Anything Goes

Beeston Musical Theatre Group presented Anything Goes at the Duchess Theatre, Long Eaton. This musical is a light-hearted folly, well-known for its big show tunes such as ‘I get a kick out of you’ and ‘Anything Goes’.   

This was an enjoyable production, reflected by the audience reaction, spurred on by a good principal cast. The direction was satisfactory and the choreography was adequate, with both elements requiring some further refinement. Of particular highlight was the Musical Direction provided by Chris Toon, who is certainly going to be a future asset to the local musical theatre scene. He handled the band competently, providing plenty of energy. The tempo, arrangement and sound from the band were all of a high standard.

Casting for this show was superb, most certainly for the women. Andrea Chapman (playing Reno Sweeny), Zoe Brinklow (playing Hope Harcourt), Steph Grey-Blest (playing Erma) and Mina Machin (playing Evangeline Harcourt) were all excellent. It was especially great to finally see Andrea in a lead role, putting in an outstanding all-round musical theatre performance. Although this role didn't showcase her full potential, Zoe is simply fantastic and undoubtedly one of the best talents on the local scene. For the men, Kev Chatten provided a brilliantly comic, show-stealing performance as Lord Evelyn Harcourt and Rob Charles gave a lovely vocal performance as Billy Crocker. Solid all round performances were also provided by Martin Holtom (Elisha J Whitney) and Chris Bryan (Moonface). Another excellent casting was Viva La Vie Boheme (Mimi) as Cheeky the dog; very cute, delivering with excellent stage presence and an almost show stopping performance (obviously well trained by her owners)! Finally, the ensemble certainly showed plenty of enthusiasm and enjoyment for the show. 

The bespoke open-plan set mirroring that of a ship frontage, designed and built by Chairman Lisa Smith and her team, was evidently a labour of love which was generally well devised and constructed, albeit slightly on the large side; restricting performance space. The attention to detail was generally excellent, exemplified by both props and costumes, which were all well sourced. Technically, the production had a few too many pitfalls with sound, lighting (planning and execution) and behind scenes action, some of which will hopefully be improved upon as the week progresses.

From all at NODA Nottingham, we hope everyone involved with BMTG's production of Anything Goes have had an enjoyable show week and we look forward to seeing you in the new year.  

Show Report by Matt Fry

NODA Nottingham, District 3, East Midlands Region

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