Musical comedy features Gershwin’s best





JUST BIDIN’ MY TIME—Jennifer Malenke and Roger Befeler rehearse a scene from “Girl Crazy.” In the background are Nick Santa Maria and Noelle Marion.

JUST BIDIN’ MY TIME—Jennifer Malenke and Roger Befeler rehearse a scene from “Girl Crazy.” In the background are Nick Santa Maria and Noelle Marion.

Play review

‘Girl Crazy’

Conejo Valley theater fans are in for a treat on Sunday when Musical Theatre Guild presents George and Ira Gershwin’s classic 1930 musical comedy “Girl Crazy” at the Civic Arts Plaza’s Scherr Forum.

The staged reading, which is directed by Cabrillo Music Theatre’s Lewis Wilkenfeld, is an opportunity to see the show that made stars out of Ethel Merman and Ginger Rogers.

The score features some of the Gershwins’ most famous songs, including “I Got Rhythm,” “Embraceable You” and “Bidin’ My Time.”

In 1992, “Girl Crazy” was reworked and retitled “Crazy for You” and became an even bigger hit. But the theater guild is reviving the original version because it reflected what musical theater was like in the years before “Oklahoma!” redefined the genre.

“The book is really written to string together stuff like a variety show,” Wilkenfeld said. “The script lurches from ensemble dance numbers to specialty dances to comic scenes. Whoever was playing the comic lead at the time, they rewrote the script to match them, so it was really like vaudeville.”

The show’s original orchestra, led by Red Nichols, included such future legends as Benny Goodman, Glenn Miller and Gene Krupa. Wilkenfeld pointed out that sometimes the action on the stage would stop so the band could play a hot jazz tune.

“Some of the song cues are very tenuous, and we just play them for laughs.”

Wilkenfeld instructed his actors to watch movies of the era like “His Girl Friday” to get an idea of how romantic leads talked.

“The writing back then was more about the rhythm of the patter rather than about what they were actually saying. So we treat the dialogue like music.”

The guild’s 25-hour rehearsal schedule has been described by its acting troupe as like being shot out of a cannon. In staged readings, actors hold their scripts as they perform. No sets and minimal costumes are used, giving the actors the opportunity to focus on the script and songs.

At the final marathon rehearsal on Saturday, Misty Cotton, who plays Kate Fothergill, the role immortalized by Ethel Merman, said that she tries not to be intimidated by Merman’s career-launching performance.

“I’m not trying to be her, but in my mind I look at the script and can totally understand how this made her famous. But I try to do a little bit of an homage to her in ‘I Got Rhythm.’ ”

Jennifer Malenke plays Molly Gray, the Ginger Rogers role.

“I haven’t even tried to do it like her,” Malenke said. “Ginger’s voice isn’t as iconic as Merman’s was, so I’m able to do it my way.”

Both Malenke and Cotton have learned to adjust to Broadway circa 1930.

“There is definitely a style,” Malenke said. “The lines had rhythms. I’m trying to learn the ’30s-talk but with a southern accent. I’m still negotiating how that works. But it’s so funny! Much funnier doing it than reading it. It’s very wordy and very clever. I think people are really going to love it.”

Noelle Marion, who attended Moorpark High School and studied theater at Pepperdine University, plays Patsy West. Marion is new to the theater guild and has gotten accustomed to using her script as part of her blocking.

Marion, who appeared recently in the Cabrillo shows “Annie” and “Once Upon a Mattress,” is a fan of early musicals and bubbles over with excitement when talking about the show.

“These are my people. I love this style of comedy. It’s so much fun.”

“Girl Crazy” plays for one performance at 3 p. m. Sun., June 16 at the Scherr Forum. For tickets, call Ticketmaster at (805) 538-8700.


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