Anything Goes

The open space which is the foyer/café in Mitchell Theatre was abuzz with people, met by Front of House Captain Ian McGregor and his shapely crew, all smartly uniformed, with his girls selling programmes labelled as the “Boarding Pass for the S.S. American”.  Into the auditorium and a very mixed audience prepared for a night of entertainment, which they got.  Ian Purves had been working on the show for the months before he died, and it was well prepared for John to take over and to pass on Ian’s instructions.  Jonathan Collins (Billy Crocker) and Claire McLean (Hope Harcourt) were well matched, as were Jim McPhee (Lord Evelyn) and Judith Miller (Reno Sweeney) together at the end after the trickery by Crocker and the crooks Roy McGregor (Moonface Martin) and Eleanor Docherty (not-so-dumb-blonde Erma).  Club President Anne Allan (Evangeline Harcourt) and Neil Anderson (Eli Whitney) provided some of the comedy but as always, star of the show, for some, was Maxie (the terrier Cheeky).  The full chorus sang and Marie’s girls danced through the wonderful numbers in this show with gusto and skill, of which Ian would have been proud.  The Minerva Club also recorded the passing of Betty Stewart, who had directed many of their shows, the last of which had been “Anything Goes” in 1995.  Present at this 2012 production, dedicated to the memory of Ian Purves, were many from other clubs who had had happy associations with him in their time.

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