CRAZY FOR YOU
An energetic and colourful musical treat
Review Accrington Observer - 5 November, 2004
FIVE years ago, when I first started writing reviews of Accrington Theatre Group, I made the very rash statement that I hated musicals.
This, of course, was a huge mistake, not because it wasn't true at
the time, but because I didn't qualify it. The reason I hated musicals
was largely ignorance. I simply didn't have enough experience of
them.
I've since realised the one good thing about having little or no prior
knowledge of musicals is that each one is a revelation to me. I'll
admit that sometimes the revelation reminds me why I never pursued
musicals in the first place, but often it simply surprises me.
Take Crazy For You, for instance. Before seeing it at Oswaldtwistle Civic Theatre on Monday night I hadn't even heard of it; I thought it was a song by Madonna. It turns out that it's a fast-paced, high octane musical with a surprising number of well-known songs in it. The plot tells the tale of Bobby Child, a wannabe singer in the New York Zangler Follies.
When sent by his mother to foreclose a deal on a theatre in Nevada he falls in love with Polly,. the theatre's owner. He attempts to help her but she doesn't trust him so he dons the disguise of Mr Zangler himself to put on a show at the theatre and she then starts to fall in love with him. At this point the real Mr Zangler turns upand Bobby's deception is uncovered. Will Polly love him as him-self or does she prefer the real Mr Zangler?
Set vaguely in the 1940s, Accrington Theatre Group's production was
energetic and colourful. From the moment the first dance routine
started to the finale, each actor must have tapped the .equivalent
of running a marathon.
I was impressed by the tap dancing. It's a very hard discipline and
the girls were excellent. The costume department also had great fun
with the dancers' outfits and they looked as good as they - danced.
The cowboys were great fun too, adding some slapstick humour to the proceedings.
Bobby was played by Mark Robinson. He has such relaxed, effortless charm about him that he could get away with singing from the back of the cornflake packet and you'd still want to come back for more.
His leading lady, Gina Cole, is also extremely watchable and managed to look glamorous in a pair of dungarees, which is no mean. feat. She has a wonderful voice and is a great asset to the company.
The one flaw in the whole show was not in the production itselfbut
in the writing of the character of Patricia Fodor.
If George and Ira Gershwin had known that they were going to get Sue
Moretta playing the role they would surely have made her a leading
character.
She's glorious and, in the few brief scenes she was in, she easily elicited the biggest laughs from the audience. I just hope they find a show next year that has a character worthy of her.
Accents were a problem again, but in a show with New York, Nevada, upper-class English, Hungarian and other accents to master it's no surprise that a few of them slipped occasionally.
I saw the show on opening night and sound was a little bit of an issue but I'm sure that will have been sorted out by now. Lighting and stage design were inventive and costumes were excellent.
For an Accrington Theatre Group production the audience was pitiful. Usually the place is filled to the rafters every night. Perhaps people stayed away because the show is not so well known. If that's the case, I would suggest people go and get to know it.
So do I still hate musicals? Well, as I'm still learning it's too early to say, but I didn't hate this one.
Crazy for You runs until tomorrow night. Tickets are available from
Oswaldtwistle Civic Theatre and Accrington Town Hall.
GAYLE KNIGHT