BWW Reviews: DCLO Goes Gershwin CRAZY FOR YOU

Marsha Moode aptly describes Crazy For You as a great tonic to help us cope with today's news cycle.The great Gershwin musical score, the corny jokes, thin plot, loony mix-ups... and true 'dreamy' romance all add up to an evening of sheer bliss. DCLO's current production of the Tony winning Best Musical is without question one of their very best and worth the ride to Downey through October 14 only.

Bobby Child (Mishi Schueller), despite the fact that his doting mom (Heather Blades) runs a bank and he can have any job he wants, has 'the calling' to be a dancer, to star in Bella Zangler's (William T. Lewis) New York theatre - akin to Flo Ziegfeld - and so he struggles and auditions for Zangler but clumsily steps on his foot while tapping and Zangler throws him out, calling him "a moron". Bobby's mom sends him to dreary Deadrock, Nevada to foreclose on a theatre, where he meets the love of his life Polly Baker (Andrea Dodson). As luck would have it, all hell breaks loose! Polly's engaged to nitwit yet forceful, brawny Lank Hawkins (Paul Preston) who considers buying Polly's dad's theatre and turning it into a casino. "Who would come to a casino in the middle of a desert?" is but one of a zillion silly one-liners in this madcap romp whose romantic infatuations include Tess (Laura Rensing), who manages the chorus line for Bella and remains the apple of his eye, and Irene Roth (Charlotte Carpenter), Bobby's wealthy fiance, who refuses to take no for an answer, creating yet another triangle. There's the happiest of endings, of course, for all of these folks, as they sing, tap and dance to some of George and Ira Gershwin's most beautiful hit tunes: "Bidin' My Time", "Someone to Watch Over Me", "I Got Rhythm", "They Can't Take That Away from Me", "But Not for Me" and "Nice Work If You Can Get It", among others. Director Marsha Moode and choreographer Nathan Wise have outdone themselves with spectacular staging for this show. There's never a dull moment, nary a missed beat.

The cast is deliciously over-the-moon. Schueller's Bobby is a conglom of the best elements of boyishness/manliness. He's adorable, mischievous, yet, as actor, totally in control as he acts, sings and dances in true triple threat fashion. Dodson as Polly wins her audience's hearts with her grounded sensibility, feistiness and precious vulnerability. Preston fits Lank to a physical tee, and manages to be quite droll in his stubborn, bullying exchanges. William T. Lewis is fantastic as Bella Zangler. His duet with Schueller "What Causes That" is brilliantly staged by Wise. Rensing is bright and pleasingly manipulative as Tess, Blades makes an appropriately obsessive mother and Carpenter, although perhaps too old for the role, is terrific as Irene. She's lovely, seductive and terribly funny, having a field day with "Naughty Baby". Standouts from the townsfolk are James Robuck as Moose and William Crisp as Custis, who add moments of hilarity. This is a huge, 32 member ensemble, including townsfolk and Zangler beauties, and they are all to be commendEd Royally one and all for providing a great evening of merriment, singing and dancing. And bravo once again to Moode and Wise for keeping them uniformly on track.

I have seen Crazy For You three or four times, and this production ranks right up there amongst the finest. Marsha Moode is DCLO and we laud her grande endeavors to keep it rolling forward.

http://downeyciviclightopera.org/Downey_Civic_Light_Opera/Downey_Civic_Light_Opera_Home.htm

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