Anything Goes
25th - 29th November 2008

Music and lyrics by
Cole Porter

Original book by
PG Wodehouse & Guy Bolton 
& Howard Lindsay & Russell Crouse (1934)

Originally Staged by
Howard Lindsay

New book by
Timothy Crouse & John Weidman (1987)

The Team

Director - Lesley Bennett

Musical Director - Steve Bean

Choreographer - Gill Miller

Wardrobe - Chrissy Bright

Stage Manager - Jade Hamilton

Lighting - James Simpson

The Cast

Reno Sweeney - Amanda Miller
Erma - Corin Miller
Hope Harcourt - Hannah Smailes
Billy Crocker - Wayne Trice
Moonface Martin - Alex Murphy
Lord Evelyn Oakleigh - Derrick Cathie
Elisha Whitney - Ray Beaney
Mrs Harcourt - Briar Blake
Captain - Colin McGinnis
Purser - Adam Boniface
Luke - Paul Cohen
John - Simon
Church Minister - Bill Woodland
Angel/Dancer - Eugenie Dunster, Sarah Ioannou, Sue Reader & Vicky Terry

The Story

Act One
Billy Crocker, a young Wall Street broker, has fallen in love with a beautiful girl he met in a taxi. His boss, Elisha J. Whitney, is preparing to make a business deal and is going to travel to London aboard the S.S. "American". Evangelist turned nightclub singer Reno Sweeney will be traveling aboard the same ship. Even though Reno and Billy are just friends, she tells him "I Get A Kick Out Of You." Billy goes to the dock to bid "Bon Voyage" to his boss and Reno and glimpses the mysterious girl. She is heiress Hope Harcourt and, escorted by her mother, Mrs. Harcourt, is on her way to England with her fiancé Sir Evelyn Oakleigh, an attractive but stuffy and hapless British nobleman. Billy stows away on the ship in hopes of winning Hope's heart. "Moonface" Martin, a second-rate [gangster] labeled "Public Enemy 13", and his friend Bonnie (Erma in 1987) have disguised themselves as a minister and a missionary and innocently aided by Billy, board the ship under their assumed identities, stranding the ship's real chaplain back at the port. Moonface and Bonnie mistakenly leave behind their leader, "Snake Eyes" Johnson, Public Enemy 1.

To thank Billy, Bonnie and Moonface let him have Snake Eyes Johnson's passport and ticket without telling him to whom they belong. Billy convinces Sir Evelyn that he is quite seasick and when he goes below deck, Billy and Hope meet again and realize each has been thinking of the other "All Through The Night". Though Hope prefers Billy, she insists she must marry Evelyn, not revealing to Billy her family's company is in financial trouble and a marriage to Evelyn would promote a merger and save the company. The ship's crew gets a cable from New York saying that Public Enemy 1 is on board. Moonface admits his true identity to Billy and he and Bonnie conspire to disguise Billy as a crew member since he is now presumed to be Snake Eyes Johnson.

A quartet of sailors proclaim that "There'll Always Be a Lady Fair" waiting on shore for each of them. On deck, Bonnie proclaims, "Where Are the Men?," attracting a group of sailors. She returns to Billy and Moonface with a sailor suit.

Hope discusses her impending marriage with Evelyn and discovers that he is not particularly pleased with the engagement either. Billy asks Reno to help separate Evelyn and Hope, and she agrees. Billy and Reno declare to each other, "You're the Top". Reno flirts with Evelyn, who invites her for a drink in his cabin. She and Moon plot that Moon should burst into the cabin and discover Reno half-naked in Evelyn's arms, providing sufficient reason for breaking off the engagement. However, when Moon breaks into the room, machine gun in tow, he instead sees Reno fully-dressed and Evelyn nearly undressed. Moon tries to invent some indecent explanation for the situation, but Evelyn insists that he would be quite pleased by any rumor depicting him as a passionate lover, especially if Hope heard it. Moon admits that the plot has failed.

The crew has caught on to Billy's sailor disguise, and Moon and Reno create a new disguise for him from a stolen pair of trousers, a drunk's jacket, and hair cut from Mrs. Harcourt's Pomeranian and made into a beard. Reno tells Billy that Evelyn has kissed her, and she is sure she will be Lady Oakleigh soon since nowadays "Anything Goes". Mrs. Harcourt, recognizing her dog's hair, angrily pulls off Billy's beard and the crew and passengers realize he must be the wanted man. As Snake Eyes Johnson, Billy is an instant celebrity.

Act Two
Billy is honored by both crew and passengers as "Public Enemy Number One." He tells the Captain that Moon (who is still disguised as a minister) is helping him reform from his wicked ways. Moon is asked to lead a revival in the ship's lounge. The passengers confess their sins to the "Reverend", and Sir Evelyn admits to a one-night stand with a young Chinese woman. Hope is not impressed with Billy's charade, and to please her, he confesses to everyone that he is not really Snake Eyes Johnson. Moon attempts to compensate by revealing that he is not a minister; he is Public Enemy Number Thirteen. The captain sends them both to the brig. Reno then puts her evangelistic training to good use and, continuing the revival, leads the anthem "Blow, Gabriel, Blow".

Moon tries to cheer Billy up by urging him to "Be Like the Bluebird". Billy doubts he will ever see Hope again; he and Moon cannot leave their cell until they return to America. Their card-playing Chinese cellmates, who have been imprisoned for winning all the cash in third class, will be put ashore in England. Moon and Billy win their clothes in a game of strip poker.

Billy, Moon, and Reno show up at the Oakleigh estate in Chinese garb. Billy and Moon tell Oakleigh's uncle that they are the parents of "Plum Blossom" and threaten to publicize Evelyn's indescretion if he does not marry her. Uncle Oakleigh offers to buy them off and Moon gleefully accepts the cash, much to Billy and Reno's chagrin.

Billy and Reno find Hope and Evelyn, who are unhappy with the prospect of their matrimony. Hope declares that she wildly wants to marry Billy ("The Gypsy in Me"). Billy spots Whitney and finally learns that Evelyn and Hope's planned marriage is really an awkward business merger. Billy savvily knows that Uncle Oakleigh is manipulating them all; Hope's company is really worth millions and Billy informs Whitney of that fact. Whitney offers to buy the firm from Hope at an exorbitant price, and she accepts. The marriage is called off since a merger is now impossible. Billy and Hope get married, as do Reno and Evelyn. A cable from the U.S. government fixes Billy's passport problems and declares Moon "harmless". Moon indignantly pockets Oakleigh's check and refuses to return it.

(Synopsis sourced from Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anything_goes)