Musical Review: Anything Goes

Theatre sails off and brings audience with them

Juniors+Matthew+Kennedy+and+Ana+Arthur+during+the+scene+%E2%80%98Public+Enemy+Number+One%E2%80%99.+In+this+scene+the+passengers+give+thanks+to+public+enemy+number+one%2C+Snake+Eyes+Johnson%2C+who+is+really+Billy+Crocker.

Ella Taurins

Juniors Matthew Kennedy and Ana Arthur during the scene ‘Public Enemy Number One’. In this scene the passengers give thanks to “public enemy number one,” Snake Eyes Johnson, who is really Billy Crocker.

by Kyle Gehman, Assistant Editor

The arts department put on the musical Anything Goes last week from Thursday to Sunday. Anything Goes had its debut in 1934 on Broadway and has continued to be performed for years. The performance gets 5/5 stars.

The story is about a Wall Street stockbroker named Billy Crocker, who was played by junior Evan Hays, and his desire to marry a girl he met in a taxi and has fallen in love with, Hope Harcourt, senior Annika Lowe. Unfortunately the girl is engaged to a wealthy Englishman Lord Evelyn Oakleigh, junior Carter Wiseman. Crocker’s boss Elisha Whitney, junior Nick Davila, has a business trip to London, England on the same boat as Hope and her fiance, a showgirl named Reno, senior Lynley Eilers, who loves Billy and Public Enemy #13 Moonface Martin, junior Matthew Kennedy. During the show we discover Hope really doesn’t love the Englishman, but her mother is pushing for the marriage because they need the money. At the same time Billy is trying to hide from the ship’s crew because they believe he is Public Enemy #1 and his boss who believes he is in New York doing his work. In a strange turn of events the Englishman, Lord Evelyn Oakleigh, marries Reno and Billy gets his wish and marries Hope.

The show is very easy to follow for the audience and very entertaining at the same time. The characters are so believable you wouldn’t believe they were the students that sit behind you in math, but are really ship captains, gangsters, and English lords. The best part about the entire show was the dancing and singing. The dances were so well choreographed it felt like you were seeing a Broadway performance. The singing had the same effect, the songs were very fun to hear and their voices were perfect.

There were so many things that made this musical great, the props, the acting, the singing, and the dancing are just the main ones. Theatres next performance is their UIL competition one act play, Picnic.