arts & entertainment
Members of the company in
Crazy for You
Prolific playwright's Tony-winning adaptation of a beloved Gershwin musical
takes the stage at Canada's premiere summer festival.
I
Suzanne Chessler
Contributing Writer
K
en Ludwig's success with writing
a Broadway comedy
led to his writing
the script for a successful
Broadway musical comedy,
now being performed at
Canada's Stratford Festival.
After Lend Me a Tenor
(three Tony Awards) was seen
by producer Roger Horchow,
Ludwig's talents were sought
to develop an adaptation of
the George and Ira Gershwin
musical Girl Crazy.
Ludwig's version, 1992's Crazy for You
(Tony Award for Best Musical), tells a dif-
ferent story from both the 1930 theater
and 1943 movie versions of Girl Crazy
while retaining the music.
The hit musical will be
staged through Oct. 12
at the festival in Ontario,
where Ludwig will conduct
two forum events. One will
be related to the show, and
the other will be related to
Shakespeare, at the heart of
the festival.
"Creating Crazy for You"
runs 11 a.m.-noon Thursday,
July 10, with Ludwig inter-
Stratford Season
viewed about the musical by Robert
Harris, CBC radio producer. "How to
Teach Your Children Shakespeare" is
scheduled for 10-11 a.m. Saturday, July
12, when Ludwig will discuss his book of
the same title.
Ludwig has conducted similar ses-
sions at Interlochen Center for the Arts
in northern Michigan, where his son
spent four summers studying oboe and
where the drama program spotlighted
Midsummer/Jersey, Ludwig's retelling of A
Midsummer Night's Dream with the Jersey
Shore as the setting.
"I like that Crazy for You makes
audiences so happy for two hours and
then has them going out feeling good
about themselves," Ludwig explains in
a phone conversation from his home in
Washington, D.C.
"When I read the libretto from the
old stage musical, I felt it had no strong
storyline and was filled with ethnic ste-
reotypes that would be uncomfortable
today."
Crazy for You tells the story of a banker
who longs to be onstage but instead is
sent west to foreclose a theater. The man
winds up putting on a show to save the
performance center as he falls in love
with the daughter of the theater owner
being foreclosed.
Hay Fever by Noel Coward
Christina, the Girl King by Michel
Marc Bouchard
Sweden's Queen Christina seeks to make
her country the most sophisticated in
Europe, but her personal aspirations put
her at odds with her countrymen. July
29-Sept. 21.
A comic farce set in an English country
home in the 1920s, in which a stage star,
her husband and their two grown chil-
dren invite house guests for the evening.
Through Oct. 11.
Crazy for You by Ken Ludwig, music
and lyrics by George and Ira Gershwin
Sent to Nevada to foreclose on a derelict
theater, a banker falls for its owner's
daughter. Through Oct. 12.
King Lear by William Shakespeare
King John by William Shakespeare
A Midsummer Night's Dream by
War is the inevitable result when the King
of France demands that English King
John relinquish his crown in favor of the
young Prince Arthur. Through Sept. 20.
William Shakespeare
In the enchanted woods, love's lunacy reach-
es its giddiest heights. Through Oct. 11.
Lewis Carroll
A journey into the topsy-turvy realm of
the dreaming mind, for adults and chil-
dren alike. Through Oct. 12.
Man of La Mancha by Dale
A Midsummer Night's Dream
Wasserman, with music by Mitch
Leigh and lyrics by Joe Darion
Imprisoned author Miguel de Cervantes,
assailed by his fellow prisoners, challenges
them to assist him in staging his master-
piece, Don Quixote. Through Oct. 11.
(A Chamber Play) by William
Shakespeare
Director Peter Sellars re-imagines A
Midsummer Night's Dream as a cham-
ber play with only four actors. July
11-Sept. 20
An aging monarch resolves to divide his
kingdom among his three daughters, with
consequences he little expects. Through
Oct. 10.
Stratford on page 52
Alice Through the Looking-Glass by
Mother Courage and Her Children by
Bertolt Brecht
As the Thirty Years' War swirls around her,
Mother Courage scrapes together a living by
selling provisions to Protestant and Catholic
combatants alike. Through Sept. 21.
The Beaux' Stratagem by George
Farquhar
Two men pursue wealthy women in an
attempt to restore their ruined fortunes.
July 31-Oct. 11.
Antony and Cleopatra by William
Shakespeare
Surrendering everything to their desires,
the Roman ruler and queen of Egypt open
the floodgates to a civil conflict. Aug.
3-Sept. 20.
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May 29 • 2014
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