Through Wed 8/7
Girl Crazy (1930), a delightfully silly musical, drops a New York City playboy into a Hollywood fantasy cowboyland and then steps back. Music and comedy result. The Ohio Light Opera’s version, directed by Steven A. Daigle, reminds us just how much musicals have changed over the last 89 years.
At the time, Girl Crazy itself was a big step away from its predecessors, such as Gilbert and Sullivan’s 1879 The Pirates of Penzance (also on the 2019 OLO calendar). Today Girl Crazy’s most enduring asset seems to be its music. Music by George and lyrics by Ira ( “Bidin’ My Time,” “Embraceable You,” “I Got Rhythm,” “But Not for Me”) still resonate, still set toes tapping, or hearts aflutter.
Dance takes over often. Choreographer Spencer Reese (who also plays a major character — see below) guides the show’s classic reminders of yesterday’s musicals. There’s plenty of dancing for cast and chorus (everyone will be in great condition by season’s end if they weren’t already).
The story, with a plot right out of 1920s Hollywood cowboy films, mixes intermittent vaudeville shtick with love stories. One story concerns Danny Churchill, a girl-crazy fellow whose wealthy father exiles him to the family-owned Arizona ranch. Danny (Reese) decides to turn the place into a dude ranch. Reese’s headstrong Danny promptly falls for the saucy local postmistress Molly Gray (a charmingly lyric Hannah Holmes).
As part of the ranch’s new look, Danny invites (here comes love story number two) gambler and con man Slick Fothergill (Brad Baron) and his wife Frisco Kate Fothergill (Yvonne Trobe). Trobe’s strong voice illustrates her mastery of the role played by Ethel Merman in the 1930 original. Her “Sam and Delilah” wryly and appealingly satirizes love’s powers.
Things get complicated when the local bad guy (murderous Lank Sanders, played by Aidan Smerud) runs for sheriff. He threatens to kill his opponent, Gieber Goldfarb (Kyle Yampiro), the hapless cabbie who drove playboy Danny to Arizona. Yampiro turns Goldfarb into one of the show’s most winning characters. He’s especially funny when disguised as a female club dancer who recites (it seems) every famous Mae West line. (Some of Mae’s quotes are anachronistic, but who cares? I mean, if we —and Lank Sanders, who falls for “her” charms — can overlook Yampiro’s unshaven face when he’s supposed to be a woman, we can surely overlook such a minor slip.)
The “western” accents are often more than a little over-the-top (no doubt for comic effect), but it might not hurt to tamp them down a bit. The good supporting cast includes Joelie Lachance as Flora James, Sadie Spivey as Tess Parker, Abby Kurth as Patsy West and Adam Wells as Pete.
Like a Greek chorus, Garrett Medlock, Tim McGowan, Diego Roberts Buceta and Vincent Gover as “The Foursome” sing as “typical cowboys.” Conductor Steven Byess and the full orchestra did justice to the fine score.
BOTTOM LINE: This is the first time OLO has scheduled Girl Crazy. It’s always nice to see a “new” musical and to know that the Ohio Light Opera continues to cherish musical theater history. Gershwin fans will not be disappointed.
[Written by Laura Kennelly]
Wooster, OH 44691