Anything Goes

I am a huge fan of Cole Porter and believe he wrote clever lyrics with gorgeous melodies that were well ahead of their time. This show is one of his best with romance, comedy and wonderful songs to move the pace along.

The set was lovely and with a few props added the changes into cabins worked really well with minimum time delay.  The sound was great with no issues that I could detect and the balance of Orchestra and cast was perfect.  John G Barry is a joy to watch and listen to as an MD and despite a badly sprained hand (later detected as broken!) he kept everything together beautifully. The work during rehearsals paid off with gorgeous harmonies and strength of voices on melodies.

There were a few glitches on lights which I understand were manually operated in Act 2 to try to minimise the issues. The props were in keeping with the era and the costumes were absolutely gorgeous with lovely colour schemes. The choreography lacked a bit of pace but you have to cater to who you have playing the roles and Marjorie did this well, keeping things simple for the re dancers in the company and principles. This was Marjorie’s last show with the society after 29 shows since 1996 and I’m sure she will be sorely missed.

The ensemble worked really well and sounded stunning on the full company numbers. Bon Voyage and Anything Goes were super but my favourite number in the whole show was Blow Gabriel Blow which looked and sounded fabulous.

The show was well cast and the supporting cast all played very good roles. Stuart Eade was very good as Elisha but I felt more comedy could’ve been extracted from this part. His scenes with Deborah O’Connor as Evangeline worked well and Deborah was fabulous in this part looking every inch the Lady she played. The addition of Button as Cheeky her little dog was fantastic and Button behaved beautifully throughout.

Olivia Callaghan as Erma was great with the full package in singing, dancing and acting. I loved the characterisation and she held the stage every time she was on it. She played really well against Duncan Anderson as Moonface Martin who was very funny and had great vocals to match. The two had great chemistry and were never out of character.

Philip Brady as Lord Evelyn Oakleigh was very funny and played the part beautifully. The Gypsy in Me was a great number and Philip milked every ounce of comedy out of this number. A wonderful British accent and pompous attitude made the characterisation complete. Lauren Massey was a wonderful Hope Harcourt with beautiful vocals, stunning dance moves and great acting. She looked the part and did an amazing job on what I have often seen played as an insipid role. Lauren had bags of stage presence and I loved all her numbers but her duet on It’s De-Lovely was simply De-Licious.

The two leads were fantastic. Phil Callaghan as Billy Crocker had the most gorgeous voice which effortlessly went into falsetto which sounded stunning on his numbers. Although he isn’t a natural dancer he worked hard alongside Lauren and Susan to fulfil the role. His characterisation worked well in the role and he looked very comfortable as the cheeky chap he played.

Susan Milligan was amazing as Reno Sweeney with faultless vocals, nice dance moves and great characterisation and American accent. I Get a Kick Out Of You, You’re the Top, Friendship and Blow Gabriel Blow were stunningly delivered by Susan, most with dance moves too. She never once sounded out of breath and was always in character as the sassy nightclub singer.  

The whole cast, production team and everyone involved in this production should be very proud of their achievements on this lovely show. The chemistry and enjoyment was tangible and we had a wonderful evening. I look forward to seeing you all again soon.

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