Michael Brindisi had a problem. The year was 1996, and the artistic director of Chanhassen Dinner Theatres had to replace an injured actress in his show Crazy for You. Was there anyone in the country who knew the exact role in that Gershwin musical? More to the point, would any of the professional thespians in that small group be willing to move to the suburbs of Minnesota to play it?
Thankfully, in preparation for staging the show, Brindisi had traveled to Denver a few months earlier to see it performed at another dinner theater. At the Country Dinner Playhouse, nicknamed “The Barn” for its gambrel-roofed auditorium, he had learned what the audience responded to, what they didn’t, and how he could do it better. But his most valuable takeaway had nothing to do with songs, choreography, or sets.
The needle he found in the Barn’s haystack was then-unknown actress Amy Adams…