Charlie Stemp Carly Anderson
Music & 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
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 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), with stunning tap dance routines 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.
This brand new production, which celebrates the work’s 30th anniversary, is directed and choreographed by Susan Stroman: true Broadway royalty and winner of five Tony and two Olivier Awards for productions including The Producers, Contact and The Scottsboro Boys.
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).
Crazy for You™ is presented by arrangement with Concord Theatricals Ltd on behalf of Tams-Wittmark LLC. concordtheatricals.co.uk
GERSHWIN™ is a registered trademark of Gershwin Enterprises. CRAZY FOR YOU™ is a registered trademark of Crazy For You Enterprises.
