theater
BY RICK LEVIN
Polly Baker and
Austin Lawrence in
Crazy For You
Last Exit to Junction City
Phoinix Players Go Crazy for Gershwin
O
HARVEST MOON PHOTOGRAPHY
nce upon a time, U.S. Route 99
was the principal highway running
up and down the West Coast.
Shoved aside in the 1960s by the multi-lane
monstrosity of I-5, old 99 is now an
atavistic arterial, just a rusty zipper
that catches and snags at every
podunk town. It’s convenient to
dismiss these municipalities
as mere speed bumps,
but don’t — cultural
wonders
regularly
hide around the corner
from that pale yellow
stoplight in your path.
Junction City, out Hwy
99 just a few clicks from Eugene, is
presently home to one such wonder.
Continuing through July 30 at
the Star Theater, Crazy For You —
a “new” Gershwin musical, with
a book by Ken Ludwig — is an
inspired, ingenious example of what
grassroots theater groups across the
country can and should be doing to
survive and prosper, especially in
these tricky economic times. This
delicious romp of a production
is being mounted by the Phoinix
Players (no, that’s not a typo), a
troupe of very talented, very hard-
working actors ranging in age from
mid-teens to early 20s.
Culled in part from the tatters of
Junction City’s high school drama
department after it was axed a few
years back, Phoinix is composed of
actors just hitting their stride. Many
of them are students from UO, OSU,
LCC and as far away as Seattle, and
all prove themselves dedicated to the
gritty, DIY essentials of community
theater: focus, fundraising, long
hours, sustained intensity and grit.
None of which is to say these
young players are at all lacking
chops; rather, the raw, infectious
talent on display in Crazy For You
is burnished by a sense of faith and
purpose that is altogether rare and
absolutely badass to behold.
July 15-17
The Lost Boys
Saturday, July 16, 5 p.m., Island Park
THE CONJUGAL VISITORS
FREE show Sunday, July 17, 2 p.m., Island Park
EDDIE
MONEY
SATIN LOVE
ORCHESTRA
SATURDAY, JULY 16
7:30 P.M., ISLAND PARK
Friday, July 15
7:30 p.m., Island Park
PetFair!
ƭɥ",(22(.-ɥ$.1ɥ,.23ɥ1("8ɥ
-"ɥ341"8ɥ#5#-32ɥ(2ɥǬƘɥ/#1ɥ
/#12.-ɥ.1ɥǬƐƕɥ/#1ɥ$,(+8ƥ
ƭɥ.ɥ.432("#ɥ$.."ɥ.1ɥ"1(-*2ƥ
ƭɥ("#ɥ ɥ$.1ɥ$1##ɥ6(3'ɥ
61(23 -"Ʀɥ.1ɥ42#ɥ3'#ɥ$1##ɥ
(*#ɥ5+#3ƥɥ 3ƹ2ɥɥ%1##-ɥ#5#-3ư
Crazy For You, a 1992 revision of Girl Crazy that is classic
screwball comedy in the Tin Pan tradition, would prove a
challenging production given any level of means and ambition,
but for a small community theater of young actors it seems an
insurmountable sump of energy and funds. Lavish and rollicking,
with a large cast requiring sharp, balanced choreography, this
fi ne piece of they-don’t-make-‘em-like-that-anymore is big, big,
big. The numbers, like “Someone to Watch Over Me,” are deal
breakers. There’s tap, dance, pratfall, innuendo. Botch it and
you’ve got a fi asco on your hands — a Gersh-won’t.
The Phoinix Players, led by seemingly inexhaustibly motivated
director Mary Huls, put their production together in less than four
weeks. What’s more, they turned it into dinner theater, with the
cast serving pizza and drinks, and dessert at intermission. And,
no, this is not a set-up for a punch line; the show is tops, with
moments of brilliant innovation and performances that are solid
along the line, and some that are great. Because of the play’s
demands, there are actually two entirely different casts, A and B,
performing on successive nights.
The night I attended, it was B’s turn to hit the stage. From
the moment of being seated to the actors’ fi nal bow, the
experience was at once intimate and engaging, and completely
fun (Gershwin is nothing if not fun, in the best sense of the
word). The minimalist set, switching between struggling theaters
in New York and Nevada, is wonderfully immersive; the dance
numbers are incisively and cleverly thought-out; the acoustics,
which aren’t fantastic, somehow lend themselves to the musical’s
creaky, heartfelt currents of artistic idealism and unabashed
romance.
Perhaps most impressive, however, was the balance of power
(for lack of a better term) achieved by the cast itself. Thanks in
large part to the expert direction of Huls, who regularly rotates
strong roles among her many actors (a lead in one production, she
told me, might be a bit player in the next), there existed a distinct
sense of, well, community, which translated on stage to chemistry
and equilibrium. Teamwork.
That said, a handful of performances really stood out. As
Polly Baker, the tough, small-town girl swept off her feet by the
New York cool of aspiring dancer Bobby Child (the fi ne Austin
Lawrence), actor Amanda Bauer was riveting; she has the sly
comic timing of Jean Arthur and a singing voice that sends chills.
Also noteworthy, though hardly exclusively so, were Jonathan
Kemp as the loutish director Bela Zangler, Alexander Bauer as
Moose/Wyatt, and Megan Holderby as Patricia Fodor/Suzy. Wish
I had space to praise them all.
Now I’ve only to see cast A perform, which I will do. Stuff
this good doesn’t come along often enough.
ew
Crazy For You plays 6 pm Thursday, Friday & Saturday through July 30 at
Star Theatre, 898 Juniper St., Junction City; for tickets and information, call
998-3862.
FRIDAY
f Mystery Train ISLAND PARK
SATURDAY
f Ranch & River
Run/Walk DORRIS RANCH
f Cow Pasture Golf
f PetFair LIVELY PARK
f FamilyFair ISLAND PARK
SUNDAY
f BroilerFair ISLAND PARK
f Kids’ FishingFair ISLAND PARK
f Recycled Regatta ISLAND PARK
ONGOING
f 3-on-3 Hoopsters
Tournament MEADOW PARK
willamalane.org
541-736-4544
WWW.EUGENEWEEKLY.COM • BLOGS.EUGENEWEEKLY.COM
EUGENE WEEKLY JULY 14, 2011 25