With a story by Wodehouse and songs by Cole Porter, Anything Goes is a creation that dramatises the glitz and glamour of the jazz age.
Ostensibly the tale of the hapless Billy Crocker's attempts to win the girl of his dreams away from her English buffoon of a fiancé, the real action happens away from the central romance. The story starts in Manhattan, where the liner SS American is about to set sail to England. As the passengers board, they have little idea that this is to be the trip of a lifetime, or that there are some very unusual characters on board.
David Wilson steals the show as Public Enemy Number 13, Moonface Martin, a gangster on the run from the FBI. The capers that ensue as Moonface and his moll, with Billy in tow, provide the comic action of the play. All manner of disguises are resorted to and there is one little dog in particular that is left hoping for a woolly jumper this Christmas.
Christian Brabin gains the audience's sympathy as the "broken broker", willing to throw away the little that he has left for his girl, played beautifully by Lindsay Farnworth. Kathy Turton and Vicki Wilson bring sex appeal as the seductive Evangelist Reno Sweeney and the man-eating moll Erma. A supporting cast pull off admirably difficult dance routines and heroic American accent. Delightful, as Cole Porter would undoubtedly have said himself.
