Willows Theatre Presents ANYTHING GOES, 3/26-4/28

Cole Porter spends a month in Concord as the Willows Theatre Company presents Porter's best-known musical theatre work, Anything Goes. It's delightful, it's de-lovely, it's the bottom, it's the top, and it's filled with the songs that, like a glimpse of stocking, keep running through our heads in the best possible way.

Music and Lyrics are by Cole Porter, new book by Timothy Crouse and John Weidman. David Faustina swaps his Willows administrative hat for the director's chair as he oversees The Willows production. Musical direction is by Evan Alparone, Choreography by Staci Arriaga, and Vocal Direction by BranDon Adams.

The cast features Ashley Cowl*, Ryan Drummond*, Nicole Frydman, Eric Inman, Nancy Sale, and Thomas Theriot.

Anything Goes previews at the Willows Mainstage March 26-28, and opens Friday, March 30. The show runs through April 28. The Willows Mainstage is located at 1975 Diamond Boulevard (in The Willows Shopping Center) in Concord. Tickets $25-$30 at www.willowstheatre.org or 925-798-1300.

Cole Porter wrote both music and Lyrics for Anything Goes. The original book was a collaborative effort by Guy Bolton and P.G. Wodehouse, heavily revised by the team of Howard Lindsay and Russel Crouse. The story concerns madcap antics aboard an ocean liner bound from New York to London. Billy Crocker is a stowaway in love with heiress Hope Harcourt, who is engaged to Lord Evelyn Oakleigh. Nightclub singer Reno Sweeney and Public Enemy #13 Moonface Martin aid Billy in his quest to win Hope.

The musical introduced such songs as "Anything Goes", "You're the Top", and "I Get a Kick Out of You."

Since its 1934 Broadway debut, the musical has been revived several times in the United States and Britain and has been filmed twice. The Willows production follows the 1987 Broadway revival version, in which Timothy Crouse (Russel's son) and John Weidman updated the book and re-ordered the musical numbers, using Cole Porter songs from other Porter shows, a practice which the composer often engaged in.

Cast for the Willows Theatre production of Anything Goes:

Reno Sweeney…………………………..Nicole Frydman
Hope Harcourt……………………………Ashley Cowl*
Evangeline Harcourt………………….Nancy Sale
Lord Evelyn Oakleigh………………..Thomas Theriot
Billy Crocker……………………………..Eric Inman
Elisha Whitney…………………………..Steve Warnietz
Moonface Martin………………………..Ryan Drummond*
Erma…………………………………….Kristina Stasi
Purity (Reno's Angel)……………….. Nikki Nickerson
Chastity (Reno's Angel)…………….. Hannah Fournier
Charity (Reno's Angel)……………… Maggie Franks
Virtue (Reno's Angel)……………… Deborah Ashley
Luke…………………………………….Gabriel Holman
Joanne…………………………………Kathryn Han
Captain…………………………………Mike Green
Purser………………………………… Zac Schuman
Male Quartet…………………………..Matthew Provencal, Airik Rain, Trevor Moppin, Aris Roberson

Ensemble………………………… …Jax Franks, Julia Franks, Shaun Carroll* (Dance Captain), Danielle Morris, Emily Hunt, Jenny Angell, Lavale Williams-Davis, Justin Hunt

*Member, Actors Equity Association