A show about show biz - "Crazy For You" is a perfect fit for the home of American musicals

The Goodspeed Opera House's staging of "Crazy For You" combines all the elements of a good old summer time wedding. It is, after all, loosely based on something old - the lavish 1930s song and dance style of George and Ira Gershwin's "Girl Crazy". Yet, director Michael Fling creates something new with augmented touches of playfulness and slapstick throughout playboy Bobby Child's quest to dance on Broadway, despite his mother's vision to have him join the family banking business. The score of this "composite musical" characteristically uses somethings borrowed too - namely tunes from previous Gershwin works. And the something blue in this boy meets, loses, and gets girl romp? A striking late-night silhouette of the NYC skyline against a midnight background, created by scenic and lighting designers Ann Beyersdorfer and Paige Seber, respectively.

The story begins with Bobby (Will Burton) leaving the city after an unsuccessful audition tapping his way around a rainbow of elaborately feathered and head-dressed chorus girls - sporting pink hairdos . Taylor Lane's ditzy elocution and comic timing as the leader of the pack stands out, along with her thoroughly entertaining troupe (Claire Avakian, Courtney Brady, Kailee Regan Brandt, Katie Scarlett Brunson, and Kelly Gleason). Costumes by Joseph Shrope add to the girls' pop and sizzle against drab backstage curtains, as tuxedoed Bobby ends up stepping on a few toes.

Thus, Bobby's stern mom (Michele Ragusa) redirects him to Deadrock , Nevada to foreclose on a dying theater. There he spots the only gal in town - Polly (Brittany Zeinstra), the theater owner's golden-haired daughter whose beauty strikes his fancy, even in her not-so-fancy western duds.

Actually the whole town is a dud which justifies three cowpokes (Griffin Wilkins, Brian Shimasaki, Bradley Gribbins-Klein) moseying through a yawner of a dance number, "I'm Bidin' My Time" (the song borrowed from "Girl Crazy"). But these fellas prove they are no slouchers when they put more pep in their steppin' onto chairs and crates in "I've Got Rhythm," a show-stopping end to Act One led by Bobby, Polly, and company, after the Broadway entertainers travel cross-country to join forces with the Deadrockers to try to save the Gaeity Theater by putting on a show.

When the revival doesn't go as planned cast and crew gear up for an even more energetic song and tap dance about putting up a "Stiff Upper Lip," the notion introduced by two British national park tourists who have stopped by the theater (Colin Bradbury and Michele Ragusa [taking on her second role in the musical]). NYC choreographer Kelli Barclay, who has overseen seven dance teams at the Goodspeed (most recently "White Christmas") manages to once again get the most razzle- dazzle out of the East Haddam rostrum that is significantly smaller than a Broadway stage .

The execution of Barclay's tap-heavy dances can't be beat. Bobby and Polly make for a pretty pair, him lankier and her taller than most, in sync more in footwork than in chemistry. Polly's dad Everett (Jeremy Davis) proves as spry as the youngin's. There is not a beat to be missed.

Yet for all its musicality and energy, one of C4U's highlights has nothing to do with song or dance or even the spoken word. In the midst of the play's tangle of theatrical disguise and mistaken identify, Bobby finds himself face to face in the company of play producer Bela Zengler (Edward Juvier), a man he has been impersonating to win back Polly's affections after she dumps him and falls for Zengler.

But Polly soon rejects the real Zengler as well.

The two love-sick gentlemen wind up in a bar together, dressed identically, nursing their woes, and rather tipsy - the perfect scenario to theatrically pay homage to an iconic comic bit (specifically from the Marx Brothers movie "Duck Soup").

Burton and Juvier sit back to back and nail the mirror duet, "What Causes This," believing each of their movements is their own reflection. . Instrumental sound effects from the orchestra pit are as perfectly timed as every stagger, sigh and posture from the talented fellows.

And speaking of orchestras, "Crazy For You" has visible live musicians who play a full overture to start the production, a mainstay of musicals that had to be hidden for lack of space in Goodspeed's "Jesus Christ Superstar," "All Shook Up," and "A Chorus Line," last season.

“Crazy For You,” with music and lyrics by George Gershwin and Ira Gershwin, book by Ken Ludwig, co-conception by Ludwig and Mike Ockrent, inspired by material by Guy Bolton and John McGowan, runs through Aug. 16 at the Goodspeed Opera House, 6 Main St. in East Haddam. Performances are Wednesday at 2 p.m. and 7:30 p.m., Thursday at 7:30 p.m., Friday at 7:30 p.m., Saturday at 2 p.m. and 7:30 p.m., and Sunday at 2 p.m., with added Sunday evening performances at 6:30 p.m. July 5, 12 and 19 and added Thursday matinees at 2 p.m. on July 23 and 30 and Aug. 6. $35-$126. goodspeed.org.