Crazy for You
Director's Notes
© Eric Hoit, PCPA

Crazy for You, which opened on Broadway in 1992, is
loosely based on the 1930 musical Girl Crazy, which
had music and lyrics by George and Ira Gershwin
and a book by George S. Kaufman and Morrie Ryskind.
Very loosely. Most of the musical hits of the 30s
have books or librettos that, to modern audiences, are,
at best, only slightly funny, and at worst, offensive.
Playwright Ken Ludwig said of the book of Girl Crazy,
"it was dumb, silly, beyond silly. And full of ethnic
humor that wasn't funny at all."

So why revisit this work at all? Simple, because of
the brilliant songs.

With permission from the Gershwin estate to interpolate
songs from other Gershwin musicals, Ludwig and
director Mike Ockrent set about to create an
essentially new show. Little remains of the original,
besides the general concept of New York gentlemen sent
to a sleepy Western town, and 7 wonderful songs including
Embraceable You, But Not For Me, and I Got Rhythm. In the
1930 production, a young Ginger Rogers introduced the
first two of those songs, and the latter tune stopped the
show when a 21-year old ex-secretary belted it out. She
was Ethel Merman making her Broadway debut. John Ardoin
wrote, "The song made her, it made Girl Crazy, and it
made history."

Ockrent and Ludwig added 13 other Gershwin songs to
the show, borrowing from musicals the brothers had
written for both stage and screen. Ludwig recounts,
"We wanted audiences to believe that each song was
written especially for Crazy for You, that they couldn't
possibly have come from anywhere else. One night we
overheard a couple talking about the show. The woman
asked, 'Are George and Ira Gershwin still alive?' And her
husband said, 'They must be. They're still writing musicals.'"

The remodeled Crazy for You delights us with a clever new
book and score of glorious Gershwin tunes, united in a
celebration of Broadway-style singing and dancing. Who
could ask for anything more?

-Eric Hoit


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