Crazy For You
My friend got me tickets to see Crazy for You at the Signature Theater while I was home for Thanksgiving Break. I was really excited to see it, and the show itself was absolutely incredible. I found myself wanting to dance with them several times.
For those of you that don’t know anything about it going in (like me), I’ll give a brief overview. The Gershwin brothers wrote a ton of incredible music. It’s ragtime music that’s tap dancing and ridiculous costumes. The show first premiered in 1992, but the Gershwin brothers wrote the music in the 30’s. The best songs from the show are highlights like, I Got Rhythm, I Can’t Be Bothered Now, The Real American Folk Song (Is a Rag), Slap That Bass, and What Causes That?.
But the wonderful parts of the show are cut with the fact that
It definitely does not pass the Bechdel test.
The main character assaults the woman for her to fall in love with him
The leading lady is possibly the worst written character I’ve ever witnessed.
There’s this assumption that if a man keeps trying and trying and doesn’t take no for an answer, the woman will love him. The third song in the show is a duet between the main character (a man) and his leading lady. It starts off that he kisses her, she tells him never to do it again and pushes him off. But he won’t take no for an answer, and refuses to let her leave, literally blocking her way until she reluctantly starts to dance with him. I was really hoping he’d back off and they’d meet again and he’d keep trying. But no, he literally refused to let her leave until she danced with him and then she ends up falling for him. I squirmed in my seat during this, feeling this character’s desire to escape his advances.
This is nothing new in the world of broadway shows. But it’s particularly frustrating in the wake of the #metoo campaign and all of these allegations coming out about men in power doing exactly that. Men perpetually think that if someone says ‘no’, they just have to be pushed far enough and they’ll fall for you. And it’s everywhere in the media we consume.
Now obviously this show was written far before #woke social activists could say these things, but it was horribly apparent watching it with an eye for today’s politics and raising for women’s bodies.
That wasn’t the only thing I noticed in this show. The woman was hollow and empty - it was the original Joss Whedon of female characters. She never forgot she was A Woman ™. In fact, she was the only woman in the entire town. They made jokes about this, as if it was the thing to value above all. She was strong and independent and you thought she wouldn’t need a man (maybe even be a closeted lesbian? Fingers crossed), until she sang a song about how all she needed in life was a man to complete her. Underneath all her strength and independence, the only thing she really wanted was marriage.
I wanted to like this show. And for the most part, I did. If you take away the rape-y and hollow female character there was some awesome music and the dancing had my on the edge of my seat to see everyone’s feet tap away. And my friend that made the costumes did an amazing job. And it definitely wasn’t the Signature theater’s fault for my distaste for the show - it’s Gershwin’s fault for writing a crappy show. And sure, it’s a classic. But that doesn’t mean it’s good.