There seems to be no age limit to pursuing dreams of stardom. This was certainly proven true by the Ashby Ponds Drama Club when it recently performed the Broadway musical “Crazy for You” to rave reviews.
In the weeks before the show this spring, the cast and crew – among the 2,000 or so residents at the senior living community off Gloucester Parkway – rehearsed five nights a week.
Kathleen Beck is a fellow Ashby Ponds resident and was the director of the show. She shared some fun insights about how the show came together so successfully.
“The Drama Club selected the Youth Edition of ‘Crazy for You’ with music by George and Ira Gershwin and book by Ken Ludwig. Youth adaptations are shortened versions of full-length musicals. With a running time of approximately 70 minutes and no intermission, ‘Crazy for You’ was perfect for both our senior actors and senior audience.
“The cast and all technical crews were made up of dedicated, hardworking seniors in their 70s and 80s from backgrounds with limited or no theater experience. They got involved because they had an interest in and love of theatre and wanted to learn something new.
“As the director, I was presented with a number of challenges. The 235-seat theatre was better suited to lectures, movies and meetings. Our scenic design had to take into consideration the constant use and turnaround of the theatre, limited space backstage, no upstage crossover from left to right and scene changes that our senior stage crew could handle safely and efficiently.
“We used free-standing flats with designs painted on both sides so our stage crew could easily rotate the flats to create backstage at a NYC theatre, Mainstreet in Deadrock, Nevada and inside the Gaiety Theatre in Deadrock. A few chairs and boxes in different configurations created sitting areas, and projections on the upstage backdrop completed the three locations.
“The character list of ‘Crazy for You’ includes the Zangler Follies. How to costume and create Follies with our senior residents? Ziegfeld’s Follies celebrated beautiful women, so our Follies were dressed as if attending a New Year’s Eve gala: sequins, gowns and fascinators designed to go with each individual gown.
“Although I encouraged the cast to do research, I also cautioned them about watching full-length professional productions of ‘Crazy for You.’ We would not be tap-dancing on tables. During rehearsals, I was sensitive to physical, memory, visual, hearing and health challenges utilizing the cast’s strengths and minimizing and accommodating weaknesses. I reworked some musical numbers for ease of moving to the music so the cast would look and perform their best.
“The cast accomplished major goals. They sang to live piano accompaniment provided by our assistant musical director. They performed the entire script from memory. Every cast member learned how to create a character autobiography and then created a character with a first and last name and backstory. We spent one rehearsal meeting ‘everyone’ and their individual backstories. This created an onstage ensemble that interacted with one another and made it possible that if anyone forgot where they were in the script, the others could help them get back on track.
“For safety, set changes, entrances and exits were in ‘blue light.’ The cast entered already in character and the audience watched as each scene came to life even before the stage lights came up full.
“The hard work of the cast and crews was acknowledged with full houses, standing ovations, repeat attendance and feedback that this was the best show to date. Several had doubted our choice of ‘Crazy for You’ but after seeing the show, they said it was definitely a huge success. The entire company set the bar high for the future and looks forward to taking on the challenge of doing the senior version of Sondheim’s ‘Into the Woods’ next spring.”