“Crazy For You” opens at the WPAC this week

Another exciting musical is set to take center stage at the Wilson Performing Arts Center this week.
“Crazy For You” with music by George Gershwin and lyrics by Ira Gershwin, opens at 7:30 p.m. tonight and will run through June 18. The show is directed by Laura LaPrell, with choreography by Becca Jackson-York and musical direction by Don Torbett.
LaPrell said the show, which is set in 1935, starts with Bobby Child, who wants to be a Broadway performer.
“He wants to be a Broadway performer and has big dreams and fantasies about that. In fact, he’s friends with all the show girls in town from “Zangler’s Follies.” Later in the show, when his mother, who is a banker, sends him to Dead Rock, Nev., to close on a property, it happens to be the only theater in town,” LaPrell explained. “He falls in love with Polly, the only girl in town, and calls in a favor from his show girl friends, and they arrive to help him produce a show to try to save the theater and win over Polly, while enlisting the help of the cowboys in town to fill out the cast in the production. It’s full of comedy and a lot of funny moments.”
LaPrell said this is her second time directing the show, and it is the first time in her career she’s directed the same show twice.
“When I was sitting in the theater committee to pick this year’s season, a lot of classic musical titles came into the conversation, but I didn’t want us to do a show that was too dated. However I know the audience really craves those classic musicals, and so this show immediately came to mind as it brings something for everyone. It has the feel of a classic, old-time musical, but it’s exciting and fresh. I think audiences will appreciate a new story set to the old music.
LaPrell added that the show has a cast of more than 20 performers who all have a great deal of talent.
“We have kids in the eighth grade on up, and we have performers who have done lots of theater around the area in Red Oak and Shenandoah and other areas. It’s a great group of fun people, and we’re having a great time.”
Also, LaPrell said the show is giving her the opportunity to not only work with people she’s directed in the past, but some fresh faces as well.
“Some of them are my students who I directed just last year, and I’m also working with Dan Crouse who was my D.A.R.E. police officer when I was in the sixth grade in Red Oak. I moved away, came back home, and now I’m working with people I remember from my childhood. It’s really fun to have that opportunity.”
LaPrell said she thinks everyone who attends will be in for a lot of fun.
“I’m hoping they laugh a lot. At our first read-through, we were all in stitches reading the jokes, and they were just on the page. Seeing them come to life on the stage with the actors fully-portraying their characters saying the lines was even better. I’m expecting they’ll be laughing throughout the whole thing,” LaPrell said. “The other big highlight of the show is the songs. We know “I’ve got Rhythm,” “Someone to Watch Over Me,” and “You Can’t Take That Away From Me.” These are songs that people know even if they haven’t ever heard of the Gershwins before. Also, all of the other songs in the show that audiences may not have heard of before are just as fun to tap your foot to.”
LaPrell said this show will be the first step in her increased involvement with the Wilson Performing Arts Center.
“I am a theater person, and have been since I did “Cabbage Patch Dreams” at the Theater Off The Square in the 1980s. It’s in my blood. I can’t not do theater. It’s exciting to start a new chapter and have this beautiful facility to do it in. I really want to bring more programming here, especially for our youth, starting with the theater camps we’re doing in July,” commented LaPrell.
LaPrell expressed her appreciation to the Montgomery County Historical Society for allowing them to borrow items for the production, including an elk skin, a cow skull, paintings, and gun holsters.
“Crazy For You” will show at 7:30 p.m. June 14-17, and at 2:30 p.m. on June 18. Tickets for adults are $30, and $20 for students. To reserve seats, call 623-3183, or visit wilsonartscenter.com.