Rachel York and Ensemble in Anything Goes. Photo by Joan Marcus.
Anything Goes (currently docked at the Ordway for a week, though May 12) hails from the early tradition of American musical theater, when musical plays mostly consisted of comic sketches interspersed with (often brilliant) songs. There are a few notable exceptions – Showboat – but this is the basic m.o.; little effort was made to integrate songs and story. (Then along came Oklahoma! in 1943 and musical theater has never been the same.)
Anything Goes maintains this convention, lurching from character to character, from bit to bit. Set on an England-bound ocean liner, the play utilizes stock characters: the Beloveds (Reno is beloved of Billy who is beloved of Hope who is beloved of Billy but engaged to malaprop-spouting Lord Oakleigh), on-the-lam (but toothless) criminals, lecherous near-sighted drunks, gun molls, pompous ships captains, feckless stowaways, etc. The book writers – P.G. Wodehouse & Guy Bolton, Howard Lindsay & Russell Crouse, not to mention the “new book” by Timothy Crouse & John Weidman – have all done yeoperson work, and the play does amuse and divert but, inevitably, one begins to resent the dorky story lines because they keep us from the astonishingly brilliant
Songs. Wow. Anything Goes features brilliant music, every number a masterpiece: “I Get A Kick Out Of You,” “De-Lovely,” “You’re The Top,” “All Though The Night,” the eponymous “Anything Goes.” To say that composer Cole Porter was an American master is a pathetic understatement. This production, from New York’s venerable Roundabout Theatre, delivers solid, energized readings of the music, with little of the moody “interpretation” laid on by many contemporary singers. This cast takes an indecent delight in Porter’s brilliance and herein lies your reason to lay out the large dollars for a ticket: Porter’s songs, no matter how often you hear them, always amaze.
And he is well-served. The wonderful Rachel York plays the lead, Reno Sweeney, like a lithe and lissome Mae West, but when she sings and lets loose her powerful voice: boffo-ness. Starting with “I Get A Kick Out Of You” and moving into “You’re The Top” and “Anything Goes” York serves up a kick fanny performance, easily dominating the Ordway stage. As Billy Crocker, who gets bamboozled into stowing away, Josh Franklin more than holds his own, doing bang-up renditions of “You’re The Top,” “De-Lovely,” “All Through The Night.” Everyone is good, but I need to cite in particular Alex Finke as Hope, Jeff Brooks as the not-very-scary Moonfaced Martin and Edward Staudenmayer as Lord Oakleigh. This is a first rate production.
Direction and energetic choreography in Anything Goes is provided by Kathleen Marshall. The dancing works well, though it often seems right out of a 60s TV special. In “Blow, Gabriel, Blow” Marshall does her best work; the number has genuine jazz-hot, Fosse-esque flavor. It’s terrific.
So: go for the marvelous music. The dancing is good, if somewhat familiar. Don’t expect a lot from the book. You’ll be happy.
Next at the Ordway: Buddy – The Buddy Holly Story – playing in June.
For more information about John Olive please visit his (updated) website.