Crazy For You

When Crazy for You, billed as “The New Gershwin Musical,” opened on Broadway in 1992, both George and Ira Gershwin had been dead for at least a decade. The show, which won the Tony Award for Best Musical that year, was a loose adaptation of the Gershwins’ 1930’s hit Girl Crazy, with a new book by Ken Ludwig. Ludwig is known for his comedic writing for the stage, notably Lend Me a Tenor and Moon Over Buffalo. He conceived of Crazy for You with Mike Ockrent, who also directed the original production. They wanted to bring the Gershwin brothers’ music back to the stage, but found that the book of the never-revived Girl Crazy by Guy Bolton (author of over 40 plays and musicals in the early 20th century, including several other collaborations with George and Ira Gershwin) was quite dated.

The October 15, 1930 New York Times review of Girl Crazy called it “a lively and melodious show,” praising the Gershwins’ music but noting, even then, that the book was “serviceable, rather than distinguished.” The show premiered such Gershwin favorites as “Embraceable You,” “But Not for Me,” “Bidin’ My Time,” and the show-stopping “I Got Rhythm,” sung by Broadway newcomer Ethel Merman. Girl Crazy was one of many Broadway hits with lyrics and music composed by Ira and George Gershwin; 1924’s Lady, Be Good! was their first, and they had one or more shows playing in New York throughout the next decade. The brothers had been writing together since 1918, when their first joint tune, “The Real American Folk Song (is a Rag)” was heard on Broadway in the musical Ladies First. They went on to compose songs for a number of feature films (including Shall We Dance and A Damsel in Distress) and scores of musicals (Porgy and Bess, Oh, Kay!, and Of Thee I Sing) during their partnership, which was ended by George Gershwin’s death in 1937.

Ludwig and Ockrent began rewriting the book of Girl Crazy while leaving all the songs intact; later in the process they decided to bring in other Gershwin tunes that better fit the new material they were writing. When it hit Broadway, Crazy for You retained just five of Girl Crazy’s original musical numbers; the remaining songs were written by the Gershwin brothers for other stage productions or films. The added songs include “Someone to Watch Over Me,” “They Can’t Take That Away from Me,” and “Nice Work If You Can Get It.”

• The Broadway cast of Girl Crazy in 1930 included Ginger Rogers and Ethel Merman (in her Broadway debut); Bert Lahr (most famed as the Cowardly Lion in The Wizard of Oz) was originally slated to star, but contract negotiations fell through.
• A film version of Girl Crazy was produced in 1943, starring Mickey Rooney and Judy Garland.
• Crazy for You features the first song that George and Ira Gershwin wrote together, “The Real American Folk Song (is a Rag).”
• The Broadway production of Crazy for You netted Susan Stroman (Contact, The Producers) her first Tony Award, for Best Choreography.