STAGE REVIEW
'Anything Goes' is fun, swank
By Joseph T. Rozmiarek
Advertiser Drama Critic
To celebrate the opening of its 90th season, Diamond Head Theatre reaches back for a 70-year-old Cole Porter musical and pumps it up with all the razzle-dazzle it deserves.
Where: Diamond Head Theatre When: 8 p.m. Thursdays-Saturdays, 4 p.m. Sundays, through Oct 10. Admission: $12 to $42 Information: 733-0274
"Anything Goes" is an admittedly silly story about a shipboard romance, wealth, social class, gangsters and revival preaching. It still works because the cardboard characters are fun, and most of the songs are nostalgic and uncomplicated. Add color, energy, and a stage full of tap dancers, and you have a socko evening.
'Anything Goes'
The show opened on Broadway in 1934 and takes place on a luxury liner sailing from New York to Southampton, England. Ethel Merman played the original central role of Reno Sweeney, a nightclub singer with a yen for a young Wall Street broker named Billy. Billy has stowed away to be near Hope Harcourt, a pretty socialite who is engaged to a British lord. Also on board is Moonface Martin, a gangster hiding from the law.
The loose plot is mostly filled with disguises and scheming as the mismatched couples try to sort out their romantic entanglements and avoid arrest before the ship reaches England. Primarily, the story line merely connects the dots between musical numbers — and there are plenty of songs and dances to enjoy.
Looking and sounding like a youngish Mae West, Stefanie Smart captures the role of Reno and explains her feelings for Billy with "I Get a Kick Out of You." It's a strong opening that Smart follows up with "You're the Top" a duet with Andrew Sakaguchi as Billy.
Sakaguchi has the necessary smooth, leading-man aplomb to stand up to Smart's larger-than-life Reno and to declare that his heart belongs to Hope — Melissa Dylan — who joins Sakaguchi on "Easy to Love". Reno finds momentary distraction and "Friendship" in a pathetically ingratiating Moonface — another in a long string of quirky character roles excellently essayed by Randl Ask.
And while Hope and Billy declare their feelings to be "De-lovely," director and choreographer John Rampage gets the entire ensemble on stage for the big tap dance number and title song to end Act 1.
Rampage proves again that he can fill the stage with big splashy routines, as the chorus punches out "Anything Goes" with smiles, confidence and enough electrical tap energy to power half of Honolulu.
Intermission is a good time to rest up and credit Alethea Train with unfaltering musical direction, Patrick Kelly with his two-story design for the ocean liner, and Karen Wolfe for beautiful costumes that add color and a posh period look.
Romantic repairing takes up much of Act Two, despite Dylan going a bit shrill and Sakaguchi turning into a moonstruck calf on "All Through the Night." Smart compensates with a blockbuster "Blow, Gabriel, Blow."
The finale reprise of "I Get A Kick Out of You" reminds us why "Anything Goes" is still an outstanding musical comedy. We don't have to think about it, just enjoy. And the Diamond Head production gives us plenty of opportunity to do just that.
