FULL COMPANY ANNOUNCED FOR SUSAN STROMAN’S PRODUCTION OF
CRAZY FOR YOU™ AT CHICHESTER FESTIVAL THEATRE
Charlie Stemp is joined by Carly Anderson
in
CRAZY FOR YOU™
Music and lyrics by George Gershwin and Ira Gershwin
Book by Ken Ludwig
Co-conception by Ken Ludwig and Mike Ockrent
Inspired by material by Guy Bolton and John McGowan
Direction and Choreography by Susan Stroman
11 July – 4 September, Festival Theatre
Charlie Stemp and Carly Anderson will lead the cast of Susan Stroman’s new production of the musical comedy CRAZY FOR YOU™, with music & lyrics by George Gershwin and Ira Gershwin, and book by Ken Ludwig, running at Chichester Festival Theatre from 11 July – 4 September.
The full company is: Charlie Stemp (Bobby Child), Carly Anderson (Polly Baker), Marc Akinfolarin (Moose), Lila Anderson (Vera), Merryl Ansah (Irene Roth), Simon Anthony (Sam), Craig Bartley (Mingo), Jason Battersby (Junior), Evonnee Bentley-Holder (Sheila), Imogen Bowtell (Elaine), Kyle Cox (Wyatt), Mathew Craig (Lank Hawkins), Bethan Downing (swing), Jacqui Dubois (Patricia Fodor), Nicholas Duncan (Jimmy), Tom Edden (Bela Zangler), Nathan Elwick (Custus), Don Gallagher (Everett Baker), Adrian Grove (Eugene Fodor), Laura Hills (Mitzi), Ryan Jupp (swing), Matthew Malthouse (Pete), Nell Martin (swing/dance captain), Joshua Nkemdilim (Billy), Kate Parr (Patsy), Sadie-Jean Shirley (Tess), Gay Soper (Lottie Child), Bradley Trevethan (swing), Ella Valentine (Margie) and Tara Yasmin (Louise).
This hilarious, riotously entertaining musical is packed with glorious Gershwin melodies (including Someone to Watch Over Me, Embraceable You, I Got Rhythm and They Can’t Take That Away from Me), and its stunning tap-dance routines are guaranteed to set the spirits soaring. The witty book and dialogue are written by Ken Ludwig, who also wrote this season’s Murder on the Orient Express and is the author of the Tony Award-winning Lend Me a Tenor.
Theatre-mad Bobby Child is torn between his show-business dreams and his rich, demanding New York fiancée and rich, demanding New York mother who want him to run the family bank. On his mother’s insistence, he reluctantly heads west for the bygone mining town of Deadrock, Nevada, to foreclose on a mortgage.
There he finds the mortgage in question is on a dilapidated Victorian theatre and the owner’s daughter Polly is the girl of his dreams. Desperate to prove his good faith and win her love, Bobby lights on the idea of putting on a show – complete with glamorous dancers from New York’s Follies – to save the theatre and renew the town…
This brand new production, which celebrates the work’s 30th anniversary, is directed and choreographed by Susan Stroman, making her Chichester Festival Theatre debut. True Broadway royalty, she is the winner of five Tony and two Olivier Awards. She directed and choreographed The Producers, winner of a record-making 12 Tony Awards in New York including Best Direction and Best Choreography. She co-created, directed and choreographed the Tony Award-winning musical Contact at Lincoln Center Theater; and directed and choreographed The Scottsboro Boys on Broadway and the West End, where it won the Evening Standard Award for Best Musical. Her many other Broadway and West End credits include Oklahoma!, Show Boat, Bullets Over Broadway and Young Frankenstein; The Merry Widow for the Metropolitan Opera; and Double Feature and For The Love of Duke for New York City Ballet.
Charlie Stemp plays Bobby, returning to Chichester where he played Arthur Kipps in Half A Sixpence in 2016, for which he won the WhatsOnStage Award for Best Actor in a Musical and received Olivier and UK Theatre Award nominations. The production transferred to the West End, and was recently broadcast on Sky Arts as Kipps – The New Half A Sixpence Musical. He has starred on Broadway in Hello, Dolly! opposite Bette Midler and Bernadette Peters, and at the London Palladium in Dick Whittington, Snow White and Pantoland at the Palladium. He is currently playing Bert in Mary Poppins in the West End, for which he received his second Olivier Award nomination.
Carly Anderson makes her Chichester debut as Polly. Her many musical theatre credits include Glinda in Wicked (international tour), Gwen in Sunny Afternoon (West End & Hampstead), Sunset Boulevard (ENO), Candide (Menier Chocolate Factory), My Fair Lady (Sheffield Crucible) and Xanadu (Southwark Playhouse).
Ken Ludwig has had six productions on Broadway and seven in London’s West End. His 30 plays and musicals are staged around the world and throughout the United States every night of the year. Crazy for You was on Broadway for five years, the West End for three, and won the Tony and Olivier Awards for Best Musical. Lend Me a Tenor won two Tony Awards. He has won the Edwin Forrest Award for Contributions to the American Theater, two Laurence Olivier Awards, two Helen Hayes Awards, the Charles MacArthur Award, and the Edgar Award for Best Mystery. His book How to Teach Your Children Shakespeare won the Falstaff Award for Best Shakespeare Book of the Year. His most recent plays include Pride and Prejudice, Part 2: Napoleon at Pemberley; Lady Molly of Scotland Yard; and Moriarty. For more information, visit www.kenludwig.com.
The set designer is Beowulf Boritt; the costume designer is William Ivey Long; the lighting designer is Ken Billington, the musical director is Alan Williams and the sound designer is Kai Harada; with new orchestrations by Doug Besterman and Mark Cumberland, original orchestrations by William David Brohn, new arrangements by David Krane and original arrangements by Peter Howard. Wigs, hair & make-up design is by Campbell Young Associates, fight direction by Rc-Annie and casting by Jill Green CDG.
There will be a Dementia Friendly performance on 1 September at 2.30pm.
Crazy for You™ is sponsored by Architectural Plants Ltd and R.L. Austen.
Crazy for You™ is presented by arrangement with Concord Theatricals Ltd on behalf of Tams-Wittmark LLC. www.concordtheatricals.co.uk
GERSHWIN™ is a registered trademark of Gershwin Enterprises.
CRAZY FOR YOU™ is a registered trademark of Crazy For You Enterprises.