Anything Goes

Someone said to me when I mentioned I had been to see Anything Goes that it was a show with which a Society could not go wrong. Well it is a great musical but of course it could be done badly and I am sure from time to time this has been the case. Fortunately  this was not  the situation with Port Sunlight’s rendition.  Musical offerings  like the eponymous title song, in addition to You’re the Top , It’s Delovely,  Blow Gabriel Blow and Friendship; a simple but amusing plot and a strong cast and we have a perfect recipe for a great evening’s entertainment and that’s what we got.  Director Julie Whitehead and Musical Director  Greg Williams combined to bring the show to life getting the most from their cast. There were strong performances from all the principals and although in one or two cases I wasn’t sure at the outset, I was certainly cheering by the end.  Lauren Wright  proved to be exactly right as Reno Sweeney with her aristocratic Paramour Sir Evelyn Oakleigh (Graham Rannard) who captured the silly ass Englishman to a “T”. Lauren sang well and with just the right amount of “gusto” needed in this part.  Blow Gabriel Blow has always been a favourite song of mine and I was not to be disappointed. Stuart  Clay(Billy Crocker) gave his usual  strong performance and was very ably supported by Jennie Lancaster as Hope Harcourt.   Bonnie (Donna Redgrave) treated us to a smile that that would have outshone Blackpool Illuminations and was a delight whenever she came on stage.  Moonface Martin  (Neil Alveston) had completely captured the audience by the end of the show  a very clever performance this, although he might have had a bigger gun as the supposed public enemy number 13. Sorry to mention the low position Moonface. All the supporting players came over well and the ensemble numbers were well sung and featured good dancing. It is not a show that has  many changes of scene but the  stage set design team engineered the main set and  the changes needed very well  and were ably  served by the lighting and sound personnel.   The whole team  of  those on stage and those behind the scenes are to congratulated .. well  done everyone.

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