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I'VE GOT RHYTHM
CAN I ASK FOR ANYTHING MORE?
By Brian
Mackey
After more than a decade of
revivals and European imports — “Miss Saigon,” “Les Miserables,”
and work after work by Andrew Lloyd Webber — critics saw 1992’s
“Crazy for You” herald a renaissance in the American musical
theater. The show, which Sangamon Auditorium hosted for two
performances last weekend, recalls two bygone eras: the 1930s of
its setting and the 1950s of its genre.
Ken Ludwig wrote “Crazy for You” around the skeleton of George
and Ira Gershwin’s 1930 “Girl Crazy.” Ludwig included some of
the Gershwins’ best-known songs, as well as a few that had not
been heard before.
“Crazy for You” was originally
directed and choreographed for Broadway by Mike Ockrent and
Susan Stroman. For this new touring production, Joey McKneely
handled both jobs.
The story begins in New York
City, circa 1930, with a set that is one part art and three
parts deco. Bobby Child desperately wants a part in Bela
Zengler’s follies, but fails to impress the director with a
brief song and dance audition that lands Bobby on Zengler’s
foot.
Outside Zengler’s theater,
Bobby’s former (so he thinks) fiancée Irene is waiting to pester
him about their non-pending wedding. “The guest list is up to
900 people,” she tells him.
Soon, his mother arrives on the
scene. She is wearing a fur shawl; her attitude gives the idea
she could have done the job herself. Mother is interminable,
but what she lacks in charm she makes up with wealth. Demanding
that Bobby give up his dreams of performing for a job in the
family’s bank, Mother dispatches him to Deadrock, Nevada, where
he is to foreclose on a building.
In Nevada, Bobby meets Polly,
Deadrock’s postmaster. She is also a member of the family that
owns the building Bobby has been sent to take. When he finds
out that the doomed structure was once a theater, he comes up
with a plan to live his dream, save the building, and — this
being a musical — get the girl. Madcap antics and zany
misunderstandings ensue.
Ludwig well captured the period’s
zingers, cheeky innuendo, and physical gags:
Woman to innkeeper: “I want you
to give me a room with a bath.”
“I can give you a room, but
you’ll have to take your own bath.” Ba-dum.
In another scene, saloon owner
Lank Hawkins is getting frustrated with Bobby when he shouts,
“You are close to an idiot!” A beat, then Bobby takes one
exaggerated step back.
The strongest parts of the show
were the ensemble dance numbers. “I Got Rhythm” was a
tap-dancing showstopper.
Polly, played by Kelly Lynn Cosme,
had a few transcendent singing moments; a trio of chorus men
lent a few bright spots to the second act. For the most part,
however, the show’s singing was just adequate.
Unfortunately, there were a few
technical problems. Polly’s microphone was plagued by
intermittent static throughout the performance, while Bobby
sounded as though he were speaking through a telephone for
nearly half an hour.
Apparently, this weekend’s shows
were among the first on a tour that will last many months. The
few rough patches in singing, dancing, and comic timing should
not be too difficult to iron out.
In his 1992 review of “Crazy for
You,” the New York Times’ notorious drama critic Frank Rich
wrote: “When future historians try to find the exact moment at
which Broadway finally rose up to grab the musical back from the
British, they just may conclude that the revolution began last
night.
“The shot was fired at the
Shubert Theater, where a riotously entertaining show called
‘Crazy for You’ uncorked the American musical’s classic blend of
music, laughter, dancing, sentiment and showmanship with a
freshness and confidence rarely seen during the ‘Cats’ decade.”
Looking back on the 1990s, a
decade that produced “Rent” and “The Lion King,” “Crazy for You”
no longer appears quite so bright. It seems to fit more neatly
with musicals from decades previous. The show may have been a
welcome change in 1992, but time has shown that its place in the
pantheon of the American musical remains to be seen.
Striding through classical tenor repertoire:
Upper-Octave 'Ten Tenors' set to perform at
Sangamon
By Brian
Mackey
In the beginning, there were
three tenors.
Carreras, Domingo, and
Pavarotti, each a legendary opera star in his own right, filled
stadia around the world. Other tenors and music executives
gazed upon them and — seeing great album sales and much
marketing success — said, “It is good.”
Then they asked, “Can we get a
ride on this gravy train?”
 Now
we have the Three Irish Tenors, the American Tenors, the Celtic
Tenors, and Three Mo’ Tenors (that is, black tenors). If you
can think of an ethnic or national adjective, there is probably
a group of high-voiced men singing with it.
This Sunday,
Sangamon Auditorium will present another variation on
numerically named, upper-octave, male, singing groups: the Ten
Tenors.
The ensemble was formed in 1995
by a group of Australian college students preparing for careers
in opera. By 1998, they were touring Australia with full-length
shows.
Since then, as the group’s
website modestly puts it, “The Ten Tenors have been a committed
musical tour de force.”
From www.thetentenors.com:
“Heroically striding through the classical tenor repertoire,
swaying through the ballads of the Neapolitan crooners, and
highlighting their youth with critically acclaimed performances
of rock classics, The Ten Tenors and their unmistakable
Australian charm have captured the hearts of countless fans
worldwide.”
The Ten Tenors stride through
the classical repertoire with a small backing band. They
highlight their youth with a lighting director, audio engineer,
stage director and two choreographers. The mood of the show
will more closely resemble a rock concert than a symphony
performance.
Unfortunately, the repertoire
for this show remains a mystery. The only press information
provided by the group was a tour calendar on piece of paper the
size of a postcard.
The Sangamon Auditorium concert
is the second of 40 performances scheduled between now and the
end of the year in America, Canada, and Europe.
'Wimbledon': not the next big
romantic comedy
By Gabrielle
Wiegand
“Wimbledon” is not the next big
romantic comedy classic, in the style of “Notting Hill,” “French
Kiss,” or “Bridget Jones’s Diary.” But it is a fairly cute tale
about two people falling in love during the most competitive and
exciting tennis tournament in the world- Wimbledon.
“Wimbledon” centers on Peter
Colt, played by Paul Bettany (“A Knight’s Tale,” “A Beautiful
Mind,” “Master and Commander”). Peter is a 32-year-old British
tennis player who has fallen from a high ranking of 11 to 119th
in the world. He has decided to retire from tennis after
competing in this final tournament.
At his hotel he meets Lizzie
Bradbury, a young, successful American tennis player, played by
Kirsten Dunst (“Spider Man 2,” “Mona Lisa Smile”). Lizzie is
extremely competitive and will do anything to win on the court.
Peter soon finds that she is as aggressive in romance as she is
in tennis.
They begin a purely physical
relationship in an attempt to keep “relaxed” during the
tournament. They are forced to keep their relationship secret
because Lizzie’s overprotective father, played by Sam Neill,
does not want anything distracting her.
Lizzie encourages Peter to dig
deep within himself when he plays, and much to everyone’s
surprise, he begins to win his matches. Once Peter starts
succeeding the media, his former agent, and his dysfunctional
family are fawning all over him.
However, nothing good lasts
forever. Lizzie’s father finds out about their romance and
expresses his concern that Lizzie’s feelings are getting
involved this time. He convinces Lizzie to break her
relationship with Peter off and focus on her game.
Unfortunately, tennis players are
very superstitious. Peter does not want to change one thing
about his routine for fear of throwing his game off, that
includes his “nocturnal visiting” with Lizzie.
Lizzie thinks she needs space,
but Peter convinces her otherwise. The next day Lizzie’s game
crashes and burns while Peter goes on to finals. Needless to
say, Lizzie is angry and chaos ensues.
Bettany did a fine job as Peter.
Admittedly, I know nothing about tennis, but he made a very
convincing tennis player.
I was very disappointed in
Kirsten Dunst’s performance. Her character came across as a
tennis whore who only cared about winning. Dunst was not able
to flesh out the character and show the deeper layers. I was
also expecting her to say, “Oh I’ll bring it!” at any second.
The film runs 108
minutes and was produced by Working Title Films. Working Title
has created romantic comedy classics such as “Four Wedding and a
Funeral,” “Notting Hill,” “Love Actually,” and “Bridget Jones’s
Diary.” “Wimbledon” was directed by Richard Loncraine and
written by Adam Brooks, Jennifer Flackett and Mark Levin.
Brooks has also co-written “French Kiss” (one of the best movies
of all time) and “Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason” (which is
scheduled for release on November 19- mark your calendars!!!)
Australian Wimbledon champion Pat
Cash served as tennis advisor on the film to insure tennis
accuracy.
“Wimbledon” is rated PG-13 for
language, sexuality and partial nudity.
Grade- B
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