©Seattle Union Record Dec. 12, 2000 It's de-singing, it's de-dancing that keeps 'Anything Goes' afloat By Misha Berson
"You're the top, you're the Colosseum/You're the top, you're the Louvre Museum." So goes the effervescent opening song in the 1934 Cole Porter musical, Anything Goes. And Porter's luxury-liner score for this 5th Avenue Theatre revival steams right on from there, trailing a flotilla of standards from "I Get a Kick Out of You" to "Let's Misbehave" and "It's De-Lovely." If songs were everything, Anything Goes would rank right up there with Broadway's most durable tuners. But then there's the show's convoluted farce plot, cobbled by a quartet of writers (most notably, P.G. Wodehouse) and evidently not retinkered for this occasion (as it was for a 1987 Broadway remake starring Patti LuPone). In Anything Goes when the music goes and the laborious comedy takes over, mental drift sets in. But those who can abide the becalmed passages will probably find the singing and dancing here delightful, delectable and de-lovely. And there are sporadic swells of mirth too, especially when top bananas Bronson Pinchot and Seattle's own Allan Galli hit the deck. The show's director-choreographer, new 5th Avenue Theatre artistic head David Armstrong, has also applied a tap-happy verve and a bright coat of sheen to this rather rusty vessel. The show looks pretty divine, with a swiveling art deco shipboard set (by Michael Anania), some swank '30s apparel (by costumer Patrick M. Stovall), and a cast of agreeable musical comedy pros, led by multiple Tony Award nominee, Dee Hoty. Lanky, ginger-haired Hoty plays Reno Sweeney, a worldly nightclub owner and ex-evangelist, with a sly slink and a wink, if not much raw charisma. Traveling on a cruise ship bound for England, Reno takes a shine to a dim-witted English gent, Sir Evelyn Oakleigh (Pinchot), onboard with his fiancée, Hope (Donna English). While at sea Hope happens to bump into an old flame, Billy (Michael Gruber) – who goes to absurd lengths to woo her away from Evelyn. There are more stock figures on this ship of fools, including the genial gangster Moonface Martin (the perfectly cast Galli), who masquerades as a clergyman to avoid arrest, and a helium-voiced blond tootsie, Bonnie (bubbly Colleen Hawks). The resulting jumble of coincidences, mistaken identities, sexual innuendos and romantic mishaps was de rigueur for '30s musicals. But the noodling stirs impatience today - especially when sluggishly paced and presented at face value. By contrast those Porter songs, meticulously staged by Armstrong with double-decker panache, seem as fresh and sparkly as a just-opened magnum of champagne. "It's De-Lovely" (borrowed from another Porter musical) pairs up Gruber and English in breezy romantic mode happily reminiscent of Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers duets. Hoty's pleasing personality and voice anchor the two splashiest numbers: "Anything Goes," with its dynamic clusters and lines of tapping sailors and socialites, and "Blow, Gabriel, Blow," a mock-revival meeting in full cry. And for those who don't know what a deft stage performer this TV sit-com veteran is, Pinchot quickly establishes his prowess in Evelyn's tongue-twisting patter tune, "Let's Not Talk About Love." As the archetypal jolly-old-stick Brit, Pinchot aces the show's best one-liners (probably written by Wodehouse, the master of English twitishness) in a supremely tony accent, sings attractively, and turns extended gags about monogrammed boxer shorts and decoding American slang into little tour-de-farces. He's also the one character who undergoes a real sea change, changing from distracted prude to gung-ho boy toy. What a pity the 5th Avenue could not have outfitted Anything Goes with more surefire comedy before hauling it out of dry dock. Or, at least, shortened the intervals between songs. There's still much to enjoy here, but be forewarned about the doldrums. main Anything Goes 2000 page

©Seattle Union Record
Dec. 12, 2000

It's de-singing, it's de-dancing that keeps 'Anything Goes' afloat
By Misha Berson

"You're the top, you're the Colosseum/You're the top, you're the Louvre Museum." So goes the effervescent opening song in the 1934 Cole Porter musical, Anything Goes. And Porter's luxury-liner score for this 5th Avenue Theatre revival steams right on from there, trailing a flotilla of standards from "I Get a Kick Out of You" to "Let's Misbehave" and "It's De-Lovely."

If songs were everything, Anything Goes would rank right up there with Broadway's most durable tuners. But then there's the show's convoluted farce plot, cobbled by a quartet of writers (most notably, P.G. Wodehouse) and evidently not retinkered for this occasion (as it was for a 1987 Broadway remake starring Patti LuPone).

In Anything Goes when the music goes and the laborious comedy takes over, mental drift sets in.

But those who can abide the becalmed passages will probably find the singing and dancing here delightful, delectable and de-lovely. And there are sporadic swells of mirth too, especially when top bananas Bronson Pinchot and Seattle's own Allan Galli hit the deck.

The show's director-choreographer, new 5th Avenue Theatre artistic head David Armstrong, has also applied a tap-happy verve and a bright coat of sheen to this rather rusty vessel. The show looks pretty divine, with a swiveling art deco shipboard set (by Michael Anania), some swank '30s apparel (by costumer Patrick M. Stovall), and a cast of agreeable musical comedy pros, led by multiple Tony Award nominee, Dee Hoty.

Lanky, ginger-haired Hoty plays Reno Sweeney, a worldly nightclub owner and ex-evangelist, with a sly slink and a wink, if not much raw charisma. Traveling on a cruise ship bound for England, Reno takes a shine to a dim-witted English gent, Sir Evelyn Oakleigh (Pinchot), onboard with his fiancée, Hope (Donna English). While at sea Hope happens to bump into an old flame, Billy (Michael Gruber) – who goes to absurd lengths to woo her away from Evelyn.

There are more stock figures on this ship of fools, including the genial gangster Moonface Martin (the perfectly cast Galli), who masquerades as a clergyman to avoid arrest, and a helium-voiced blond tootsie, Bonnie (bubbly Colleen Hawks).

The resulting jumble of coincidences, mistaken identities, sexual innuendos and romantic mishaps was de rigueur for '30s musicals. But the noodling stirs impatience today - especially when sluggishly paced and presented at face value.

By contrast those Porter songs, meticulously staged by Armstrong with double-decker panache, seem as fresh and sparkly as a just-opened magnum of champagne.

"It's De-Lovely" (borrowed from another Porter musical) pairs up Gruber and English in breezy romantic mode happily reminiscent of Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers duets. Hoty's pleasing personality and voice anchor the two splashiest numbers: "Anything Goes," with its dynamic clusters and lines of tapping sailors and socialites, and "Blow, Gabriel, Blow," a mock-revival meeting in full cry.

And for those who don't know what a deft stage performer this TV sit-com veteran is, Pinchot quickly establishes his prowess in Evelyn's tongue-twisting patter tune, "Let's Not Talk About Love."

As the archetypal jolly-old-stick Brit, Pinchot aces the show's best one-liners (probably written by Wodehouse, the master of English twitishness) in a supremely tony accent, sings attractively, and turns extended gags about monogrammed boxer shorts and decoding American slang into little tour-de-farces. He's also the one character who undergoes a real sea change, changing from distracted prude to gung-ho boy toy.

What a pity the 5th Avenue could not have outfitted Anything Goes with more surefire comedy before hauling it out of dry dock. Or, at least, shortened the intervals between songs. There's still much to enjoy here, but be forewarned about the doldrums.

main Anything Goes 2000 page