You could argue that a trunk full of underutilized songs by George and Ira Gershwin constitutes a crime in the world of musical theater. Yet after their heyday as hitmakers decades ago, gems like “Crazy for You,” “Someone to Watch Over Me” and “I Got Rhythm” faded into the woodwork. At least until the early 1990s, when a new musical featuring old hits stormed Broadway and the Tony Awards. “Crazy for You” has since been staged the world over and remains a regional theater staple.
Being built backwards — the plot fitted to the songs instead of the other way around — isn’t the only unique thing about “Crazy for You,” says director Matt Crowle, who helms the Drury Lane production, opening in previews Nov. 3.
“It’s got some of the most singularly dance-able music in the world,” Crowle says. “I grew up doing dance recitals to this music. Look, I love Cole Porter and Irving Berlin, but when it comes to dance, the Gershwins’ music is in a class of its own. There’s just so much personality and vibrance in it.”
The dances propelling “Crazy for You” come wrapped around Ira Gershwin’s lyrics and his brother George’s music, most of the songs composed during the 1920s. Ken Ludwig penned the book some 70-odd years later, crafting a daffy plot that veers from the bustle and skyscrapers of New York City to the tumbleweeds and saloons of Deadrock, Nevada. The story centers on Bobby Child, a guy who is something of a cross between Leo Bloom, the repressed accountant of “The Producers,”and Ren McCormack, the dance-crazed rebel from “Footloose.”
Like Bloom, starry-eyed Bobby just wants to dance. And also like Bloom, he’s stuck in a soul-crushing office, buried in accounting ledgers. As the son of bankers, Bobby is expected to inherit the family business rather than go into show business. Toward that end, his gorgon of a mother (Hollis Resnik) sends the young man to Arizona to foreclose on the Deadrock theater.
But soon Bobby and a sassy local ingenue named Polly Baker join forces to save the theater by, yes, putting on a show. And as it can happen only in musicaltheaterland, there just happens to be a bevy of uber-leggy Follies gals in dusty old Deadrock, as well as a whole bunch of unused stand-up basses that turn into the most delightfully memorable dance props this side of the granny walkers in “The Producers.”
As Bobby and Polly, the husband and wife team of Clyde Alves and Robyn Hurder make their Drury Lane debuts, having relocated from Toronto for the run.
The plot may be as substantial as marshmallow fluff, but the stamina required by those who would assay the role of Bobby Child is no joke. Bobby is an intensely physical role, with the character on stage and dancing for almost the entire production. The rigors include tap, ballroom, vaudevillian schtick and one prolonged drunken patomime.
“‘Crazy for You’ can be a great show, but it can also be a not-so-great show because the role of Bobby is so demanding,” says Crowle. “You don’t just need a triple threat singer/dancer/actor. You also need an athlete. The part will crush you otherwise. Fortunately, we’ve got that in Clyde. I look at him when he could be resting, and he’s still moving. He doesn’t just stop.”
Alves is doing the role for the first time, but he’s no stranger to the show.
“Twenty years ago, I kind of had a ‘eureka’ moment with ‘Crazy for You,'” he recalled. “The Broadway tour came through Toronto in 1995, when I was in high school. I was like ‘this is what I want to do. I want to be a song and dance man.'”
Before that, Alves had show-biz aspirations, but they lacked direction. “I wanted to be an actor like De Niro. And a dancer like Baryshnikov. And a singer like Michael Jackson,” he recalled. “When I saw ‘Crazy for You,’ musical theater came into focus.”
When auditions for a professional tour of a “Beauty and the Beast” came through, he gave it a shot — and wound up making his professional debut not long after high school. Alves arrives at Drury Lane with a resume of Broadway credits, including “Hairspray” and “Oklahoma!” His wife, Robyn Hurder, is also a Broadway vet, with credits including “Grease,” “Chicago” and “Chitty Chitty Bang Bang.”
For Crowle, “Crazy for You” has a deeply personal resonance.
“This is a story about being true to yourself, even when you’re up against difficult odds,” he says. “I sometimes see my friends struggling with the pressures of whatever, but if you can stay true to yourself, kinda like Bobby, it all tends to work out in the end.”
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‘Crazy for You’
When: Nov. 3–Jan. 8; previews Nov. 3-10
Where: Drury Lane, 100 Drury Lane, Oakbrook Terrace
Tickets: $45–$55
Contact: www.DruryLaneTheatre.com