Crazy for You Marks First Full-Length Stratford Festival Cast Recording; Track Listing Announced | Playbill

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News Crazy for You Marks First Full-Length Stratford Festival Cast Recording; Track Listing Announced The Stratford Festival has released a cast recording of its production of the reimagined Gershwin musical Crazy for You.

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Josh Franklin Photo by Ronnie Nelson Photography

The album is the first full-length cast recording of a Stratford Festival production. 

"I am thrilled to announce Stratford's very first cast recording – something we have wanted to do for many years," executive director Anita Gaffney said in a statement. "We are so lucky to have some of the greatest artists in the world with us each season. It is extremely important to us to preserve and share their extraordinary talents. This recording, together with our plans for Stratford@Play, which will see us film up to three productions a year, are exciting advances, which will take the Festival's work to an even larger audience."

Crazy for You officially opened May 27 at Stratford Festival following previews that began April 21. 

Directed and choreographed by Donna Feore, Crazy for You features Josh Franklin (Ghost the Musical, Anything Goes) as Bobby Child and Natalie Daradich as Polly Baker. Tom Rooney (Hairspray) plays Broadway impresario Bela Zangler.

The cast also features Lally Cadeau as Mrs. Lottie Child, Shane Carty as Lank Hawkins, Keith Dinicol as Everett Baker, Robin Hutton as Irene Roth, Monique Lund as Patricia Fodor, Marcus Nance as Mingo, Stephen Patterson as Sam, Steve Ross as Moose and Shawn Wright as Eugene Fodor. With music and lyrics by George Gershwin and Ira Gershwin, and book by Ken Ludwig, Crazy for You was co-conceived by Ludwig and Mike Ockrent. The musical was inspired by material by Guy Bolton and John McGowan and originally produced on Broadway by Roger Horchow and Elizabeth Williams.

"Crazy for You tells the story of Bobby Child who is sent to Deadrock, Nevada, to foreclose on a derelict theatre but unexpectedly falls for its owner's daughter, Polly Baker," press notes state. "The high-energy comedy and romance are further elevated by the dazzling score packed with beloved Gershwin songs, including 'I Got Rhythm,' 'Nice Work if You Can Get It,' 'They Can't Take That Away From Me' and 'Someone to Watch Over Me.'"

"Crazy for You promises to be a masterpiece in every sense of the word: a song-and-dance spectacle with stunning dance routines, exquisite staging and costumes, and of course, the powerful force of the Gershwins' timeless music," artistic director Antoni Cimolino said in an earlier statement. "Revamping the show especially for our stage, as Donna has so brilliantly done, brings the most spectacular dancers in the country up close and personal with our audiences, giving them an experience they can't find anywhere else in quite the same way."

"Not a single day has passed since I began work on the show that I have not heard something new in Gershwin's extraordinary music," Feore added. "The complexity of his score inspired me to explore equally demanding styles of dance. I've based the choreography on the most exhilarating dance styles of the period. Gershwin loved hanging out at the Savoy Ballroom in the late twenties, and I'm certain that while there he was dazzled by the Charleston and the original swing dance — the lindy hop — a dance that was hot, wild and not a little dangerous."

The creative team includes musical director Shelley Hanson, designer Debra Hanson, lighting designer Paul Miller, sound designer Peter McBoyle and fight director John Stead.

The album features the 31 cast members as well as 21 musicians led by conductor and musical director Shelley Hanson.

The track list follows. 

Act I
"Overture/Kr-a-zy For You" – Bobby
"I Can't Be Bothered Now" – Bobby, Follies Girls
"Bidin' My Time" – Mingo, Sam, Moose
"Could You Use Me?/Shall We Dance?" – Bobby, Polly
"Girls Enter Nevada" – Company
"Someone to Watch Over Me" – Polly
"Slap That Bass" – Bobby and Company
"Embraceable You" – Polly, Bobby
"I Got Rhythm" – Polly and Company

Act II
"The Real American Folk Song (Is a Rag)" – Mingo, Sam, Moose and Company
"What Causes That?" – Bela, Bobby
"Naughty Baby" – Irene, Lank
"Stiff Upper Lip" – Patricia, Eugene and Company
"They Can't Take That Away From Me/But Not For Me" – Bobby/Polly
"Nice Work If You Can Get It" – Bobby, Follies Girls

The 2014 season runs through Oct. 12, featuring King Lear; Crazy for You; two versions of A Midsummer Night’s Dream; The Beaux' Stratagem; Man of La Mancha; Alice Through the Looking-Glass; Hay Fever; King John; Mother Courage and Her Children; Antony and Cleopatra; Christina, The Girl King; and more than 200 events in The Forum.

Visit stratfordfestival.ca for more information.

 
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