Crazy For You - Chichester / Gillian Lynne Theatre

I saw todays matinee and just fell in love with it. Each time I see Charlie, I think I couldn’t love him anymore but he always finds a way to make me do just that. This is just that real old fashioned musical theater we don’t see a lot of anymore which makes productions like these such a treat.

How lovely that would be.

Not beyond the realms of possibility seeing as Charlie is a Cameron muse.

Open Air did a brilliantly traditional staging of Crazy in 2011

Doing my first trip to chichester to see this! Got a cheap balcony ticket which I'm regretting a little with all the comments saying the choreography is best if watching front on

I'm not sure! My friend bought them for us but it's one of the under 30s deal seats I believe

It did close earlier than planned, but managed 5 months. If it could do the same again would be very welcomed I'm sure. This production could fit very nicely into the Gillian Lynne.

Could certainly be a shout for after Lehman though. I don’t think they’d rush a transfer.

Maybe it'll tour, and they'll do a summer at Sadlers - I'm not against that being a model for Chichester if I'm honest

What are the set designs like?

Looking on Insta they look a bit low key and designed for a room with a low ceiling

Another summer and another trip to the beautiful city of Chichester and the CFT to watch their summer musical. After last years stunning production of “South Pacific” I was hoping that this years offering would be just as good. I am happy to report that Daniel Evans and his team have gone and done it again and produced another fantastic production for 2022 in “Crazy For You”.

Firstly I will say regarding the seating for this production I was sat in G4 which was a £20 seat along the sides of the stage and found the view from my seat not to be that great. Historically, I’ve always gone for the cheap £10/20 front tickets without having any issues seeing the performance. However, in this production this didn’t pay off unfortunately. Whilst not having a blocked view of the stage from patrons in front of me, my view was considerably impacted from bits of on stage set or when cast where stood in front of me on the stage. This meant that I missed a fair amount during the show and because I was sat at the side I really couldn’t fully appreciate the wonderful ensemble choreography, particularly when the cast danced in line as I was looking across the stage. Overall, I did spend a lot of time seeing people’s backs this afternoon. I would therefore strongly recommend if are you want to sit on the sides to either to try and get a seat near to face onto the stage or to upgrade your ticket to a more central view to get the most out of the visit to this show.

Ok so with all the negative stuff done, despite the seat view, this really is a fun and uplifting show to watch. Seeing Charlie Stemp as Bobby on stage was worth every penny. He completely steals the scenes he is in. A great song and dance man in this show along with fantastic comic timing and with that cheeky chappie look of his, you cannot but help but fall in love with this character. His dancing is sublime and it’s at his best when the stage is empty and it’s just either him or with Carly Anderson dancing along to the Gershwins score.

Carly Anderson as a feisty Polly works well with Stemp’s Bobby and her solo number of “Someone to Watch Over Me” was a real highlight thus afternoon. Tom Edden as Bela Zangler was a great comedy character and his and Stemp ‘s comedy duet in Act 2 “What Causes That” really does bring a smile to your face.

Susan Stroman’s choreography really is breathtaking and makes full use of the stage. As I said, being sat on the side, I couldn’t fully appreciate the intricacies of some of the dancing but the big ensemble numbers, particularly the closer of Act 1 really was something special. For me it was when Stemp was dancing solo or with Anderson on an empty stage that I could really take in the beauty of Stronman’s choreography.

The ensemble work hard in the full company numbers and there really isn’t a weak link in the company.

The Gershwin’s score is brought to life by a wonderful 16 piece orchestra led by MD Alan Williams. There weren’t any issues with sound mixing and cast vocals could be heard clearly alongside the orchestra.

This show has definitely been designed for a proscenium stage and as such the CFT stage design means that unless you sit directly infront, any sets / video screens/ projections are lost to those like me not sat there. At the interval I went down to the front stage and was surprised to learn that there was a screen featuring a computer generated image of the Nevada Desert. I’m not too sure if there was any text in the screen. The sets they weren’t very big. They were just mainly two tiered towers to present the Deadlock setting. These towers were wheeled in and out when needed. There was also a small set of steps. Overall, the set wasn’t that fancy to be honestly. Again from I was sat I really couldn’t fully appreciate the set from where I was sat.

Overall, whilst the day may of been tainted by the view, I still had a great time with the score and watching the dancing and came out if the theatre with a smile on my face.

Rating - 5⭐️

I was also at yesterday's matinee (sorry to have missed you, david ) and glad I went as though, having seen a previous production so not feeling that bothered when I booked, the reviews persuaded me that I wouldn't want to miss out. And it was every bit as good as everyone says and really won me over. Charlie Stemp was familiar and not my idea of a romantic lead (he looked so much better in his Bela Zangler guise!) but Carly Anderson was the perfect, spirited match and there were so many other cast members who were equally well-suited to their roles. Think this will be my benchmark version and that I won't want to see it again because it's unlikely even to be equalled, let alone bettered.

I too had a side-facing seat, though in the high numbers, and whilst I agree that this production seems aimed at the front of the auditorium, you don't know what you're missing; I wasn't aware of losing out in any way and with 9 trips to CFT booked this year and train fares on top, paying more than £10 for the main house isn't an option for me. Plus as several of my bookings are for the Minerva, where even the cheaper seats cost nearly 3 times as much, booking the cheapest ones in the main house evens out the overall cost somewhat. The only slight disadvantage for me is that as ever, at any matinee where I am stuck mid-row, there was the usual frustration with others not even showing any sign of wanting to get up at the end, let alone to move out of their way to allow them to leave and as the performance had started slightly late, I had a mad dash for the train afterwards. Fortunately I know I can reach the station in under 15 minutes but the occasional 20 would be welcome.

Actually, ignore that. I got the running time.