©The Wichita Eagle Sunday, July 4, 1993 'Anything Goes' Elegant, Farcical By Susan L. Rife
Near the end of Music Theatre of Wichita's last show, Good News!, set on a college campus in 1928, there was aforeshadowing of the stock market crash. Music Theatre's next show, Anything Goes, which opens Wednesday, picks up the story in the mid-1930s, as the country still was reeling through the Depression. What the upper class sometimes did to escape its woes was to take trans-Atlantic cruises. An elegant art deco cruise ship is the setting for the show, the midpoint of Music Theatre's summer run of five musicals. Anything Goes was originally staged in 1934 as a showcase for Ethel Merman, with music and lyrics by Cole Porter and the story by Guy Bolton, P.G. Wodehouse, Howard Lindsay and Russel Crouse. The original story line had the cast of characters on a shipwrecked ocean liner, but a real disaster at sea forced a last-minute revision of the plot to eliminate the shipwreck angle. An off-Broadway revival in 1962 is the most commonly performed version of Anything Goes but Music Theatre has chosen a Lincoln Center version that won a batch of Tony Awards in 1988. "It's much sharper, sleeker," said producing director Wayne Bryan. "It's truer to Cole Porter's original 1934 version, and it's just elegance. It's elegance with a farce plot." "We took the best of both worlds," said Toni Kaye, who stars as Reno Sweeney and also is choreographing the show. The plot turns on nightclub singer-turned-evangelist Reno, who sets sail for London, not realizing her fellow passengers will include the handsome Billy Crocker (on whom she has a crush), Sir Evelyn Oakleigh (Hope's fiance) and the adorable gangster Moonface Martin and his goofy gun moll, Erma. In addition to Kaye, the show stars Michael Gruber as Billy, Ashley Mortimer as Hope, Charles Goff as Moonface and Nedra Dixon as Erma. Although the Lincoln Center version didn't offer a lot of tap-dancing for the leading characters, Music Theatre is showcasing the talents of Kaye and Gruber by adding a substantial amount of tapping. "We're blessed here," said Bryan. "We're able to take advantage of whatever special gifts our people bring." Kaye has been a dancer since the age of 9. As choreographer of Anything Goes she looks for dancers who can find the melody of tapping. "Otherwise, it's just noise," she said. The show also has extensive ballroom dancing sequences and a slew of exquisite Cole Porter tunes, including "You're the Top," "Blow, Gabriel, Blow," "It's De-lovely," "Easy to Love," "Friendship," "I Get a Kick Out of You" and "All Through the Night." "Personally, I love the score," said Gruber. "I just love the ensemble stuff, all the Cole Porter songs that you don't know. There's not a bad one in the lot." The show also is completely lacking in social or political commentary, much to the relief of Goff. "I've gotten a little tired of shows with agendas," said Goff, who plays the exceptionally non-threatening gangster Moonface. "It's fluff, but such a classy piece of entertainment," said Gruber. main Anything Goes 1993 page

©The Wichita Eagle
Sunday, July 4, 1993

'Anything Goes' Elegant, Farcical
By Susan L. Rife

Near the end of Music Theatre of Wichita's last show, Good News!, set on a college campus in 1928, there was aforeshadowing of the stock market crash.

Music Theatre's next show, Anything Goes, which opens Wednesday, picks up the story in the mid-1930s, as the country still was reeling through the Depression. What the upper class sometimes did to escape its woes was to take trans-Atlantic cruises. An elegant art deco cruise ship is the setting for the show, the midpoint of Music Theatre's summer run of five musicals.

Anything Goes was originally staged in 1934 as a showcase for Ethel Merman, with music and lyrics by Cole Porter and the story by Guy Bolton, P.G. Wodehouse, Howard Lindsay and Russel Crouse. The original story line had the cast of characters on a shipwrecked ocean liner, but a real disaster at sea forced a last-minute revision of the plot to eliminate the shipwreck angle.

An off-Broadway revival in 1962 is the most commonly performed version of Anything Goes but Music Theatre has chosen a Lincoln Center version that won a batch of Tony Awards in 1988.

"It's much sharper, sleeker," said producing director Wayne Bryan. "It's truer to Cole Porter's original 1934 version, and it's just elegance. It's elegance with a farce plot."

"We took the best of both worlds," said Toni Kaye, who stars as Reno Sweeney and also is choreographing the show. The plot turns on nightclub singer-turned-evangelist Reno, who sets sail for London, not realizing her fellow passengers will include the handsome Billy Crocker (on whom she has a crush), Sir Evelyn Oakleigh (Hope's fiance) and the adorable gangster Moonface Martin and his goofy gun moll, Erma.

In addition to Kaye, the show stars Michael Gruber as Billy, Ashley Mortimer as Hope, Charles Goff as Moonface and Nedra Dixon as Erma.

Although the Lincoln Center version didn't offer a lot of tap-dancing for the leading characters, Music Theatre is showcasing the talents of Kaye and Gruber by adding a substantial amount of tapping.

"We're blessed here," said Bryan. "We're able to take advantage of whatever special gifts our people bring." Kaye has been a dancer since the age of 9. As choreographer of Anything Goes she looks for dancers who can find the melody of tapping. "Otherwise, it's just noise," she said.

The show also has extensive ballroom dancing sequences and a slew of exquisite Cole Porter tunes, including "You're the Top," "Blow, Gabriel, Blow," "It's De-lovely," "Easy to Love," "Friendship," "I Get a Kick Out of You" and "All Through the Night."

"Personally, I love the score," said Gruber. "I just love the ensemble stuff, all the Cole Porter songs that you don't know. There's not a bad one in the lot."

The show also is completely lacking in social or political commentary, much to the relief of Goff. "I've gotten a little tired of shows with agendas," said Goff, who plays the exceptionally non-threatening gangster Moonface. "It's fluff, but such a classy piece of entertainment," said Gruber.

main Anything Goes 1993 page