Caroline Sheen and Tom Chambers (centre) in Crazy For You at the Watermill Theatre, Newbury. Picture: Richard Davenport
Crazy For You continues at the Watermill Theatre, Newbury until 17 September.
Star rating: four stars ★ ★ ★ ★ ✩
It was in 1992 that I went to New York and got Upper Circle seats for Crazy For You from TKTS Times Square. My overriding memory from that Broadway spectacular was the glitz of the costumes and the synchronicity of the dance routines which, seen from the gods, mirrored the choreography of the old black and white movies shot from overhead cameras.
Continents apart and different in every conceivable way, there is little at first glance to compare NY’s Shubert Theatre with Bagnor’s Watermill, unless you already know of course that the Watermill’s superior track record of producing musicals has seen transfers to Broadway.
It could even be considered crazy that this bijoux gem in a Berkshire backwater would attempt a reincarnation of Ludwig and Ockrent’s re-working of the Gershwin brothers’ score.
The archetypal 1930s chorines are reduced to just four colour-coded girls in superbly crafted costumes which range from stylish hot pants to delectable spangled outfits. Hollie Cassar is the natural leader of the troupe as Tess with Seren Sandham-Davies as the cutsie Patsy, Katrina Kleve as Mitzi and Anne White as Margie. But less is definitely more in this production as their dance routines commingle harmoniously with the rest of the cast participating in their routines, punctuated with actor-musicianship of the highest level.
Tom Chambers proves himself not only to be a worthy Strictly Come Dancing winner, but also a master of physical comedy as Bobby Child. Both his drunken descent to stage level and the mirrored sequence – with Peter Dukes as the real Bela Zangler and Chambers as his alter ego – are timed perfectly and Nathan M Wright’s choreography extracts every ounce of comedic potential from the scene.
Caroline Sheen – Deadlock, Nevada’s answer to Annie Oakley – is the gutsy Polly Baker, and Jeremy Legat is the cuckolded Lank Hawkins whose virility is challenged by Lucy Thatcher as temptress Irene Roth.
Emile Ruddock and Ned Rudkins-Stow humorously capture the humility of Deadrock’s dull-witted male population and the cast is completed by Matt Bateman, Kit Benjamin and Lindsay Goodhand.
Deadrock’s old disused Gaiety Theatre, in danger of becoming repossessed, is embodied in Diego Pitarch’s superlative design. Capturing the faded glamour of the Gaiety’s proscenium arch, using distressed decorative wallpaper and wooden slats, Pitarch combines other ingenious touches such as dressing the piano as an old-fashioned motor car which takes us out of Deadrock and straight into New York City.
Paul Hart’s impeccable direction substantiates his relatively recent appointment as the Watermill’s new resident director.
Julie Watterston
SHARE THIS POST:
Comments are closed.