'Anything Goes' is final USU production

March 30, 2007 | Utah State Theatre presents the maritime musical Anything Goes as a song- and dance-filled finale of the 2007 production calendar at Utah State University.

With music and lyrics by Cole Porter, based on the book by Guy Bolton, P.G. Wodehouse, Howard Lindsay and Russel Crouse, this play introduced such songs as You're the Top, I Get a Kick Out of You and Anything Goes.

Utah State's production is set to run April 12-14 and 18-21 in the Morgan Theatre of the Chase Fine Arts Center. Curtain time is 7:30 p.m., with tickets available at the door prior to the performance or by calling the Spectrum Ticket Office at (435) 797-0305.

Tickets for Anything Goes, range from $7 to $10 for the general public, with free entrance for Utah State University students with a valid I.D.

Theatre arts department faculty member Artemis Preeshl is director and choreographer of Anything Goes. Setting for the play is the U.S.S. Morro during the play's original 1934 era.

"Sources of inspiration for Anything Goes include music, dance and acting styles of the era, including vaudeville, burlesque, jazz and blues," Preeshl said. "To authenticate the show, some early 19th century dances with African American roots, such as the Cakewalk, are incorporated into numbers. The Groucho Marx trucking walk is an older comic style, which brings us back to another era. Of course, the frothy formations in the show harken back to Ziegfeld Follies. At times, the dance style is lighter and more refined like Fred Astaire; at other times, the more athletic and earthy power of Gene Kelly informs the numbers."

In Anything Goes, Billy Crocker, a young Wall Street broker, stows away on the S.S. Morro, in hopes of winning the heart of his beloved Hope Harcourt. His boss, Yale graduate Elisha J. Whitney, is also on board and plans to relax before the tremendous sale of his own company's stock (or, in the 1962 version, to make an important business deal in England). Hope is on her way to England to be married to Sir Evelyn Oakleigh, a stuffy, hapless British nobleman. Stowing away with Billy are "Moonface" Martin, a gangster labeled "Public Enemy 13," and his friend, Erma (originally named Bonnie), who have disguised themselves as a reverend and a missionary, respectively, after stranding the ship's real reverend back at the port. On board, Crocker runs into his friend, nightclub singer Reno Sweeney, who resolves to help him win over Hope, to the dismay of Hope's mother, Mrs. Harcourt, who insists she marry Evelyn. Crocker simultaneously learns the true identities of Moonface and Erma, and in exchange for his silence, they join the plot to break up Hope and Evelyn. As the show progresses, Hope, Evelyn, Billy, Reno, Elisha, Mrs. Harcourt, Erma, and Moonface all end up in a variety of compromising positions with members of the opposite sex.

Preeshl said she wants to recapture an older style and atmosphere in Anything Goes.

"I aim to bring back the old-fashioned movie musical style in all its beauty and lightness, peppered with a grittiness of practical jokes that sometimes go too far," she said. "For those expecting to see the originally announced production Chicago, the era -- the 1930s -- is identical. The vaudeville, jazz and burlesque influence will still be part of the production."

For general inquiries about Anything Goes, call (435) 797-1500, or email gordonj@hass.usu.edu. Information is also available on the Utah State Theatre Web site at www.usu.edu/theatre.

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