"this marvelous revival...has everything going for it"

July 6, 2006 performance reviewed by Frances Benn Hall.

It's delightful, it's de-lovely, and you'll get at kick out of "Anything Goes" - if you already have a ticket, because this block-buster of a musical, running at the Williamstown Theatre Festival through July 16, is already sold out.

"Anything Goes" has everything going for it: music and lyrics by Cole Porter (one of the first to sponsor the Williamstown theatre 52 years ago) and with an original script that employed the comedic talents of Lindsay and Crouse as well as those of Guy Bolton and P. G. Wodehouse.

Matt Cavenaugh
Sharon Lawrence
Remy Auberjonois

It's a really BIG musical with a cast of forty and studded with stars, many of whom you'll recognize, even if you don't get to Manhattan often, from having admired them in top notch TV series.

The zany plot begins on a New York dock with the S. S. American about to sail for London. Since the theatre's front curtain, a huge mock-up of the front page of the New York Times in 1934, has headlined the boat and its departure, and since some of the illustrious (fictional) characters that will be aboard are mentioned in headlines, you, without realizing it, are ahead of the whirlwind plot before the play begins.

And well you should be because events and characters swirl in and out of songs, identities, and even costumes at a rapid rate as the boat wends its hilarious way to London.

Be alert. Marvelous small details will delight you as the S. S. American moves down the river and out into the open sea, the sky behind the upstage orchestra not only twinkles with the occasional star, but a tiny light-bespangled river boat moves slowly across the diagonal where sky and sea meet before it is gone.

And then the play is at sea and one can sort out the passengers, some illustrious enough to have warranted a headline on that Time's front page, several others revealed as stowaways, and all involved in a joyous mix up of identities and purposes.

Nikki Renee Daniels, Matt Cavenaugh, Sharon Lawrence,
Malcolm Gets, Sandra Shipley and
the Anything Goes Company

The plot swirls around Billy Crocker (Matt Cavenaugh) young, handsome, and ardently in love with Hope Harcourt (Nikki Renee Daniels), enchantingly beautifully but to Billy's dismay on her way to London with her fiancée, the very British Sir Evelyn Oakleigh (Malcolm Gets), a rather boring dull tool until unexpectedly he discovers his libido.

Since Billy is a stowaway, he adopts a number of disguises including that of a sailor, a Chinaman, and finally the role of public enemy #1, who has missed the boat and left half a cabin empty. Not surprisingly he ends up in confinement.

And there he meets and is befriended by Moonface Martin (Remy Uberjonois) an endearing if bumbling real public enemy (# 13) who is disguised as a machine-gun-toting priest who has brought his gun moll Bonnie (Catherine Brunell) who has her own agenda.

If this sounds impossible to follow, rest easy. The veteran actors not only make sense of this outrageous nonsense, they are more than ably abetted by the incredible Reno Sweeney (Sharon Lawrence) who is the star of the cruise and the star of the show. As a singing evangelist with a crew of singing angels, she is changing her career to nightclub singer and her solo "I Get A Kick Out of You" is the greatest rendering of this gem you will ever be likely to hear. Lawrence not only sings magnificently but her dancing (including tap), her every gesture, is so gloriously right that, watching her, one is struck by how easy and right it all seems.

The supporting actors are equally capable, and the whole is augmented by passengers, sailors, crew members, etc. engagingly musically filling the scene change moments with musical numbers, tap dancing, shipboard boat drills, parades and even a tableau.

Billy and Hope eventually have their big moment in a lyrical duet "All Through the Night." Reno, having made a man of the mouse Sir Evelyn, is eager to get back to Manhattan where she and the Angels can really cut loose with Moonface's gun moll eager to join the group and awkwardly trying to imitate their moves.

Moonface has his moment near the end with the solo "Be Like the Bluebird" and Sir Evelyn is startled to discover his manhood in a wonderful duet with Reno, "Let's Misbehave."

This production has gone all out - sound, lights, costumes, large talented cast, great small orchestra - all are first rate and deserved the prolonged first night applause.

Finally, the credit for mounting this marvelous revival goes to Director Roger Reese, whose talents are so wide he has found time not only to serve as the WTF artistic director, but also has written the final show of this summer's season. It's a mystery crime thriller called, "Double Double." That one may be another ticket hard to come by. Be forewarned.

The season will feature a rich calendar of other offerings including Late Night Cabaret, Free Theatre, readings and other events.

Williamstown Theatre Festival | wtfestival.org
Roger Rees, Artistic Director
Box Office: '62 Center Box Office,
Route 2, Williamstown, MA 01267,
Telephone: 413-243-0745.
Online ticketing is available at wtfestival.org.