Anything Goes

 With music and lyrics written by the ever popular Cole Porter this upbeat happy show “Anything Goes” has some of the best known contemporary songs of the 20th century in the score and is based on a book written by Guy Bolton and P.G.Wodehouse which was revised by Howard Lindsay and Russell Crouse for the musical. All the action takes place on board a luxury ocean liner sailing from New York to London and follows the fortunes of Wall Street Broker Billy Crocker, who goes to the dock to say farewell to his boss, Elisha J Whitney. Once there he bumps into his friend, nightclub singer Reno Sweeney, who is traveling to England with her troupe of singers and dancers called the Angels. He also finds out that Hope Harcourt, a woman he fell in love with during a chance meeting in New York, is a passenger on board the ship, but unfortunately for Billy she is already engaged to Sir Evelyn Oakleigh a British aristocrat. So, Billy stows away on the ship to try and win Hope's heart, with the help of Reno and Moonface Martin a likable comedic gangster who is also classed as Public Enemy Number 13, the overall result is funny happy mayhem.

This was a very entertaining show directed by the talented Steve Coghlan who obviously knew what he wanted out of the production. The set looked very good and appeared to be designed for maximum efficiency; thus, enabling quick and smooth scene changes, meaning the show ran at a good pace. So along with good technical input and costumes which were very colourful, looked nice, and fitted the era, added to the success and authenticity of the production. There were talented performers in the cast, who all performed very well, with no weak links, they included Gemma Briscoe as Reno Sweeney who looked comfortable in her role and suited the part very well. Mark Charnock gave a very enjoyable performance as love sick Billy Crocker with Beth McClelland complementing him excellently in the role of Hope Harcourt, both making a lovely central romantic couple. Jamie Mather was Sir Evelyn Oakleigh and was very aristocratic, comedic and a likeable character while Steve Rutter gave us another very good funny performance as gangster Moonface Martin who was disguised as a priest with very comedic repercussions.  Moonface was accompanied on board the ship by Bonnie, a gangster’s moll, who appeared, mistakenly by some, a little ditsy, she was very nicely played by Lisa Procter. There was also some good characterisations and comedy from the actors in the supporting roles which included Jim Briscoe as Billy’s boss Elisha J Whitney, Dorothy Prothero as Hope’s mother Mrs W.T. Harcourt, Ricky Ball was the ship’s Captain, Heather Furivall and Fiona Bailey were amusing as Ching and Ling, John Hardiker gave us Bishop Henry T Dobson and finally Billy Molyneux was the drunk.  All the principle cast, chorus and Reno’s Angels sang well and performed with enthusiasm, they also appeared to embrace the show while really enjoying themselves immensely. They were accompanied by a band led by Musical Director Nancy Wells who as usual supported the cast expertly and there was very well thought out lively choreography from Liz Wainwright which is essential for the success of this show.

Congratulations to Director Steve Coghlan and to all involved in this very enjoyable fun production which was really enjoyed by the audience

Thank you for inviting us, we had a lovely evening as is usual when we visit Pleasure Folk.

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