BWW Reviews: Shenandoah Summer Music's CRAZY FOR YOU is a Phenomenal Evening of Entertainment and Great Gershwin Standards

Shenandoah Summer Music Theatre's production of Crazy for You is a phenomenal evening of entertainment filled with fantastic tap-dancing and great Gershwin standards. The 1992 musical comedy featuring music and lyrics by George and Ira Gershwin and an updated book by Ken Ludwig was a perfect evening of entertainment in the incredibly talented hands (and tap dancing feet) of the Shenandoah Summer Music Theater company.

Crazy for You is a hilarious musical comedy portraying the romance between frustrated banker and wanna-be dancer, Bobby Child (Carl Danielsen) and spunky cowgirl Polly Baker (Robin Higginbotham). Unhappy with his performance as a banker and unable to get into the Zangler Follies musical he idolizes, Bobby is sent to Nevada to foreclose on a theater owned by the Baker family, providing Bobby a relief from his annoying fiance, Irene (Christina Kidd) and overbearing mother (Leah Coconides). While in Nevada, Bobby meets and falls in love with Polly Baker, both unaware of the others' identities. Once Polly discovers Bobby is the big-shot banker from New York sent to foreclose on her family's once prosperous business, she despises him. To win her back, Bobby masquerades as successful Broadway producer Bella Zangler and arranges for the Zangler Follies to come to Nevada. They plan to perform in a show in Polly's family's theater to earn the money to pay off the mortgage and keep the business. Hilarious complications ensue when the real Bella Zangler and Bobby's fiance arrive in Nevada, in between plenty of show stopping numbers and outstanding comedic moments.

Carl Denielsen was delightfully awkward and adorable as Bobby Child, New York banker and wanna-be Broadway dancer. He brought the perfect zany, old-style charm and grace of Danny Kaye to the role and the amazing dancing ability of Fred Astaire. Robin Higginbotham was equally impressive as spunky cowgirl Polly Baker, Bobby's eventual love interest. Her rendition of the overdone Gershwin ballad "Someone to Watch Over Me"was an amazing solo number and provided a refreshingly new take on the often-performed song. The pair displayed incredible romantic and comedic chemistry, with every joke and romantic moment landing perfectly throughout the evening, all while displaying tap and dancing abilities that would make Fred and Ginger jealous. Though Denielsen and Higginbotham were impressive in their respective roles and as a romantic pair, the only possible criticism is that the pair is much too mature and worldy-looking for their roles as the young, naive romantic couple.

Christina Kidd as Irene and Zac Ostrowski as Lank were perfect as the over-the-top villains who are romantically attracted to each other by the end, displaying perfect comedic chemistry. Kidd's Act II number "Naughty Baby" was incredibly sultry and sensuous, proving the actress had the stellar singing and dancing skills to match her impressive comedic chops. Mara Lucas was also a standout in the ensemble as the dim-witted and broad chested chorine Patsy. Her portrayal was delightfully dumb and adorable.

The true standout star of the evening was Adam Pribila as Broadway producer Bella Zangler. His comedic timing and sense for "milking" his comedic bits was spot-on, and his accent was one of the funniest bits of the production. Possibly the funniest moment in the show occurred at the top of Act II as Pribila and Denielsen (playing Bobby pretending to be Zangler) share a perfectly-timed homage to the mirror scene in the Marx Brother's movie Duck Soup before lamenting their respective love lives. The entire bit between the two actors was timed flawlessly to soak every bit of comedy out of the scene and left the audience helpless with laughter.

Every ensemble number in the production was outstanding and intricate tap sequences were executed flawlessly. "Slap That Bass" was probably the best production number in the musical, incorporating impressive acrobatic feats and intricate tap sequences. "I Got Rhythm", the Act I Finale, was a delightful tap number which segued into an incredibly entertaining one-up dance contest between the girls, boys, Polly and Bobby

The set was charming and utilizable as three-dimensional painted flats to represent rows of Broadway theaters, the saloon, street scenes in Nevada and many more locations throughout the story. The costumes were gorgeous, perfectly evoking the odd combination of the 1930's period showgirls and theater folk to the western cowboys in the saloon. Two of the best moments in the show revolved around set pieces, with a side-splitting gag between Bobby and the bartender featuring beer bottles sliding off the bar in the saloon in Act I and a hilarious, campy spoof of the barricade scene from Les Miserables in a full company dance number in Act II. The spoof was twice as funny as intended in the script, because in this production, it also served as a reference to the fantastic production of Les Miserables which opened the Shenandoah Summer Music Theatre season this year.

The phenomenally talented Crazy for You cast features Kelsee Sweigard as Tess, John Baker as Everett Baker, James Laster as Eugene Fodor, Anne Norland as Patricia Fodor, Kimberlee Ward, Ali Foley, Rachael Haber, Courtney Hostetler, Allison Petrillo, Lara Treacy, Nell Komlos and Whitney Warrenfeltz as the Zangler's Follies Showgirls, Tanner Pippert, Morgan McDowell, Patrick Clealand Rosé, Joshua Campbell, Bryce Wagner,R.C. Heirs, Frankie Ramirez, Rafel Martinez-Salgado, Matthew Lincoln-Bugg and Joey Santangelo as the Cowboys and Leah Wedge, Cassidy Watkinson, Savannah Lee-Mumford and McKensie Struzick as Bobby's Girls.

Crazy for You continues to run Wednesday through Saturday evenings at 8:00, Sunday evenings at 7:00 and matinees on Saturday at 2:30 through July 21. As of this writing, the Wednesday matinee on July 17 is already sold-out. All performances are held in the Ohrstrom-Bryant Theater on the campus of Shenandoah University. For more information or to order tickets, please visit the Shenandoah Summer Music Theater website at http://shenandoahsummermusictheatre.com/. You would have to be crazy to miss this incredibly entertaining evening of musical theater.

Photo Credit: Shenandoah Summer Music Theatre

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