During the performance of Anything Goes, characters Reno and the angels wave at the captain at the Ford Center at the University of Mississippi, Wednesday, Jan. 28, 2015. (DM Photo | Cady Herring)
If you were to walk down the Great White Way in New York City circa 1930, you would be hard-pressed not to notice one name appearing and reappearing on the theatre marquees: Cole Porter, a composer and lyricist who wrote some of the most recognizable literature of musical theatre during his time period. His works include such cornerstones of Broadway as “Paris,” “The Gay Divorcee,” “Jubilee,” and his most recognizable musical of them all—“Anything Goes.”
“Anything Goes” made its Broadway debut in 1934 and ran for 420 performances, securing it as the fourth-longest running musical of the 1930s. It has enjoyed two Broadway revivals and three West End runs. The latest Broadway revival of the musical, which opened with Broadway star Sutton Foster in the lead role, began in April of 2011 and closed in July of 2012 after 521 performances. During its year-and-a-bit run, the show and its cast and crew were nominated for a total of 9 Tony Awards. Such success easily paved the way for a national tour company, which opened its first performance in October 2012. On Wednesday, January 28, the national tour company made a stop in Oxford.
The show starred Emma Stratton as showgirl evangelist Reno Sweeney, who captured the stage in the first five minutes of the night and held it in capable hands for every minute of the performance. In a role made recently famous by the unparalleled Sutton Foster, Stratton did not fall into the common trap of emulating the Broadway starlet but brought a fresh wit and artless charm to the contradiction of a character. Her portrayal of the blonde and flawless singing were only rivaled by her spectacular dance skill, a necessity to any actress in a Cole Porter musical. Tap dancing is quickly becoming a lost art in the modern Broadway musical, but Porter’s shows have always featured tap-dancing sequences that entertain the ear and doubtlessly challenge the performers. Stratton strutted her way through two acts of meddling and scheming her way into the love lives of her fellow passengers aboard the S.S. American.
As Billy Crocker—the second of three central characters in the show–, Brian Krinsky can only be described as guileless and earnest. He perfectly played the love-struck Crocker, who stows away aboard the S.S. American to win the hand of a woman engaged to another. Krinsky portrayed well the boyish exuberance of a man so in love that he would do anything for his girl, and his counterpart lover Rachelle Rose Clark presented a lovely Hope Harcourt.
Clark’s character, Hope Harcourt, is a debutante unwillingly engaged to a British aristocrat—her mother hopes that the union will re-inflate their funds after a stock market crash left the family penniless. Clark was well-cast in looks and attitude; she played a mild but devoted young woman not quite sure of herself and her place in the world, and still under the wing of her mother. Unfortunately, the meekness of her character extended to her singing—while Porter gave Harcourt a gorgeous second-act solo, Clark’s voice seemed too wary and ill-controlled to do the soaring soprano notes full justice. However, the voices of her fellow castmates seemed to bolster her confidence, as she sang two attractive duets with Krinsky’s Crocker in the first act and she shone in company numbers.
The show was a marvelous addition to the Ford Center’s season; with Cole Porter, truly one cannot go wrong. The cast and crew put on a magnificent production. And, excitingly for the university community and Oxford, lead Emma Stratton had only good things to say about the few hours she spent here.
“Loved being in Mississippi! What a beautiful theatre!” Stratton said. The tour continues tomorrow in Columbus, Georgia.
