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who could ask for anything more?

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CAST LIST

 PRODUCTION LIST

REVIEW

Singing, dancing outshine play's plot
by Rick Gould
Record-Eagle staff writer

Traverse City's Old Town Playhouse has pulled out all the stops with "Crazy For You," which features a huge cast and crew performing the classic music of George and Ira Gershwin.

"Crazy For You" is actually a reinvention of the 1930's Gershwin musical, "Girl Crazy." At one point adapted into a '40s Mickey Rooney-Judy Garland vehicle, it was reincarnated even more radically in the early '90s as "Crazy For You."

That time, the tune-up came about because the plot and punch lines were woefully outdated in comparison to the timeless tunes. Playwright Ken Ludwig, whose send up of bedroom farces "Lend Me A Tenor" and "Moon Over Buffalo" were successes, overhauled the plot and added other Gershwin standards to bolster the show. The result was a Tony-winning smash hit.

The paper-thin plot revolves around Bobby Child, scion of a New York banking family and frustrated song-and-dance man, who is sent by his mother to foreclose the Gaiety Theater in Deadrock, Nevada. Once there, he falls in love with the duather of the theater's owner and becomes involved in a scheme to save the day by -- yes -- putting on a really big show.

If you love old-time musicals where the plot is strictly a prop for singing and dancing, "Crazy For You" is right up your Tin Pan Alley. Director Brian Dungjen, Assistant Director Michelle Perez, and five choreographers do an admirable job of keeping this three-hour production, with a huge cast performing 20-plus Gershwin tunes, moving along at a smooth, stylish clip.

Matt McCormick created an intricate set that allows for the many scene changes -- and it's great to look at. Veteran designer Kathy Verstraete has a field day with the many costume changes, particularly those of the women.

In fact, one of the reasons "Crazy For You" succeeds is because of all the veteran hands involved, from the cast to behind the scenes to the orchestra. It benefits significantly from having two talented and attractive lead performers -- Brett Nichols as Bobby, the rich kid who's got to sing and dance, and Suzann Hains as the no-nonsense Polly. The pair's capable, energetic performances help enliven the incessant bickering and misunderstandings that occur before the inevitable clinch.

In fact, the whole cast is obviously having a blast with their characters and musical numbers. Ed Mulcahy and Sarah Hanpton are raucous as Lank, the Deadrock saloon keeper who takes Bobby's snooty finacee, Irene (Hampton), off his hands. Brad Lewis gets laughs playing Euro-caricature theatrical guru Bela Zangler, who Bobby Child impersonates. A hilarious highlight occurs when Lewis and Nichols share the stage as Zangler and his impostor, both of them tipsy. It's reminiscent of the "I Love Lucy" episode that had Lucy meeting the real Harpo Marx while impersonating him.

Elaborate numbers occassionally threaten to overflow the stage. "Slap That Bass," "I Got Rhythm" and "Stiff Upper Lip" are some of the showstoppers that pay homage to Busby Berkeley's elaborate production numbers. But the smaller moments are nice too -- when Hains' vocals are showcased on "Someone To Watch Over Me" or Bobby and Polly's courtship is set to "Shall We Dance?"

And last but not least, there are those 20 Gershwin songs. Thin plot or no, for an evening at the theater, who could ask for anything more?

"Crazy For You" runs April 11-26 at the Old Town Playhouse. For ticket information, contact the box office at 947-2443 or online at www.oldtownplayhouse.com

Journal - Kris Hains Don Kuehlhorn Top

Wednesday, January 22, 2003
Well, we actually ended up having several nights off. The men met on Monday for vocals and on Tuesday for dance, so the ladies had those nights off. Now we had dance tonight and vocals tomorrow night. 
The dance rehearsal went well tonight.  This show is full of dance and so we really have to keep a pretty good pace going as far as how quickly we learn things.  We reviewed last week's combinations and then learned a couple new ones.  I always feel like it's my own responsibility to go home and really polish it, so the next time we get together we can just keep moving forward.
What the playhouse really needs is a good room for dance. The room we're dancing in now is called the Multi Purpose room, which means exactly that. It serves many purposes and only the mirrors on the wall make it a dance room. The floor is carpeted cement, not the best conditions for dancing. But that is how we work. We use what space we have and wait for our turn on the mainstage.  Someday it would be great for the playhouse to have an actual "studio" that could be used for learning dance/choreography.  Of course, everyone has their own ideas of what the playhouse needs.  I'm sure the orchestra members would love to someday have a rehearsal room to call their own.  In the meantime, we all just make due and find whatever space we can to rehearse.

Thursday, January 16, 2003 
So last night was our first dance rehearsal.  It really got me charged up about the show and about dancing again.  So charged up, as a matter of fact, that I came home and decided that what I really needed to do was do some extra work of my own.  Have you ever done so many toe raises that the next day you felt like your calve muscles might start bleeding (were that physically possible)?  Yeah, that was me today.  Well it wasn't just the toe raises.  It was the four laps of lunges that I did down the hallway.  Moderation, Kris, that is the key to all of this.  But I digress....back to last night's rehearsal, we worked on a couple different numbers from the show.  What a fun group of people Brian assembled for this show.  That's what I love about tapping; it's so much fun that it never feels like work. Tonight we had a vocal rehearsal. I'm having a harder time with the vocal rehearsals with this show and I think it's because I'm not familiar with most of the chorus numbers in this show.  Generally going into a show I know a lot more of the music and so the vocal rehearsals are just a matter of figuring out which notes to sing. With this show, I'm really having to concentrate and focus on actually learning the songs as well as my notes.  It is a challenge getting back into this, I have to admit.  

Oh and as for the Crazy for You diet: still holding at four pounds lost.  

We're off now til Monday.  Hopefully by then I'll have regained feeling in my calves.

Monday, January 13, 2003-First Vocal Rehearsal
We had our first vocal rehearsal tonight.  To me, this is always a rough rehearsal.  Everyone's kind of getting warmed up and trying to figure out the show and the music and sometimes when we sing, you can see the director with that look of fear thinking, "Good God, these people could sing at auditions, what happened?!" And then we sing something and it sounds fabulous and all is good.  I, of course, wasn't one of those making fabulous sounds. I am a dancer.  I would never call myself a singer, even though I know I am capable of singing and singing the correct notes. I prefer to make music with my feet.  So during these vocal rehearsals, I try to catch onto my part and follow the music, but what I'm really aching for is to get on my tap shoes and dance.  In good time, I know. It's important to have a handle on the music so when you learn the steps you can put it all together. 
Oh, and for the record, the "Crazy for You" diet is off to a good start....the thought of putting my body into any sort of costume that would be described as "show girl" scared the first four pounds off me before we even started rehearsals!

January 8, 2003-Posting of the cast list
I'm in!  Wow. I just can't believe it! There was a time when I used to do three or four shows a year and so the whole auditioning/casting thing was just kind of "another day at the playhouse." This was kind of a fun experience.  Having been "out of the loop" for awhile, it was kind of an adrenaline rush to go the playhouse and see my name posted on the cast list.  My sister, Suzy did get the lead so that's very exciting.  We have our first read through tonight which will give all of us a chance to meet each other and read through the script so we all have a concept of the story line. Even though I'm "just" a dancer, it's still very important to understand the story and find my place in the script.  I made a pledge to myself that if I got into the dancing chorus, I would lose 30 pounds by opening night.  Trust me, if I don't, I'll be the dancer, hiding behind a cactus tree on opening night.  We'll call it the "Crazy for You" diet.
Later... The first read through was a lot of fun.  This seems to be a good group of people, with a GREAT sense of humor.  We got our scripts today.  They randomly handed out the scripts and I got my lucky number, #24.  (My birthday is the 24th, of this month actually).  This seems like a good sign!

January 7, 2003- Call backs
Well, I didn't get a callback, which could mean one of two things: either he's not calling back any of the dancers or he just doesn't see me as part of the dancing chorus. That happens a lot, where you're just not physically right for a role or up against the other folks you'll be dancing/acting/singing around.  I decide not to put too much energy into worrying about all of that. That's the director's job.  Having directed several times before, I'm glad that it's someone else's turn to be in the "hot" seat.  My sister, however, did get a callback. She's auditioning for one of the leads. My father also got a callback as he is auditioning for the role of Polly's father.  It would be a great opportunity for all three of us to be onstage together, but again that will all depend on how the director sees things.  Funny to think that sometimes onstage you just don't look right next to your own flesh and blood.  Ah well, that's the theatre!

January 6, 2003-Second Night of Auditions
I came to sit through the second night of auditions.  I figured there would be plenty of waiting as the second night usually involves all of the new folks going through the singing and dancing that we all did last night.  That was the case and then Brian moved onto reading different combinations of people.  Since I'm only hoping to be one of the dancers, I didn't expect to read, however I did get called up once near the end.    Call backs are tomorrow night.

January 5, 2003-First Night of Auditions-"Crazy for You"
As I enter the playhouse, it strikes me that the last time I appeared on stage here was in 1998 when I played a 16 year old.  Now here I am some five years later entering as a 33 year old.  I guess theatre years must be like dog years or something.  Part of me thinks I must be crazy, coming into auditions. You see, it's not only been five years since I've been onstage, it's also been one child and a few pounds ago.  Still it's the draw of the stage and, of course, the draw of a show with tap dancing in it.  The last time the playhouse did a BIG tap show was 12 years ago with "42nd Street." Given the fact that I've aged 17 "stage years" in the last five years, I better not wait for the next show to come around.

Journal -  Don Kuehlhorn Kris Hains Top
April 28, 2003
Another one in the can. Crazy for you put up a valiant fight but in the end we all must move on. We have put another play to bed and look forward to the next. Fuddy Meers opens in two weeks and Rumors after that. No time to mourn a very good play since we have work to do and more audiences to please. This play had a cast the came to play every night. Some palys don't have that energy. When you have that energy you want to get to the playhouse early and stay late, the fun never ends. It becomes "play". At the end of the run, as now, you see that all things come to an end. Then you look to the next(see Rumors). curtain in.

April 7, 2003
I have been out of town the beginning of April. Even though theater is an addiction for me, sometimes life gets in the way. I had a family issue to take care of and missed the tech week of our show. I returned in time to help with opening night. Before I left i knew that there was a possibilty of me leaving so I had a member of the stage crew ready to take over. We didn't miss a beat. The crew member stepped in and they got through tech week rehearsals with very little problems. When I walked backstage on opening night the crew member was ready to relinquish the headset to me. Seems he thought i'd want the reigns of power back. Well, i do but not then. I think that they worked during the week while i was gone and built a back stage crew. They had a system prepared that i would ruin if i took over. The crew member got to run the opening weekend. We did good! Maybe i will take the headset back sometime, but now i must go upstairs and relieve Deb of her stage nmanager headset so she can have a well deserved break. I am sure one day off and i will be backstage again. This play stuff is addictive!

March 21, 2003
I had clean forgot that I had a journal going for this show. We have still not been involved in the show that much. Our studio production prohibits some rehearsal dates when they are performing. The cast must practice the choreography and vocals before any meaningful rehearsing can begin. We need set pieces to move for our stage crew to have a sense of their job. Yesterday, all that came together with the studio show over, the dances learned and most of the set pieces available. Our job begins now, in ernest.
We have a core of 4 crew members. We had others but it looks like some have gone to other jobs and some just have gone. We think four is optimum. Not too many to get in each other's way and not too few to make the big moves difficult. We are two weeks out and looking very good. The cast is right on the money and the set pieces are negotiable. We look forward to props though. These small objects come with the performers sometimes and come with the set dressings other times. They will appear in places that may cause harm to actors who don't expect them and just be in the way as well. I have asked the cast to let us know when they want a prop on stage. That way we can help keep them safe and healthy. More on these things later.

March 7, 2003
We have been in rehearsal for several days now. I have made the director relinquish the moving the stage furniture to me. The director has the responsibility for the "Artistic" look of the show. This look includes the way the scenes change from one to the other. We have the choice of turning the lights out and changing the set, leaving the lights on and changing the set, letting actors help in changing the set and many more options, all decided by the director. But once the director decides the method of scene change it is up to the stage manager to execute. After all, the stage manager will do it every performance while the director stands at the back of the house chewing his/her fingernails. It is not easy for the director to give up any portion of the show to another but it must be down so the director can focus on what the director must.. director his /her actors. Brian has decided that we will not go to dark to change sets. We will have a combination of actors and stage crew to make these changes. Our job, deb and mine, is to choreograph the movement of people and furniture on and off the stage. This is a dance as intricate as any during the performance. We must move set pieces from the back of the stage on stage while moving set pieces off stage and not crash into each other AND not make the audience wonder what is taking so long. The challenge is before us. More on this subject will be written as we progress to the main dance.

February 24, 2003
W e started our stage manager process this evening. It is the beginning of a long tour. We saw much of the set. It is constructed but not painted or finished. We talked with some of the production staff and thought we could see how the set pieces were used. It is four weeks out and there is still some work to be done for us to learn the stage movements. After we talked with the director we decided to wait another week before starting. We will be back.

February, 2003
I am co-stage manager along with Deb Bowman. We have discussed our participation in this show and decided to not start until mid February.
Our thinking is thus:

• The audiiton dates were moved forward several weeks to accommodate the dance and music.
• We don't need to sit through rehearsals for learning dances and songs.
• Main stage will not become ours until after "The Lion in Winter" closes in mid February.
• We don't have a set design to plan the scene changes and so forth.

We will be back when something of interest must be said.