Josh Cadji

State Hornet

Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day; teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime. Robert Frost said it best, and possibly could have applied it to Kyle Richlin, the lead of the musical, playing at Sacramento State, “Crazy For You.”

You give Richlin a tape of Mikhail Baryshnikov’s finest two-steps and Gene Kelly’s “Singin’ in the Rain” and you entertain him for a night; you give him a pair of tap shoes and a microphone and you give the world a bright star about to shine.

Easily the most talented actor I’ve ever seen live, Richlin dishes out lines that you can watch over and over and still not understand how he does it so flawlessly. Every line is on, crystal clear with every word he says. Not a tap-step is missed and not a note is too high or low throughout his many solos. Richlin was born to act, sing and do it all. He was made for the stage and never disappoints once, even though he faces the treacherous challenge of playing two characters throughout the entirety of the musical.

“Crazy for You” was written by playwright Ken Ludwig and was spun from the original musical “Girl Crazy,” which featured some of the same tracks written by the brothers Gershwin that Ludwig later carried over to use in “Crazy For You.” The musical, accompanied by an energized and jubilant pit-orchestra, directed and choreographed by Ed Brazo, is now playing in the University Theater, Shasta Hall.

“Crazy For You” is the play-lover’s play, a light-hearted and humorous slice of life that ties in “I Love Lucy” — like goofs and gaffs, along with roundabout situational humor that has the crowd bouncing with laughter. The off-center production of the musical showcases the deception of your own reality and that love is so deceiving, blind and aware all at the same time. Yet Richlin’s character, Bobby Child, proves that in the end, your heart will lead you to where you belong, that love and a passion for something honest and real will always prevail.

Though a feathery comedy, “Crazy For You” has the audience placing themselves in the shoes of both Bobby and Polly Baker, played by Tiffany Jensen. We want to be them for the time being; we want to say, “Hey Bobby, just tell her you love her” or “C’mon Polly, just give in!” Without the propensity of the characters trying to relate to us and hoping we root them on, “Crazy For You” would be as pedestrian as your local high school production of “Romeo and Juliet.” The “tug-on-our-heart-strings-by-relating-to-us” aspect is what reels you in, but is unfortunately severed by the 10-minutes-too-long intermission during which you fall out of the groove you were once entrenched in.

Although Richlin shines and shines through his slick-haired, preppy easterner role, he is very well complemented, not completed, by Jensen, the independent cowgirl love he finds while trying to distance himself from his over-bearing, money-crazed mother and suffocating fiance who lives in New York. Once in Dead Rock, Nev., an old-western cowboy town set in the heart of lack-luster, yet appropriate props and backdrops, Bobby tries to pose as a rich German fellow, Bela Zangler, played by T.J. Engstrom, in order to save the theater Polly loves. Bobby falls for Polly. Polly doesn’t fall back. Bobby transforms into Zangler. Polly falls for Zangler. Bobby tries to convince Polly to fall for Bobby and not Zangler. This leads to the highlight of the musical, the meeting between the real Zangler and the poser Zangler. Both intoxicated at the time, they mirror each other for a while, a la Lucy Ricardo and Harpo Marx. The obvious ending in regards to the state of the theater and what happens between Bobby and Polly doesn’t depreciate the value of the musical as a whole, but doesn’t enhance it either.

Though a little long at almost three hours, the experience one gets from a good play with an amazing lead actor is nothing to scoff at. Richlin turns in a phenomenal performance, a tri-fecta of acting, singing and dancing, with the witty humor and innocent honesty that no one will ever get sick of. “Crazy For You” is a bright and enjoyable musical with an even brighter star to showcase in Kyle Richlin.