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Complications ensue when swinging sophisticates and sassy socialites venture on a Trans-Atlantic journey in a Kelly Ward-directed production of
Cole Porter's classic boy-meets-girl tale.
In 1997, James Cameron’s epic “Titanic” was the toast of Hollywood, taking home Oscars and shattering box-office records.
With dandies and swells and sweethearts (oh my!), the film about romance on a Trans-Atlantic luxury liner captivated the public’s imagination.
But “Titanic” isn’t the only boy-pursues-girl-of-his-dreams yarn set on the high seas. More than 60 years earlier, Cole Porter’s classic musical-comedy “Anything Goes” made its New York debut on Broadway.
Because the course of true love seldom runs (or in this case, sails) smoothly, comic complications arise in this rambunctious play about the high jinks of passengers aboard the S.S. American bound for England.
As stowaway Billy Crocker competes with wealthy aristocrat Lord Oakleigh for the affections of his cherished Hope Harcourt, some of musical theater’s most-beloved songs are performed, including “You’re the Top,” “I Get A Kick Out of You,” “It’s De-Lovely” and the title song.
In its heyday, the on-stage antics were nearly eclipsed by the off-stage tribulations of getting the play into theaters. Based on a story by P.G Wodehouse and Guy Bolton, the original plot revolved around shipwrecked passengers stranded on an island.
Melodramatic in tone, the original script was trashed when fate intervened. The real-life S.S. Morro Castle ran aground off the coast of New Jersey, killing more than 130 people just as rehearsals began. Howard Lindsay and Russel Crouse completely revised the libretto and, with Porter’s original composition, created a timeless theatrical work.
Since its 1934 opening, the show has been seen by multitudes in numerous revivals in New York and London, a film version and two television adaptations. And yet the magic of the original endures.
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