Crazy For You’s Got Rhythm and it Certainly Has Music at Artistry in Bloomington.

Kyle Weiler (Center) and the cast of Crazy For You Photo by Sam Levine

Crazy For You features the music and Lyrics of George and Ira Gershwin and a book by Ken Ludwig, this accounts for the fantastic songs and the generous portions of humor. With such great source material, it was likely to be a good show, but Artistry in Bloomington, who is producing this production didn’t take any chances. They got Anita Ruth back as Music Director conducting a nearly unheard of for a local production, 20-piece Orchestra. With Choreography by it’s leading man Kyle Weiler and Elly Stahlke that will knock your socks off and a cast full of fabulous voices, I went crazy for this show. The story of Bobby Child who dreams of being a dancer, but his fiance Irene and his Mother Lottie have other plans for him. Sent by his mother to Deadrock Nevada to foreclose on a disused theater, Bobby falls in love with Polly whose father owns the Theater. When Polly finds out who he is and why he’s there she will have nothing to do with him, so he disguises himself as Bela Zangler the Theatrical Producer and together they plan to put on a show to raise the money to save the theater. The problem is that the theater is in a ghost town in the middle of a desert and an hours walk from the train station. Things get even more complicated when the real Bela Zangler shows up.

First off, most shows do not have an orchestra this size and the benefits are apparent in the richness of the music. There is more room for nuances and subtleties within the songs even to my untrained ear. For that alone should any fan of the Gershwins popular songs like “Someone to Watch Over Me“, “Embraceable You“, “I Got Rhythm“, “They Can’t Take That Away From Me“, and “But Not For Me” rush out an buy a ticket. Anita Ruth masterfully conducts the Orchestra which is placed in center stage throughout the show. What they spent on 20 musicians they saved on set design, it’s staged in a way I’ve never really seen a musical done before. The actors are sitting in chairs in front of the orchestra until they needed to perform in a scene, then they step out and are in character, singing and dancing and acting. It appears like it’s going to be a concert with dancing but then the actors do actually perform the roles. It’s a strange hybrid, that puts the spotlight on the musicians and dancers by keeping everything that might distract from them to a minimum. It’s a bold choice by director Ben Bakken, that I think is largely successful because of the talent in the orchestra and of the actors.

The cast is filled with talent, the leads Kyle Weiler as Bobby and Annika Isbell as Polly are truly exceptional. Weiler’s dancing is just a joy and when there are a group of seven or so of the cast up there all synchronized, it’s awesome to behold. Isbell has a wonderful voice, I was really impressed by rendition of “Someone To Watch Over Me“. There’s a lot of fun character work to from a local favorite Carl Swanson as Lank Hawkins whose trying to Polly’s father to sell him the Theater and is constantly trying to get them to stop putting on a show! France Roberts has his work cut out for him playing Polly’s father Everett and as Eugene Fodor who comes to Deadrock to write about it for his Travel Books. If I’m not mistaken he plays both men in one scene and pulls it off admirably, he’s also got a nice singing voice that he gets to show off in a fun number “Stiff Upper Lip“.

Crazy For You runs through February 11th at Artistry Theater in Bloomington for more information and to purchase tickets go to https://artistrymn.org/crazyforyou

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The Last Five Years Best Not Dwelt Upon at Lyric Arts

Set Design by Greg Vanselow, Projection & Lighting Design by Jim Eischen Photo by Molly Weibel

First off let me state that I appear to be in the minority on this one, so if you are familiar with the musical and enjoy it I encourage you to check out the reviews of my fellow Twin Cities Theater Bloggers. I was underwhelmed by The Last Five Years, and while there are some issues with this production I believe the main reason is not the artistic team but the musical itself by Jason Robert Brown. I loved the concept but not the actual work. The clever premise is that of a relationship that lasts five years told from the separate perspectives of the couple with Cathy’s version told in reverse chronological order and Jamie’s told from beginning to the end. The characters stories, told through song are performed individually but the characters do not interact with each other until they pass in the middle of the five years at their wedding/engagement. It’s hard to get too involved in the relationship of two characters that we never really see interact until briefly at the halfway point. From my perspective the character of Jamie is better served by the songs, he gets a few fun one’s like “The Schmuel Song” and “A Miracle Would Happen“. Also his more impactful songs benefit from coming at the end of the play when we are the most invested emotionally in the characters. Cathy’s songs in comparison are less fun, and her more heartfelt songs come at the start, when they simply do not resonate. It all feels very disconnected in general, the shifting time periods while clever on paper actually keep us from connecting to the characters. In a story where we see a relationship blossom and then die, the end is poignant because of the journey we took to the end. The loss we feel is based on knowing what was lost.

For those who do find connection where I could not let me make some comments on this production at Lyric Arts. First, the negative to get it out of the way, there was definitely an imbalance in the cast. Tommy McCarthy as Jamie was very good, performance wise as well as vocally. Lydia Rose Prior as Cathy, performance wise was strong but vocally there was something off. Not knowing the songs perhaps Jason Robert Brown wrote Cathy’s songs to be discordant since the role is based on his ex-wife. The songs just may not have been in Prior’s ideal range or her voice was showing strain. I tend to think it is one of these issues given the roles Prior has played previously. I liked the stripped down nature of the set design by Greg Vanselow. Lyric Arts has done the flat panels with projection on them several times in recent years and I felt this was the most appropriate use. The inclusion of a dateline on the front of the stage as a visual reminder of where each character is on the story was I think a clever visual choice. I really enjoyed the six Piece orchestra under the music direction of Ben Emory Larson being onstage and visible throughout the performance.

The Last Five Years is playing at Lyric Arts in Anoka through February 11th for more information and to purchase tickets go to https://www.lyricarts.org/last-five-years

Funny Girl Radiates at the Orpheum Theatre

Katerina McCrimmon and Stephen Mark Lucas Photo by Matthew Murphy for MurphyMade

Funny Girl? More like A Star is Born, that’s what I felt I was witnessing in Katerina McCrimmon’s performance as Fanny Brice. Let’s get this out of the way right at the top, McCrimmon’s performance is phenomenal. We see a lot of great talent come through the Twin cities on tour and hey, we’ve got some pretty amazing local talent as well, McCrimmon’s is one of the gems that raises the bar to another level. First and foremost her vocals are amazing, but she also displays a gift for the comedic and dramatic aspects of the character. I came into the show with little knowledge other than that it was one of Barbara Streisand’s early Broadway successes and that she’d made a film version and sequel. Sometimes approaching what is considered a classic can be a mixed bag. I think back on My Fair Lady which came through town twice in the last five years, still featuring some great songs and moments of humor, but very very dated, almost uncomfortably so. Would Funny Girl suffer from similar societal progressions? No need to fear, the show sidesteps anything that we cannot contextualize as period. This is due to the fact that the main character is a strong female character who succeeds based on her talent. A script about such a character is already ahead of the curve for a show that premiered on Broadway 60 years ago. Anything that is potentially problematic is winked at or acknowledged in songs like “If a Girl Isn’t Pretty” assuring us that they know, like we do, how messed up that is. These may be inherent in the material or they could be part of Harvey Fierstein’s revised book. Either way, this Funny Girl revival is an unqualified triumph.

Loosely based on the real Comedian and Broadway star Fanny Brice, it tells the story of a young girl from Brooklyn who makes it big headlining the Ziegfeld Follies. Not considered conventionally pretty, she has trouble taking the admiration of suave gambler Nick Arnstein at face value, but as we follow her career success, Nick keeps turning up. Audiences will be forgiven for suspecting a rat, we are well conditioned not only in the popular entertainments but in life to, far too often, discover people acting with ulterior motives. While Nick is indeed a hustler who doesn’t always operate on the up and up, I found it very refreshing that their love story was just that, a love story. I was only familiar with two of the songs, “People” and “Don’t Rain on My Parade” and they are the highlights of the musical numbers to be sure. Many of the other songs have a humorous bent and are performed by a very enthusiastic and talented cast. The one rather sweet duet sung by McCrimmon’s and Stephen Mark Lukas, who plays Nick, called “I Want to Be Seen With You” stood out.

Of the other performers Lukas is quite good, with a very strong voice, a charm that endears his flawed character to Fanny and the audience alike, and a shirtless scene that elicited gasps of delight from many in the audience. Of special note are Izaiah Montaque Harris as Fanny’s friend and choreographer Eddie. Harris brings the show to a stop several times with tap routines that will make you wish more shows included tap dancing as when it’s done well, as it is here, it’s quite amazing to behold. Barbara Tirrell as Fanny’s mother is genuinely supportive and brings a level of understanding and wisdom that feels truly genuine. The entire cast of dancers and singers and supporting roles is top notch and I want to acknowledge the work of the Choreographer Ellenore Scott, and Tap Choreographer Ayodele Casel as there was a lot that got me genuinely excited about dance. This is also a wonderfully designed production with high marks going to David Zinn who’s set designs seemed to keep getting better and better as new location after new location was revealed. Susan Hilferty’s costume designs were fantastic, of particular note were the various costumes used in the Follies productions.

Funny Girl runs through Sunday January 21st at Hennepin Theatre Trust’s Orpheum theatre, for more information and to purchase tickets go to https://hennepintheatretrust.org/events/funny-girl-orpheum-theatre-minneapolis-mn-2024/