What’s a would-be Broadway hoofer to do when his dreams of dancing with the Follies are dashed by a bungled audition?
In multi-award-winning Gershwin Brothers musical Crazy For You, starry-eyed Bobby Child is burdened with thwarted ambitions, as well as a boring day job in his family’s banking business and the attentions of a girlfriend he doesn’t love.
Sent by his mother on a mission to close the failing Gaiety Theatre out in Nevada, Bobby seizes the opportunity to get away from home, but soon ends up taking on more than he bargained for when he falls for the proprietor’s daughter, Polly. Before long, he’s decided to save their theatre by putting on a show of his own...
Joining the cast as Bobby and his frustrated fiancée, Irene, Tom Chambers and Caroline Flack both know a thing or two themselves about big dreams and how life often gets in the way of them. A few years back, almost at his wits’ end with unsuccessful agents and auditions, Chambers was just about ready to give up on acting when he finally got the call from Holby City, off the back of a Fred Astaire routine that he’d recreated and sent out on spec.
“It was only when my agent fired me for not doing Bob The Builder: The Arena Tour that I decided to try this one last thing before I jacked it all in,” says Chambers. “So I left London and went back to live with my parents, where I spent seven months watching this old VHS and trying to recreate it frame by frame. I sent out 1,000 copies, from which I got two replies. I'd actually gone into a fire station and got my papers to sign up to be a fireman when the phone rang to say I'd got an audition for Holby City. The funny thing was that they were actually looking for an American actor, and they'd obviously decided that because Fred Astaire was American, I must be too!”
Meanwhile, theatre-trained Caroline Flack makes her professional stage debut in Crazy For You, following a 15-year career as a TV presenter.
“When I was a kid I sometimes performed at the local village hall, and we also used to go and see shows in Norwich and in the West End,” says Flack. “When I was about 10, I can remember asking my mum if people really did that as a job, and deciding that was what I wanted to do. So it’s been in me since a really young age. I was really driven - I enrolled in loads of different classes and got myself a scholarship, but then when I left college I got snapped up by a TV agent.”
Now an experienced stage performer, Chambers has built up something of a reputation as a go-to lead for Golden Age shows, thanks to sensational stints in the likes of Top Hat and Private Lives. Yet although the class and glamour of the era clearly comes naturally to him, he’s happy to own that, without his winning run on Strictly Come Dancing, it’s unlikely he’d have got to where he is now. For fellow Strictly winner Flack, the show also marked a major turning point.
“It wasn’t until I did Strictly that my training all came back to me, and Pasha, my partner, said to me, ‘This is what you should be doing - this is what you love. It opened a new door to me because suddenly all these theatres and shows were like, ‘Come and work for us!’”
Joining an experienced team as a newcomer can be daunting, but Flack has been warmly received both by audiences across the UK and by her fellow cast members.
“Caroline is an absolute gem. She’s like a little dynamo!” gushes Tom. “She’s got a great energy about her - a bit sassy and cheeky, which is perfect for the part. Of course, we know that her dancing is flawless, but I can also say that her acting and character work are sublime.”
Part of this success is no doubt due to the care she took in choosing her debut part.
“Initially they did ask me to read for Polly, but when I looked at the script, I just thought, ‘That’s not me. I haven’t got that classic musical voice - my singing style’s a bit more jazzy and soulful, which is perfect for Irene. Getting the right first part was really crucial for me, because it’s all such a learning curve.”
For Chambers, meanwhile, playing Bobby is pretty much a dream come true.
“Crazy For You is probably my favourite musical of all time. It’s one of the first ones I ever saw, when I was about 15 or 16. Although its still Golden Era, the part is more classic Gene Kelly than Fred Astaire. Where Top Hat was very dapper and sophisticated and clipped, this is a bit more relaxed. And the script is just so funny! It’s got all the key ingredients for me.”
“The other thing about this production is that it’s being done in a way in which the show has never been done before. Instead of having the orchestra in the pit, we’ve got music being played by the cast live on stage. So instead of a triple threat, it’s like a quadruple threat - singing, acting dancing and playing instruments.
“When I first stepped into rehearsals, some of the cast had already been there a week, practising the music. I was just blown away when I heard them. I can’t stress to you how talented they are. I’ve never met a group of people like it!”
Crazy For You shows at Birmingham Hippodrome from Tuesday 24 to Saturday 28 October.
What’s a would-be Broadway hoofer to do when his dreams of dancing with the Follies are dashed by a bungled audition?
In multi-award-winning Gershwin Brothers musical Crazy For You, starry-eyed Bobby Child is burdened with thwarted ambitions, as well as a boring day job in his family’s banking business and the attentions of a girlfriend he doesn’t love.
Sent by his mother on a mission to close the failing Gaiety Theatre out in Nevada, Bobby seizes the opportunity to get away from home, but soon ends up taking on more than he bargained for when he falls for the proprietor’s daughter, Polly. Before long, he’s decided to save their theatre by putting on a show of his own...
Joining the cast as Bobby and his frustrated fiancée, Irene, Tom Chambers and Caroline Flack both know a thing or two themselves about big dreams and how life often gets in the way of them. A few years back, almost at his wits’ end with unsuccessful agents and auditions, Chambers was just about ready to give up on acting when he finally got the call from Holby City, off the back of a Fred Astaire routine that he’d recreated and sent out on spec.
“It was only when my agent fired me for not doing Bob The Builder: The Arena Tour that I decided to try this one last thing before I jacked it all in,” says Chambers. “So I left London and went back to live with my parents, where I spent seven months watching this old VHS and trying to recreate it frame by frame. I sent out 1,000 copies, from which I got two replies. I'd actually gone into a fire station and got my papers to sign up to be a fireman when the phone rang to say I'd got an audition for Holby City. The funny thing was that they were actually looking for an American actor, and they'd obviously decided that because Fred Astaire was American, I must be too!”
Meanwhile, theatre-trained Caroline Flack makes her professional stage debut in Crazy For You, following a 15-year career as a TV presenter.
“When I was a kid I sometimes performed at the local village hall, and we also used to go and see shows in Norwich and in the West End,” says Flack. “When I was about 10, I can remember asking my mum if people really did that as a job, and deciding that was what I wanted to do. So it’s been in me since a really young age. I was really driven - I enrolled in loads of different classes and got myself a scholarship, but then when I left college I got snapped up by a TV agent.”
Now an experienced stage performer, Chambers has built up something of a reputation as a go-to lead for Golden Age shows, thanks to sensational stints in the likes of Top Hat and Private Lives. Yet although the class and glamour of the era clearly comes naturally to him, he’s happy to own that, without his winning run on Strictly Come Dancing, it’s unlikely he’d have got to where he is now. For fellow Strictly winner Flack, the show also marked a major turning point.
“It wasn’t until I did Strictly that my training all came back to me, and Pasha, my partner, said to me, ‘This is what you should be doing - this is what you love. It opened a new door to me because suddenly all these theatres and shows were like, ‘Come and work for us!’”
Joining an experienced team as a newcomer can be daunting, but Flack has been warmly received both by audiences across the UK and by her fellow cast members.
“Caroline is an absolute gem. She’s like a little dynamo!” gushes Tom. “She’s got a great energy about her - a bit sassy and cheeky, which is perfect for the part. Of course, we know that her dancing is flawless, but I can also say that her acting and character work are sublime.”
Part of this success is no doubt due to the care she took in choosing her debut part.
“Initially they did ask me to read for Polly, but when I looked at the script, I just thought, ‘That’s not me. I haven’t got that classic musical voice - my singing style’s a bit more jazzy and soulful, which is perfect for Irene. Getting the right first part was really crucial for me, because it’s all such a learning curve.”
For Chambers, meanwhile, playing Bobby is pretty much a dream come true.
“Crazy For You is probably my favourite musical of all time. It’s one of the first ones I ever saw, when I was about 15 or 16. Although its still Golden Era, the part is more classic Gene Kelly than Fred Astaire. Where Top Hat was very dapper and sophisticated and clipped, this is a bit more relaxed. And the script is just so funny! It’s got all the key ingredients for me.”
“The other thing about this production is that it’s being done in a way in which the show has never been done before. Instead of having the orchestra in the pit, we’ve got music being played by the cast live on stage. So instead of a triple threat, it’s like a quadruple threat - singing, acting dancing and playing instruments.
“When I first stepped into rehearsals, some of the cast had already been there a week, practising the music. I was just blown away when I heard them. I can’t stress to you how talented they are. I’ve never met a group of people like it!”
Crazy For You shows at Birmingham Hippodrome from Tuesday 24 to Saturday 28 October.
By Heather Kincaid