The Gershwin musical the Gershwins knew nothing about – Crazy For You – is at the Mayflower this week.
The show was created in the 1990s and this version was originally produced by the wonderful Watermill Theatre who specialise in musicals with quadruple-threat performers – actors, singers, dancers and instrumentalists. Yes – here we have an all-acting, all-singing, all-dancing and all-instrument-playing cast.
Leading the cast are Tom Chambers and Charlotte Wakefield. Wakefield is great as Polly and has a powerhouse of a voice, moving easily between belt and head. She dances well, too and convinces as the clichéd Western hick.
Chambers – as hero Bobby Child – is not so easy to praise. He lacks leading-man charisma and never seemed to scale the acting or singing heights although he is a more confident dancer. Indeed, by the end of the show his voice was tired and croaky and his rendition of Nice Work If You Can Get It suffered as a result.
The ensemble are slick in their musicianship, in particular the Cowboy Trio and especially, of them, Ned Rudkins-Stow who not only manages to sing and dance but manipulates a huge double-bass around the stage whilst getting a tune out of it. There’s a nice character-turn from Seren Sandham-Davis as the ditzy Patsy, too.
Until November 25.
