Priscilla Munson Gazette Theater Critic
Not "Crazy" To Stay In Long Beach To See Quality Musical Theater
Some people would have us believe that good theater can only be found outside our city limits. O contraire. We are blessed with seven local companies - as theatrically diverse as they come - that offer us lively entertainment week in and week out.

Right now, for example, one has merely to head over to our eastside Carpenter Center to discover what the capacity crowd at Musical Theatre West's opening of "Crazy For You" did.

Long Beach has an "E" ticket in this exuberant 1992 Tony Award winner for Best Musical.

Imagine you're seated with around 1,400 musical theater enthusiasts buzzing with excitement, waiting for the show to begin amidst faint strains of the pit orchestra tuning up. Can you feel the electricity in the air?

Now, imagine that as the house lights go down and the overture begins, the outer curtain rises on a translucent curtain with a huge Art-Deco fan on it brilliantly back lit by swirling fountain of multi-colored lights. As the music swells and the visuals become even more stunning, there can be no doubt. "Crazy For You" is going to be a very special show.

In what's called "The New Gershwin Musical," 21 of George and Ira's most memorable and easily recognizable songs, including "Someone To Watch Over Me," "Slap That Bass," "Embraceable You," "I Got Rhythm," and "They Can't Take That Away From Me," are framed by a delightful tale of love and the power of community. Sent out west by his wealthy family to personally handle the foreclosure of an old Nevada theater, handsome New York banker/wanna-be-dancer Bobby Child (magnetically portrayed by an endearingly agile David Engel) immediately falls in love with feisty Polly Baker (fetchingly embodied by an equally as magnetic Tami Tappan Damiano).

But instead of fulfilling his assignment, Bobby arranges for his New York showgirl friends to come out and help him save the theater, and win Polly's heart.

In "Crazy For You," where everybody sings and everybody dances, 28 versatile performers adorned in an array of dazzling costumes enact multiple stories within the main story on larger-than-life street and interior scenes of New York City and Deadrock, Nevada.

It's no wonder the audience whooped, hollered, gasped, laughed, cried and leapt to their feet in appreciation. These players' extraordinarily beautiful artistry and athleticism takes your breath away.

That's particularly true when watching the Fred Astaire-Ginger Rogers-like pairing of Engel and Damiano. They effortlessly floated on air in "Shall We Dance?" and the grand finale.

I sat riveted in my seat covered with goose bumps for more than two hours. It was fabulous!

"Crazy For You" is a quintessential American musical filled with glorious glitter and girls, legs and voices, splashy production numbers, exhilarating tap dancing, adorable sight gags, tender romance and of course, all that marvelous Gershwin.

Who could ask for anything more?
7/16/2003     

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