for Billy in 42nd St. and was completely lost by the tapping.

[WickedBoy2]

Posted: 6/14/08 at 7:32am

Hugh Jackman

[dramamama611]

Posted: 6/14/08 at 7:39am

Sadly, I've only seen my own productions of this. (I've directed/choreographed 2x.)

It really is a fun show to do, and the music is delightful.

I'd LOVE to see it on B'way!

[Gypsy9]

Posted: 6/14/08 at 8:55am

CRAZY FOR YOU is one of my all-time favorite shows. I saw it 4 times at the wonderful Shubert, each time from the first row of the 2nd Balcony. There were twofers(discount coupons) for the show from almost the beginning of its run, and by buying tickets at the box office(using the discount coupons) way in advance, I could always get front row 2nd balcony seats which are really quite good. And they only cost $20!

I remember watching the pit conductor, Paul Gemignani, swaying to and fro as he conducted the joyous overture. I just loved the under-appreciated male lead Harry Groener who had a great legit voice and was also a good dancer. I was less enthusiastic about the female lead, Jodi Benson, who acted her part well but her singing voice had too much vibrato. Later in the run she was replaced by Karen Ziemba who I preferred.

The sets were terrific, from the jazzy Broadway opening set to the Western local town set which also included the inside of a local theatre. The finale sets never stopped topping each other: they were spectacular.

There wasn't a musical dud in the entire show, with, of course, the Gershwins' help! I especially loved "I Can't Be Bothered Now", the spectacular first act finale of "I Got Rythym" with all of its choreographic surprises, and "Slap That Bass".

I would love to see it revived, but am not up on current song and dance men or women. Wait--how about Tony Yazbeck, currently appearing as Tulsa in GYPSY? I think he would be just great as the male lead. And how about Laura Benanti as the female lead? Just wait until GYPSY closes sometime in the future and then bring CRAZY FOR YOU to the St. James! A guaranteed hit. Paging Roger Horchow, lead producer of the 1990's CRAZY FOR YOU, who spared no expense in that production.

[WickedBoy2]

Posted: 6/14/08 at 9:04am

"I Cant Be Bothered Now' with the original cast is on YouTube incase you havent seen it. Just type Crazy For You. Its from the Tony's that year.

[Jon]

Posted: 6/14/08 at 12:47pm

Unfortunately, the Tony clip of "I Can't be Bothered" is a shortened version.

Around 1995, the first IMAX 3-D movie came out. It was about a little Rissian boy who stows away on a ship and comes to New York. As he explores Manhattan, looking for his relatives,he ends up sneaking into the stage door of the Shubert, where CRAZY FOR YOU is playing. He watches a bit from backstage until a stagehand throws him out. Let me tell you, there's nothing like seeing Harry Groener and the girls doing "I Can't Be Bothered Now" on a gigantic screen in 3-D!

[eatlasagna]

Posted: 6/14/08 at 1:36pm

CatsNYRevival... how was the AIDA at starlight? i wanted to go but lived up in LA at the time and couldn't make it down

dre2387... where did you sit... and did you see it friday night? i love the starlight but i hate the airplanes....

so yeah... i was reading on ibdb it played for four years on broadway... wow... i'm so glad this show did so well! and i saw harry groener was arther in spamalot when i saw it in new york... i could never have pictured him as bobby child!

i think i might get the cast recording...

oh and how was the PBS special... i vaguely remember watching it for five minutes then just turning it off... boy was i dumb

and the ONLY thing i hated about going to this show was the audience.... so typically children are rude at disney shows... well older people are rude at these shows! man... i know that they grew up with this music but that does not give them the right to sing along.... and LOUDLY TOO! aarggh... you'd think they'd have some type of respect during the show... oh well
Updated On: 6/14/08 at 01:36 PM

[MCfan2]

Posted: 6/14/08 at 2:30pm

This was my first Broadway show and I saw it with the original cast. Absolute heaven. I thought both Harry and Jodi were terrific (as were the rest of the cast), and "I Can't Be Bothered Now" was SO great!

[Dre2387]

Posted: 6/14/08 at 2:33pm

Yeah, i saw it the friday night (last night.) I sat in row GG, about 8 or 9 rows from the stage. Yeah, the worst thing about the show were all the plays coming in. Every 5 minutes (or less) there would be a plane. It was terrible.

definitely get the cast recording, It is so worth it. and the Broadway one, not the london one. and if you can, get a copy of the PBS showing. It is so worth it. What they did was used the same set design (and I believe costume design) as the Broadway show and the choreography was changed slightly. All of this was done at Papermill Playhouse under the supervision of the original director and choreographer, Mike Ockrent and Susan Stroman. The leads here are brilliant. here is the PBS website that includes clips from the Papermill show: http://www.pbs.org/wnet/gperf/crazyforyou/index.html

What I just realized is that the starlight show has a lot of very similar staging as the Papermill show. hmmm.

oh, and on the program from the Starlight, I noticed that they described Bobby as a playboy. Now, i want to know where the hell they got that idea from. cause he's not.

[Merv]

Posted: 6/14/08 at 4:19pm

How about Michael Berresse for Bobby? If you saw "No, No, Nanette", you know how wonderful he is! I think he'd be perfect. The best dancer on Broadway.

[allofmylife]

Posted: 6/14/08 at 5:44pm

"Crazy for You" was based on the huge Gershwin hit "Girl Crazy" from 1930. The original show had sort of the same plot - Danny Churchill has to go out to Arizona to close a theater his folks own, or something like that. Danny was played by Allen Kearns, a "professional juvenile" actor who was already 38 years old - the Dick Powell role in the movie 42nd Street is based on him. The town postmistress was played by 19-year-old Ginger Rodgers. Danny hired, Gieber Goldfarb, a crazy taxi driver in New York to drive him to Arizona. He was played by "ethnic comedian" Willie Howard, who specialized in "Oy Vey" Jewish accent roles with a dialogue almost geographically indescribable but somewhat Eastern European. There ware also a quartet who sang "Bidin' My Time" endlessly and a young woman who didn't open her mouth to sing until the end of the first act when she blew the roof off. Her name was Ethel Merman.

"Crazy for You" was one of the shows that benefited from "The Warner Warehouse" which was an undiscovered trove of sheetmusic - tons of it - from the East Coast offices of Warner Brothers that had been in storage in, I belieive Secacus, New Jersey for decades. When it was discovered, hundreds of songs by some of the greatest early musical composers were once again available. I believe some of the Gershwin songs in the show came from there.

Harry Groener was the evil Mayor of Sunnydale ("When I transform, I'll have to feast on the flesh of the graduating class so no snacking") on "Buffy The Vampire Slayer.

He is an amazing talent.

[Jon]

Posted: 6/14/08 at 8:20pm

Harry Groener also had a nice role in the film "About Schmidt".