The new production of the much-loved musical is directed by Michael Skelton, who says “there are so many jokes in the script already, but we’ve added some additional humour and it’s working!”
'Anything Goes' contains tap dancing, romantic escapades, gangsters and love triangles delivered through musical numbers and plenty of comedy. It follows the (mis)adventures of Reno Sweeney, Billy Crocker, Moonface Martine, Hope Harcourt and many others in an ocean liner as they set sail across the Atlantic.
The original production of the play goes back to 1934 on Broadway. Music and lyrics were written by Tony Award-winner Cole Porter and the original book was written by Guy Bolton and P.G. Wodehouse, which was later heavily revised by Howard Lindsay and Russel Crouse. The show was met with success, even more so for the 1987 and 2011 Broadway revivals, both of which won three Tony Awards, including Best Revival, and were nominated for many others.
Further to these productions, 'Anything Goes' has seen multiple West End productions in addition to national and regional revivals and tours, including Australia’s 2015 production.
The musical also saw various film adaptations, two of which famously starred Bing Crosby. A live television version also starred Frank Sinatra, who is famous for his covers of the musical’s songs. Many of the songs became hits outside of the play itself, including ‘I Get A Kick Out Of You’, ‘You’re The Top’, ‘It’s De-Lovely’ and of course the titular track ‘Anything Goes’. Other notable cover versions of the songs outside the play include Ella Fitzgerald, Melanie C, Barbra Streisand, Robbie Williams, and the titular track was included on Lady Gaga and Tony Bennett’s Grammy Award-winning album ‘Cheek To Cheek’.
All of these songs, along with many more will be included in the production of 'Anything Goes'.
