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Woodson High School Crazy for You

By • May 9th, 2007 • Category: Cappies

Mixed identities, a complicated love triangle, and four weddings in two weeks, sounds like Shakespeare right? But set it in the old west and add Ira and George Gershwin’s music, tap dancing and a whole lot of fun and you get Crazy for You. Woodson High School’s production of this Tony Award winning musical was full of good, old-fashioned fun.


Crazy For You opened on Broadway in 1992 and went on to win a Tony for Best Musical that Year. It tells the story of a banker, trying to find his place in the world. Bobby Child (Terry Barr) goes to Deadrock to foreclose a theatre and ends up falling in love with Polly Baker (Ann Marie White), the owner. To try to win Polly’s affections, Bobby proposes to put on a show to save the theatre. Unable to win her as Bobby, he pretends to be Bela Zanger, a world famous choreographer and starts up a show. However, no one shows up and Polly begins to fall in love with “Zanger” not Bobby! Much chaos ensues as mixed identities and misunderstandings are eventually sorted out and everyone ends up with his true love.

The leads in this show were true triple threats. They could sing, dance and act equally well. Terry Barr was particularly good at playing both Bobby and Zangler, bringing boyish appeal to the role. Ann Marie White as Polly had a beautiful voice, a rich character and was a great dancer.

The chorus worked through their complicated choreography and for the most part succeeded. Though not everyone was step perfect, they executed their steps with energy and style. Several memorable cameos included Patsy the dumb chorus girl (Laurel Steuernagel), and Zangler (Matthew Esherick), who provided many laughs during his song What Causes That? The three singing cowboys (Kirk Dennison, Luke Savoca, and Matt Savoca) had perfect moves and perfect comic timing.


The set, which was the best aspect of tech, wheeled out smoothly and was made in layers. Often two layers of set were exposed to create real depth. Sound faded in and out and lighting was not always on time. The show’s pacing was slow in first act, but it picked up in the second. Over all, the tech enhanced the show, making it more visually interesting to watch.

Woodson did a good job on Crazy for You, pulling off a complicated dance show with determination and fun.

by Grace Vander Veer of Fairfax

This review was written by a Cappies high school critic. The Cappies were founded in 1999, for the purpose of celebrating high school theater arts and providing a learning opportunity for theater and journalism students. You can learn more at cappies.com.

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is a program which was founded in 1999, for the purpose of celebrating high school theater arts and providing a learning opportunity for theater and journalism students. You can learn more at cappies.com.

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