A "new" old-fashioned musical comes to Santa Maria in PCPA Theaterfest's rollicking "Crazy For You". The familiar tunes are by George and Ira Gershwin, the comedy is silly and often hillarious and the Broadway-style dancing is dynamite.

Director/choreographer Eric Hoit deserves top billing for this high-energy musical comedy, along with co-choreographer Valerie Rachelle, because the dancing is what drives the show.

Of course, no matter how good the choreographers are, they have to have the dancers who can make their vision a reality. Guest artist Michael Gruber fits the bill. A verteran of Broadway ("A Chorus Line", "Cats", and "Miss Saigon" among many others), Mr. Gruber is a pro. A hoofer in the style of Gene Kelly, he's adept at both fast, precision tap and graceful, soaring solos. His voice is strong, as well, as he sings favorite Gershwin songs, such as "They Can't Take That Away From Me".

Mr. Gruber plays Bobby Child, a reluctant banker and a wannabe New York dancer who goes to Deadrock, Nev., to foreclose on a theater, falls in love with country girl Polly Baker and, in disguise, produces a show to save the theater. That's the plot in a nutshell, and it's pretty nutty. This is an old-fashioned musical comedy, with the thread of a story merely a device to string together romantic songs and blockbuster production numbers.

Melinda Ann Parrett, another guest actor and a PCPA graduate, is Polly. She is also a fine dancer and she has a beautiful singing voice that does justice to the Gershwin songs.

Familiar PCPA actors once again demonstrate heir versatility in the secondary roles. David Studwell is a crack-up as Broadway producer Bela Zangler and Kathleen Mary Mulligan takes a comic turn as a surprising vamp. The comedy is corny most of the time, with jokey repartee, but there are many moments and comic numbers that elicit howls of laughter from the audience.

The company of dancers is amazing. It's a rare treat to see this kind of old-fashioned, Broadway-style dancing that blends tap, ballet, and chorus-line styles. One of the Ps in PCPA should stand for professional.

So where did this "new" old musical, with Gershwin music, come from?

It's very loosely based on "Girl Crazy", a 1930 show that was filled with jokes that would be not only silly, but offensive today. With permission of the Gershwin estate to use songs from other Gershwin musicals, playwright Ken Ludwig and director Mike Ockrent created "Crazy For You", a new show, which opened on Broadway in 1992. Among the songs from "Girl Crazy" that they used are such classics "Embraceable You", "But Not For Me", and "I Got Rhythm". To these they added 13 other Gershwin songs to create this song-and-dance extravaganza. It ran for four years and received Tony Awards.

The PCPA production is backed by a full orchestra, conducted by Kevin Robison. the creative lighting and the company's colorful and clever costumes enhance the dance numbers. Judith A. Ryerson is costume designer and Angeline Summers-Marvel is lighting Director. Dave Nofsinger is scenic designer.

The packed house in the Marian Theatre gave the show a standing ovation, with whistles and shouts of approval. Some of the women in the audience were seen dancing out the doors.