Sean Montgomery stars as Bobby Child and Laurie Hymes plays Polly Baker in Crazy for You at Theatre By The Sea.

Theatre By The Sea

If you like dancing then you are probably going to love Crazy for You, the madcap Gershwin musical now at Matunuck’s Theatre By The Sea. The show is not real big on plot and the humor is as corny as can be, but the dance numbers, in particular the tap routines, pretty much carry the night. They’re spectacular.

Otherwise, Crazy for You is one of those pleasant summer shows with not a lot of substance.

Set in the 1930s, the show introduces us to Bobby Child, son of a prominent New York banking family whose sole ambition is to dance on Broadway. His bossy mom wants him to pay more attention to the family business; she orders him to foreclose on a rundown theater in Deadrock, Nev. Rather than close the place down, Bobby decides to put on a show there and raise money to pay off the mortgage.

Along the way, he falls for postmistress Polly Baker, who has it in for Bobby, the evil New Yorker sent to take their theater. So Bobby dresses up as famed follies director Bela Zangler, and Polly begins to fall for him, goatee and all.

Crazy for You is a reworking of an earlier Gershwin musical, Girl Crazy, with songs from other productions interspersed. It doesn’t have a lot of great music but there are three or four standout songs that pretty much dominate the show. The big number comes at the close of Act One, when the dancers strut their stuff in a sizzling rendition of “I Got Rhythm” that had cast members tapping on metal discs and what looked like sheets of corrugated roofing.

Other memorable tunes include “Someone to Watch Over Me,” “Embraceable You” and “They Can’t Take That Away From Me.”

Most of the singing was divided between Laurie Hymes’ Polly and Sean Montgomery, as the irrepressible Bobby Child, who sang well and moved like a pro on the dance floor. There’s a more-or-less life-size car that cruises across the stage at one point, with Montgomery tapping on the roof and hood. This is a guy who was born to dance.

Hymes was a little wobbly at first as a singer, but she eased into the part nicely, displaying a lot of confidence in tunes like “Embraceable You.”

But the jokes which come hot and heavy at times are the pits, the kind of humor you might expect from old Laugh In episodes.

“I didn’t come here to be insulted,” says one of the characters. “Where do you go?” comes the reply.

And when Bobby dressed as Zangler meets the real Zangler, the director — played by Ira Denmark — says “I’m beside myself.”

One of the pleasant surprises in the show came from third-year theater major Andreas de Rond, who made a nifty Lank Hawkins, the hotel owner who wants to run Bobby out of town and buy the theater to expand his own business.

De Rond, a theater major at the University of California at Irvine, has a real presence about him, someone who seemed so natural in the role.

Nate Suggs, who played Roger Debris in last year’s uproarious production of The Producers at Matunuck, is back as Eugene Fodor, the proper gent of a travel writer who, with his wife, has dropped in on Deadrock to review the local cuisine.

That, of course, means croissants with their morning coffee.

Except for the car, which is supposed to look a little like a Rolls, the sets are pretty basic depictions of the Zangler theater in New York and the dusty streets of Deadrock.

The show seems a little long, with a first act clocking in at about 90 minutes. Perhaps some of the dance work could have been cut, and some tightening undertaken. That might have moved the plot along a bit faster. As it stands, most of the evening is spent prepping for the show in Deadrock.

On the other hand, fans of dance should have a blast.

Crazy for You runs through July 11 at Theatre By The Sea, 364 Card’s Pond Rd., Matunuck. Tickets are $39-$49. Call 782-8587.