For those of us unable to escape the Chicago winter for sunnier skies, Porchlight Music Theatre offers us the opportunity to sail into its 29th season with a 90th anniversary production of Cole Porter’s nautical comedy “Anything Goes!”
Less a plot and more a bunch of comedic bits strung together loosely like a flapper’s jangly pearls, the story follows a luxury cruise ship’s stowaway who falls in love with and stalks his one-night stand who is betrothed to another man. Some criminals board the ship, too, and lead everyone on a wild goose chase! Some bawdy girls and sailors run around! There’s B-list celebrity worship and small dogs in handbags! Hijinks ensue, plots twist, and everything turns out just as you expect it. You aren’t coming to this show for surprises or deep thought.
What should bring you to the show are the funny characters, fantastic choreography and beautiful vocals.
Luke Nowakowski dazzles as leading man Billy Crocker, the head-over-heels paramour, delivering charm and lovely renditions of beloved classics like “Easy to Love” and “It’s De-Lovely.”
Emma Ogea plays Hope Harcourt, the recipient of Billy’s affection and gives a touchingly wistful rendition of “Goodbye, Little Dream, Goodbye.” Nowakowski and Ogea prance across the stage gracefully together in beautifully fluid dance sequences.
Hope’s betrothed Lord Evelyn Oakleigh is played by the hilarious Jackson Evans, who keeps the audience in stitches with his wiggly-wobbly take on the straightlaced Brit desperate for the opportunity to un-stiffen his upper lip.
Stealing the show as Reno, the dazzling and plucky evangelist/nightclub singer, is Megan Murphy, her megawatt charisma and powerful voice elevating the title number into an absolute showstopper. Her performance of “Blow, Gabriel, Blow” is an especially spectacular sequence whose excellence cannot be overstated. In all of her scenes, Murphy makes corny wisecracks funny and engaging, which is no easy feat for jokes originally written in 1934. She’s a consummate performer, sparkling in the spotlight and elevating everyone around her.
Rounding out the cast are the comic duo Erma and Moonface, played by Tafadzwa Diener and Steve McDonagh. The bawdy criminals causing mayhem among the passengers adds a welcome, heaping helping of comedy atop an already humor-packed cast. Diener’s boisterous entrances and exits make her an immediate audience favorite, and McDonagh’s silly depiction of a slightly soft gangster is outrageously fun. McDonagh’s solo in “Be Like The Bluebird” is at once ridiculous and sweet.
Anthony Whitaker as Elisha J. Whitney and Genevieve VenJohnson as Evangeline Harcourt are both satisfyingly ridiculous and pompous.
The entire cast is pitch-perfect, and the dancers are a powerhouse crew delivering 110% under the direction of choreographer Tammy Mader. The tap-dancing numbers are brilliantly executed, crackling with the special kind of excitement that only topnotch performers can bring. The cast’s dancing prowess is one of the top reasons to see this production.
Costume designer Rachel Boylan’s styles are beautifully tailored and sumptuous representations of the 1920s flapper era, and most importantly, they move gracefully with the dancers.
In 2022, an updated libretto was released that mercifully revised an older and more problematic script, but, for some reason, the updated version retains the especially cringe-worthy song “The Gypsy in Me.” Evans and Murphy give the song their all, and it’s a testament to their considerable talents that the second act doesn’t completely die from embarrassment in that moment.
Overall, the second act is quite thin, the story moving forward with perfunctory intention like chess pieces being pushed dispassionately across the board. The saving grace that elevates not only the act but the musical as a whole is the joy and chemistry among the different iterations of the various friend duos. When Reno and Moonface sing “Friendship,” it’s pretty hip. When Billy and Reno sing “You’re The Top,” it’s not a flop. When Erma and the sailors sing “Buddie Beware,” we give a care. When Evelyn and Reno sing “The Gypsy in Me,” (we cringe first), then say yippie?
If you’re looking for a great evening of fun, music, dance and laughter, “Anything Goes” should be one of the first stops on your winter theater cruise.
