Review: ANYTHING GOES at Shaw Festival

Some classic musicals will live on forever thanks to that perfect blend of book, musical score,  and dance. Cole Porter's ANYTHING GOES continues to enchant audiences 90 years after it's Broadway debut. Multiple versions have taken to the stage and silver screen, cementing such classics as "You're The Top," "Anything Goes, " Friendship," and "It's De-Lovely."

High Schools and Community and Regional Theatres have most commonly  presented the 1964 version that starred Hal Linden in a beloved Off-Broadway production that added songs like "Let's Misbehave" and "The Heaven Hop." But the 1987 Lincoln Center version returns mostly to the original script and score that starred Ethel Merman in 1934.  Patti LuPone led that  1987 revival and more recently Sutton Foster tapped her way into the lead in  a 2011 revival.

The airy book is pure musical comedy schtick and hijinx aboard a luxury ocean liner. The Shaw Festival has chosen the latest script that follows Reno Sweeney, a nightclub  singing evangelist and her posse of gals as they board the S.S. American. Playboy Billy Crocker tries to woo a socialite named Hope Harcourt to marry him and stows away on the ship to find her. He must disguise himself from his Bigwig boss who is also making the crossing. Hope enters with her oh so English fiance, and Billy fights to get her back for himself. Oh, and there is also  gangster disguised as a priest traveling with his machine gun and dim witted mol, Erma.

Mary Antonini is quite simply perfect as the sexy Reno, with the glamorous gams and a sultry chanteuse singing voice to match. She oozes charm and sex appeal, and when she sings she seduces with an alluring charisma  in "I Get A Kick Out Of You," then belts to the heavens in "Blow, Gabriel Blow." Antonini has the rare gift of being a  triple threat, dancing with polish and class. Merman and LuPone never partook significantly in the big dance numbers, but Foster sure did and Antonini gives a  brilliant performance in all departments

The role of Billy Crocker seems to have been  custom written for Jeff Irving, whose classic good looks and reedy tenor fit the role like a glove. Irving lands all of the jokes and disguises with ease, while effortlessly singing some of Porter's most beautiful ballads. Celeste Catena makes the often milquetoast role of Hope into a young, lusty and desirable  woman, deserving of being pursued. Her crystalline soprano voice and ethereal dancing made her glimmer on stage.

Shaw Festival favorite Michael Therriault, who shone in the festival's spectacular version of ME AND MY GIRL, gets the juicy comic role of Moonface Martin, Public Enemy Number 13. With a floppy hat and mop of grey hair, he resembled Harpo Marx. Therriault had a winning duet with Antonini in "Friendship." His nimble dancing and silly demeanor insured an appropriately goofy portrayal. And he garnered great laughs in his solo "Be Like The Bluebird."

Allan Louis, who brilliantly stepped into the role of Henry Higgins last season in MY FAIR LADY takes a sharp comic turn as Lord Evelyn Oakley. Stuffy and proper, he oozes comedy with his awkwardness, but let's loose retelling his back story in "The Gypsy In Me.'

Kristi Frank earns good laughs as the dim witted Erma Latour, although she is saddled with the weakest song in the score, "Buddie, Beware." Frank slank, strutted, and charmed  her way into the arms of all the sailors, while looking deliciously tacky in her over the top outfits.

Shawn Wright as Elisha Whitney plays perfectly on type as the blustery Yale educated business man who makes his passes at Hope's mother Evangeline ( played with stuffiness and pomp by the very funny Sharry Flett). The ship's Captain and Purser are played by David Adams  and Jay Turvey respectively- and the two make much of the two small comedic parts.

Director and Choreographer Kimberly Rampersad understands the fluff needed to set this ship asail without too much emphasis on silliness. Along with Associate Choreographer Matt Alfano, the many dance numbers are handled adeptly by the full cast. The tapping in the title number surely incites excitement, while showcasing many of the individual dancers. Meanwhile, watching  Antonini and Irving dance up and down the spinning ship's staircases was thrilling in "You're The Top."  "Blow, Gabriel Blow" was brilliantly staged with just the right amount of pure evangelist showmanship.

Sets and Costumes by Cory Sincennes are finely evocative of the Art Deco era, with lovely graceful lines and lighting that anchored the action in 1934. The huge number of costumes were always classy and flattering, from deckware to evening gowns and formalware.

Music Director Paul Sportelli leads a pitch perfect orchestra that swings with those 1930's rhythms  and swells with the sounds of lush ballroom dancing. 

The original book by P.G. Wodehouse, Guy Bolton, Howard Lindsay and Russell Crouse has been altered numerous times. The most recent book by Timothy Crouse and John Weidman retains much of the original, like getting "a kick from cocaine,"  but having to ax some politically incorrect stereotypical Chinese characters in place of a  few more con men. This resulting finale, while adequate and tidy, definitely is not as comical as the original, but all ends well and as the title  lyrics say "In olden days a glimpse of stocking was looked on as something shocking, but now God knows, ANYTHING GOES!"

ANYTHING GOES plays at the Festival Theatre of the Shaw Festival in Niagara on the Lake through October 4, 2025.  Contact shawfest.com for more information.