Anything Goes – nautical nuptials nixed by true love (St Agnes’ Choral Society in Grand Opera House until Saturday 18 April)

With music and lyrics by Cole Porter and PG Woodhouse amongst the team writing the book, Anything Goes is a sea of madcap twists and witty dialogue. After months of rehearsals, the volunteer cast and backstage crew at St Agnes’ Choral Society are taking Grand Opera House audiences on a nautical adventure that makes a song and dance out of a set of stormy relationships. 

Unbeknownst to his boss, Billy Crocker (Allen Gordon) stows away on board the SS America cruise liner in pursuit of a girl he encountered on a one-night stand. A string of new assumed identities and disguises dig an ever-deeper hole that threatens to drown him as he pours out his heart to on-board entertainer Reno Sweeney (Lorraine Jackson), cuts deals with gangsters Erma (Aoiffe White) and Moonface Martin (Martin McDowell), dodges Elisha J Whitney (Paul Maguire) and tries to win over the heart of an English Earl’s fiancée Hope Harcourt (Aideen Fox).

While most of the 1930’s racist sensibilities of the original musical have been papered over with much-needed character changes – really only the song The Gypsy in Me remains – the ensemble have great fun with the period costumes, dancing with mops, carrying around handbag-sized dog props, briefly breaking the fourth wall, and adorning the two-storey set with 50 cast members for the show’s biggest numbers.

Gordon’s smooth baritone voice melds well with Jackson’s mezzo in Billy and Reno’s solid duet You’re the Top. The sailor quartet – Rhys Devlin, Neal Mullan, Ben Davidson and James Hyde – show off their musical talent (almost barber shop) in There’ll Always Be a Lady Fair.  (Their rich vocals pleasingly appear again later in the show during All Through The Night.) There are a couple of dance-heavy songs with scant lyrical relief on either side of the interval: Ann Marie Morgan’s energetic choreography is at its strongest in the elongated tap sequences in the song Anything Goes.

Jackson wears a different costume every time she walks on stage. This extravagance is well worth the extended wardrobe rail and busy quick changes as it builds up Reno’s sense of showmanship and pays off in the second act when Blow, Gabriel, Blow brings the house down with fabulous vocals and a very flashy ensemble dance routine. Musical director Adam Darcy gets a big brassy sound from the 12-piece band in the pit and the cast’s singing is consistently excellent, with Fox, Sweeney and Gordon never not thrilling to listen to.

Laura Kerr’s direction of this sea-bound fantasy leans into the farce. Some of the slapstick elements and the dialogue’s zingers will land better as the show’s timings tighten up during the short run. Two smutty innuendos that jar could helpfully be dropped. The story finishes strongly with a triple wedding, although a quick repeated verse of the finale after the somewhat flat curtain call could have left the audience walking out on a real high. (More modern musical scores always spoil audiences with once last medley.) 

Over recent years, St Agnes’ Choral Society’s ambitions have seen them take on and conquer big musical beasts like Shrek, The Addams Family, Calamity Jane, and last year’s staggeringly good Come From Away (which matched or maybe even bettered the UK touring production). The best tunes of Anything Goes have survived longer and stronger in the cultural consciousness than the musical’s plot. But St Agnes’ have applied the same dedication and graft to bring the 92-year-old show to life. 

Anything Goes continues in Grand Opera House until Saturday 18 April.

Photo credit: Nicola McKee

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