A VERY enthusiastic crowd watched the amazing Anything Goes at Droitwich’s Norbury Theatre where every applause, cheer and whoop was well-deserved by the extremely talented cast.
It centres on broker Billy Crocker stowing away on the cruise-liner SS American, with the help of singer Reno Sweeney, so he can be near the love of his life. The problem is she – Hope Harcourt – is engaged to Lord Evelyn and, bring gangster Moonface Martin into the mix, a laugh out loud romp ensues.
I have never known so many audience favourite characters in one show and between them, along with accomplished actors in supporting roles, they brought this script to life.
Among those favourites was Reno, expertly played by Joanna Hughes, from the timing of the lines and facial expressions to the pitch-perfect musical numbers and dancing). You could not help love Reno who always did right for the best outcomes for the other characters.
Poppy Savage as Hope and Francis Blincoe as Billy were great together – you found yourself willing him to get the girl and, likewise, her to get out of her potentially loveless marriage.
Their It’s Delovely duet at the end of act one and All Through the Night in the second half were exquisite – from the body language and chemistry to the vocals and choreography.
Hayley Gass perfectly portrayed another favourite – the tittering and, sometimes smug Erma and Melanie Brown as the melodramatic Evangeline Harcourt and Carl Paskin as Elisha Whitney also put in sound performances.
Matthew Jeffrey as the bumbling and hapless Americanophile Lord Evelyn got his fair share of laughs – especially during arguably the funniest scene of the evening – the dancing in The Gypsy In Me with Hughes.
The performance of the night though went to Keith Thompson as ‘lovable rogue’ gangster Moonface. He was hilarious every time he took centre stage – the American accent was perfect, as was his comic timing. He also nailed his solos and he and Hughes breaking the fourth wall during Friendship was another of the many highlights. As that character you get the feeling he could single-handedly host ‘An audience with….’ evening.
The choreography was lovely to watch with routines becoming more complex towards the end of the first half and going to another level in act two. Shout-out to Reno’s Showgirls – Lois Press, Julia Jones, Laura Ann and Erin Maiden.
The set was cleverly designed with the cabins being able to be rolled on with different sets inside them, the movable hand rails at the front of the stage and the orchestra at the back.
On the subject of the orchestra – everyone was faultless throughout on a very long and demanding score.
The production team have done a tremendous job bringing this massive musical to the stage.
Never mind ‘Anything Goes’ – ‘everything went right’ in this must-see production. Make sure you go and catch one of the final performances – at 2.30pm and 7.30pm on Saturday, June 24. Click here to book tickets and for more information.
