Sean Palmer, Clare Foster, Kim Medcalf, Harriet Thorpe and David Burt will lead the cast of the Regent’s Park Open Air theatre production of Gershwin musical Crazy For You this summer.
Palmer, who recently starred as Prince Eric in the Broadway production of The Little Mermaid, will star as Bobby Child, the son of a banking family who dreams of being a dancer but is sent to a Nevada town to foreclose a rundown theatre.
Foster, who appeared in the original West End cast of Avenue Q, plays Polly Baker, the girl he meets and falls in love with at first sight. But their affair is soured when she realises who he is and why he is there.
This is the catalyst for a little role-play and confusion of identities as Bobby tries to save the theatre and his new relationship.
Stage and screen star Thorpe, whose most recent London credits include Mamma Mia! and Wicked, plays Bobby’s mother, with Burt, whose credits include Les Misérables, The Woman In White and Cats, playing famed director Bela Zangler.
Medcalf, who is best known as EastEnders’s Sam Mitchell, last appeared on the London stage playing Sally Bowles in Cabaret. She will play Bobby’s rich fiancée Irene in Crazy For You.
The Crazy For You cast is completed by Michael McKell, Rachel Stanley, Alexis Owen Hobbs, Samuel Holmes, Peter Martin, Lucy Anderson, Jessica Buckby, Cara Elston, Charlene Ford, Jo Goodwin, Amy Griffiths, Harry Morrison, James O’Connell, Carl Sanderson, Phil Snowden, Stephen Whitson, Richard Jones, Josh Lacey and Jo Morris.
First staged in 1992, Crazy For You is based on George and Ira Gershwin’s 1930 musical Girl Crazy, but includes songs from other Gershwin musicals. Among the famous score are classics I Got Rhythm, Someone To Watch Over Me and Nice Work If You Can Get It.
The final show in the Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre’s 2011 season, it follows current show Lord Of The Flies, The Beggar’s Opera and a version of Pericles suitable for children aged six and older.
Fans who can’t wait until Crazy For You begins performances on 28 July should head to Trafalgar Square this weekend, where Foster and Medcalf will be performing a medley of songs from the show at the free entertainment extravaganza West End LIVE.
MA