Anything
Goes
Music & Lyrics - Cole Porter
Original Book - P.G. Wodehouse & Guy Bolton
New Book - Timothy Crouse, John Weidman, Howard Lindsay, Russel
Crouse
Director - Andrew O'Connor
Choreographer - Adrian Allsopp
Musical Director - Richard Holmes
Venue - Edinburgh Festival Theatre
Dates - 5 - 9 June 2001 at 7:30pm, matinee Thurs & Sat at
2:30pm then touring elsewhere including to Aberdeen.
Reviewer- Neil Ingram
In Anything goes the songs are the cream of the show. This production
gives us as well a very sparkly Reno, an excitingly razor sharp Moonface
and all other principals well portrayed. Anything Goes still works as
an entertaining vessel for some delicious Cole Porter songs - as the
composer said at its 1934 premiere in New York "Good, isn't it?"
The boy meets girl etc story starts on land, goes onto an ocean liner
bound from New York to England and charts the complicated route by which
he gets the girl in the end . As the young Billy Crocker, Jonathon
Morris, pursues his true love Hope Harcourt, Sophia Thierens,
They sing some of Porter's best duets - Easy to Love and It's
De-lovely, charming the audience with their simple honesty. The
ship's night-club singer Reno Sweeney, Gemma Craven, sings the
greats - I Get a Kick Out of You, You're the Top, and
the title song Anything Goes. She gives Reno, power and drive
and a flavour of Ethel Merman, the original in the role. Craven
is well matched by Billy Boyle, who as Moonface Martin, a gangster
on the run, gets many of the best lines and ensures they hit the target..
The orchestra, ably directed by Richard Holmes, spin through Porter's
music with a precise touch, creating an atmosphere of enjoyment. Shelley
Otway as Erma the gangster's moll, and Michael Chance as
Lord Evelyn Oakley, Hope's very English fiancé, both sparkle when the
spotlight is on them. Maitland Chandler as Elisha Whitney, Crocker's
wealthy boss, and Antony Howes as the Ship's Captain give good
supporting performances.
The set and lighting give us the deck, inside cabins and a posh stateroom
simply but very effectively. Although the whole cast work well together
in the big song and dance numbers, it is difficult to re-create the
effect of the huge chorus the 1934 production had. Cole Porter's Broadway
smash hit was put together in great haste- Act Two didn't exist until
after rehearsals began! But with his timeless songs it works as well
today as it did then .
© Neil Ingram 5 June 2001
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