Crazy for Gershwin

Winter Park Plahouse

by Carl F. Gauze

Music by George Gershwin

Lyrics by Ira Gershwin

Conceived by Roy Alan, Christopher Leavy and Todd Allen Long

Winter Park, FL

With dozens of hit songs, revues, stage plays and even films, its hard to underestimate the impact the Gershwin brothers had on the Great American Songbook. From “Embraceable You” to “They Can’t Take That Away from Me,” these guys never really absented themselves from the charts until they died. And we’ll be singing these simple and to the point tunes for another century at least. This cabaret/revue/musicale came from the collective minds of Roy Alan, Chris Leavy and Todd Allen Long, all stalwarts of the Winter Park Playhouse crew. They begin “K-ra-zy For You” and end with “Love Is Here to Stay” and cover over 40 tunes along the way.

With a cast of six, there were lots of combination and and permutations possible for duets. “The Back Bay Polka” deployed the whole cast for a high energy Act Two opener. Some noteworthy solos came from Adam Binar with “Nice Work If You Can Get It” and Johnathan Lee Iverson’s “Ain’t Necessarily So.” Caila Carter and Johnathan blew out “Could You Use Me?” and Russell Stephens and Anastasia Remoundos sang a wonderful “By Strauss/ Sweet And Low Down. And with over 40 numbers there were plenty of other wunderbar songs parings I don’t have room for here.

While Winter Park Playhouse is still on restricted audiences, the sounds on stage are excellent with clear plastic face shields blocking germs but letting the notes fly free. The bar is open, Chris Leavy plays in the lobby, and the parking still pretty good. This is one outfit that has weathered the pandemic with some grace and decorum, and it looks we will have them with us for a good long time to come.

winterparkplayhouse.org/