Anything Goes gave me one of the best nights in a theatre — ever.
An actual show at the theatre. Wow indeed.
Financially, theatre is unviable. Yet at the Barbican in London right now, it’s never looked so enticing, beautiful and well produced.
Helmed by three-time Tony-winning director Kathleen Marshall, Anything Goes is the real deal.
Cheeriness is contagious, folks.
It has been a long time coming, but Cole Porter’s Anything Goes is the biggest new musical to open since the lifting of social distancing curbs on July 19.
Felicity Kendal is genuinely hilarious and brilliantly camp in her non-singing role. Gary Wilmot is thoroughly entertaining – that man is kind of amazing – throughout and theatre legend Robert Lindsay is cleverly funny as Moonface Martin – America’s 13th Most Wanted Man.
He is perfectly matched by chipper and demure Broadway star Sutton Foster making her UK debut as Reno Sweeney, who gets to sing some of Porter’s greatest songs including I Get a Kick Out of You and Blow, Gabriel, Blow.
Reprising the role that won her a Tony Award a decade ago, from beginning to end Foster blazes through this feel-good show. She is full of jagged gestures.
The story is nautical farce, but this is inconsequential. Even if you have never seen the musical, you know the songs.
However, if your main anchor is being offended by everything, then you must stay at home. The source material can, obviously, feel jarringly out of date.
Basically, the gangsters are sex-crazed, women are leggy and there is a repressed aristocrat that sings about having ‘a bit of gypsy’ in him.
In fact, the lines leading into song The Gypsy in Me have been tweaked, thankfully.
Unworthy critics will fail to ruin the magic of a magnificent production like this. We all know that these glitzy shows are from another era.
The dancing here is exceptional. When did you last experience the truly awe-inspiring sight of two mid-show standing ovations?
Having said all that, this is a triumphant, world-class, rousing piece of musical theatre.
This magnificently starry production proves most captivating, while ultimately raising a toast to the redemptive power of theatre. It is pure escapism.
Basically, Anything Goes gave me one of the best nights in a theatre — ever.
