Anything Goes

Loved it, full of energy, fun and Cole Porter songs. Who could ask for anything more?

The Roundabout Theatre Company’s touring production of «Anything Goes» is on a limited run at the Golden Gate Theatre. It’s a revival of an archetypical Cole Porter Musical that debuted in 1934, and the show is still completely fun for young audiences — it’s like a Rom-​Com with amazing songs and no nudity. This type of mindless, upbeat, totally removed from reality escapism was popular at the height of the Great Depression, and it still plays pretty well in this 2^nd Decade of the Great Recession too…
«Anything Goes» is a madcap shipboard musical which introduced many of Cole Porter’s most famous songs — «Anything Goes», of course, as well as «I Get a Kick Out of You», «You’re the Top», and «It’s De-​lovely». The story told between songs is a gleefully silly one of gold-​diggers, inadequate disguises and star-​crossed lovers. Newcomers will be surprised at its still pertinent satire of a celebrity-​mad society. As it turns out, anything that went in 1934 still goes.
Rachel York plays saloon singer Reno Sweeney with period-​perfect brass, and a sex-​appeal quotient ramped up for the 21^st century. Her contemporary sexuality enriches the undercurrent of many of the numbers. While this distinctive style she uses may not be thirties-​authentic, it makes the original production much more accessible to modern audiences. York purrs like a kitten through one sultry number after another, making these classic songs seem as fresh and bright as ever, and she generates serious sparks with her male leads.
What’s the 411 on the story? Reno Sweeney loves stockbroker Billy Crocker (Erich Bergen), who thinks she’s «the top» but loves the débutante Hope Harcourt (Alex Finke) instead. Hope returns Billy’s affection; unfortunately, to placate her fortune hunting mother, she has agreed to marry the foppish Lord Evelyn Oakleigh. Reno gamely teams up with her old friend and gangster-​in-​disguise Moonface Martin to help Billy win her rival. Here’s one of the play’s major problems. The audience falls so hard for York as Reno Sweeny that Billy’s failure to do so seems like a character flaw. Billy’s love scenes with Hope are sweet, but they’d be more convincing if they didn’t follow the frisky, crackling rendition of «You’re the Top» he does with Reno.
Chock full of showstoppers from stem to stern, «Anything Goes» is an old-​school Broadway cocktail that still packs one heck of great punch! If you can’t check it out before the current run ends, catch it when it returns for another run in the future.
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When I saw this show, the only thing that detracted from my enjoyment was an understudy who was in the part of Billy Crocker, the romantic male lead (normally played by Erich Bergen). He did an amazing job with his lines, and was an exceptional dancer, but his singing voice was VERY weak, and it was hard for him to hold his own in any of the duets he had to sing with the two main female leads.