Gershwin play debuts at Denton’s Campus Theatre

by Katherine Grivna of North Texas Daily

Crazy for You features Gershwin standards like "I Got Rhythm," "But Not for Me," and "Embraceable You."

The Music Theatre of Denton will debut its production of the Tony Award-winning Crazy for You tonight at 7:30 at the Campus Theatre.

Crazy for You is George Gershwin's musical comedy about Bobby, a 1930s banker, who is forced to go to Deadrock, Nevada by his bossy mother, said Mandy Rausch, who plays the banker's "overbearing fiancée." Bobby then falls in love with the only woman in Deadrock, and "everything that can go wrong, does, until the end," she said.

Rausch graduated from UNT in 2005 with a degree in English and currently works as a copy editor for Wendy Wilkins, provost and vice president of academic affairs.

Rausch said volunteering at the Music Theatre of Denton has "been an incredibly rewarding experience" and playing her character, which she described as uptight, "has caused me to have to step out of my comfort zone and to ignore my own insecurities," she said.

Justin Harmon plays the lead role of Bobby and said the cast is a "younger crowd," and patrons will be "greatly entertained" by the show.

"If you've had a bad day, you can go to the theater and for two and a half hours. You don't have to worry about anything except what is going on in the stage," Harmon said. "You leave in a better place than when you came in."

First-time directors and UNT alumni Tyler Donahue and Clay White are helming the production.

Both Donahue and White agreed serving as director has been very different from acting.

"As a director, you really have to take care of other people," Donahue said. "It's a nice change. I like it."

Donahue said both he and White studied in the theater department at UNT, and while neither of them received degrees in that field, the show is an example of "education in motion," he said.

Music students will especially love the show, Donahue said, because of theGershwin standards, with songs like "I Got Rhythm," "But Not for Me," and "Embraceable You," among others.

White said Crazy for You is a feel-good, entertaining show with both tender and funny moments, romance and a lot of dancing.

Ticket prices are $10 for students and $18 for adults.

For more information, visit musictheatreofdenton.com.