Anything Goes!

The positive, energetic and joyous feel of this production from SMTC was set right at the start with the orchestra’s superb delivery of the overture. The audience started clapping along with it almost immediately and were clearly captivated from that point on by the enthusiasm, talent and joie de vivre of the performers, by the delightful songs and dances, by the story plot which was told well and by the excellent costumes and sets.

The overall look and effect of those costumes and sets were powerful and played a big part in creating the mood and atmosphere for the performances. The opening set of the art deco bar was impressive enough but when the audience saw the spectacular very effective set for the ocean liner, there was a huge round of applause. There was a nice touch of dry-ice smoke appearing when the ship’s horn sounded loudly to signify its departure from dock and later on the open deck was transformed at various points with amazing speed, efficiency and creativity into various configurations of cabins, the dining hall and even the ship’s brig. The quality of the stage management was professional and very impressive, right down to the deft handling of an unscripted moment when the bridge of Moonface Martin’s violin fell off and a stage-hand picked it up seamslessly. Lighting was used to great effect to enhance the sets and the mood, as when a soft purple wash blanketed the stage.

Anything Goes! is a challenging a musical to pull off and SMTC succeeded in doing so because the quality was there across the board, in all the departments: set design (Karen Woolley) and construction, costumes, Stage-management (Jeff Woolley and Dan Parker) and Stage Crew, Direction and Choreography (Karen Woolley), Orchestra (who deserve a special mention, absolutely superb), Technical, the acting, the singing and the dancing. Among the musical number highlights were Bon Voyage, It’s De-loverly, with some particularly beautiful and elegant dance moves from Billy and Hope, Anything Goes!, which had some great tap dancing and provided a really strong finish to the first half, and Blow, Gabriel Blow!, with strong choreography and powerful singing, which the audience joined in with. Moonface Martin’s singing in the brig of the amusing Australian bush song Be Like the Bluebird, was also delightful, and I particularly enjoyed the harmonies of the trio of sailors singing There’ll Always Be a Lady Fair.

The Choreography was impressive, lively and made excellent use of the stage; a perfect match for the singing and acting which presented very strong performances across the board and some very good American accents. In the male romantic lead role Billy Crocker was particularly striking when impersonating the gangster boss Snake Eyes Johnson and gave a strong energy and ‘attitude’ to the song You’re The Top. The fine singing voice of Hope Harcourt was demonstrated particularly in her solo song Little Dream Goodbye and Reno Sweeney delivered a striking performance as a strong, ‘sassy’ woman, especially in the song Friendship. Moonface Martin was a wonderful gangster figure and gave a delightful impersonation of a British butterfly collector. Stand-out performances combining strong singing with strong, confident and natural acting, including great American accents and some excellent dancing, were given by Evangaline Harcourt,  Erma, Elisha Whitney and the superb Lord Evelyn Oakleigh.

The ensemble performers were also very strong. Like a ship’s company, this production demonstrated the power of great teamwork. If I had one constructive criticism it would be that, for my own preference at least, the orchestra was at times slightly too loud in terms of the balance with the singers, but the quality of the orchestra was impeccable. This show was spectacular and fun, packed with romance, pathos and humour; the fact that cast were clearly enjoying themselves on the night simply added to this. Thank you to all involved for a wonderful evening.

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