Red-lipped dancers’ shoes click-clack across the stage floor. Cheery cowboys stomp and play their various percussion “instruments,” such as the shovel or a glass bottle. The staccato clacking of tap shoes pervades the auditorium, fully immersing the audience in the heartfelt story of “Crazy For You.”
Klein High’s “Crazy For You” opened Jan. 16 and closed Jan. 27. Originally, there were supposed to be six shows with the final show being Jan. 26, but due to forecasts about a winter storm, one show was canceled and the final show was rescheduled.
Crazy For You tells the story of a young banker from 1930s New York, Bobby Child, who is sent to Deadrock, Nevada to foreclose on a theatre. In Deadrock, Bobby ends up falling for Polly Baker, the theatre owner’s daughter. In an effort to save the Gaiety Theatre, Bobby pretends to be Bela Zangler, a famous Broadway producer.
“I’d say the hardest part was learning how to tap dance, because I didn’t know before, and so I had to learn everything leading up to the musical,” senior Owen McGlashan, who played a cowboy named Sam, said. “I feel like I’ve become a stronger ensemble performer and I learned how to have more energy.”
Several of the other cast members interviewed also said the tap dancing was the most difficult part of the show.
“I don’t think very many of the cast knew how to tap dance before this show, so they have definitely grown as performers and dancers in that aspect,” musical director Heather Garsen said. “We’ve also had a lot of first-timers, and they got to see what it was like to be on stage and part of a Klein drama show. A lot of them really took that risk and put themselves out there for the first time, and grew as performers as well.”
Some of the costumes in Crazy For You were recycled from the last time that Klein Drama put on the show. Some costumes were new, and so the two were merged, old and new.
“This show is near and dear to my heart because it was actually the first Klein drama musical that I ever saw,”Garsen said. “The show just had an impact on me wanting to pursue theater in general.”
Junior Kaylee Bull, who plays Polly Baker, said that her favorite part about being in Klein theater is being able to put on performances with a wide variety of people in every cast.
“There’s different people from different backgrounds, and for musicals, especially, there’s people in band, orchestra, doing a show for the first time, and it’s just really cool to work with people in different environments,” Bull said.
Every year, Theatre Under the Stars, TUTS, honors the achievements of high school musical theatre students through the Tommy Tunes Awards. Schools, individuals, and groups throughout the Greater Houston area may be nominated and later win categories such as Best Lead, Best Musical, and Honorable Mention.
“We’re always hoping for a Best Musical nomination. But I don’t know, we’ll have to wait and see,” Garsen said. “It’s always, you never know what you’re going to get. But I have high hopes for our orchestra, because they’ve won the past two years. So I’m hoping the orchestra can win for a third time in a row. But I’m also hoping we get nominated for Best Musical.”
Garsen said her favorite part of teaching theater is seeing the final product of what everyone can put together.
“It’s always really rewarding to hear the feedback from the audience and see how the audience reacts on that opening night, when everybody’s seeing it for the first time,” Garsen said. “The students are so proud of all the hard work that they’ve put into a show.”
The students say they are proud to be a part of Klein theater, and some say they wish they would’ve joined sooner.
“Everybody who ever comes to Klein theater says they wish they would have joined sooner,” McGlashan said. “The reason for that is because it’s just such a great environment, and you get to make beautiful performances with people around you, and there’s a legacy that goes on there that’s just generations old, and it’s amazing to be part of something bigger than yourself.”
