Crazy for You (musical)
They engaged Ken Ludwig to write the book, Mike Ockrent to direct, and Susan Stroman to do the choreography, and obtained permission from the Gershwin family.Other songs came from the musical films Shall We Dance ("Slap That Bass" and "They Can't Take That Away From Me") and A Damsel in Distress, both of which were released in the year of George's death.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, Beth Leavel as Tess (Leavel also understudied Benson), Ronn Carroll as Everett Baker, and Stephen Temperley and Amelia White as Eugene and Patricia Fodor.In his review in The New York Times, Frank Rich wrote, "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 miracle has been worked here most ingeniously, though not exclusively, by an extraordinary choreographer named Susan Stroman and the playwright Ken Ludwig .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.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.[11] On October 18, 2009, a showtime challenge, charity gala performance of Crazy for You, directed by Katherine Hare and choreographed by Racky Plews was staged by Eyebrow Productions at the London Palladium.[citation needed] In summer 2016 a UK revival opened at the Watermill Theatre, Newbury starring Tom Chambers as Bobby and Caroline Sheen as Polly.The production began touring the UK from August 2017 to June 2018 starring Chambers reprising his role as Bobby, Caroline Flack as Irene and Charlotte Wakefield as Polly.As the women argue over him, Bobby imagines himself dancing with the Follies Girls and joins them in a rousing rendition of "I Can't Be Bothered Now."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."Sadly, everyone is disappointed to find that the only people to arrive at the show are Eugene and Patricia Fodor, British tourists writing a guidebook on the American West.They celebrate with a spirited rendition of "I Got Rhythm" while the real Zangler stumbles unnoticed into the town, almost dehydrated, and collapses just as the scene ends.The Fodors counsel the dejected townspeople to keep a "Stiff Upper Lip," which includes a parody of the barricade scene from Les Misérables, but by the end of the song only Polly, Everett, Bobby, and Tess still think the show should continue.