Anything Goes

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

For other uses, see Anything Goes (disambiguation).

Original Broadway Production
Anything Goes
Poster for original Broadway production
Music	Cole Porter
Lyrics	Cole Porter
Book	Guy Bolton and P.G. Wodehouse
Theatre	Alvin Theatre and 46th Street Theatre
Opened	November 21, 1934
Closed	November 16, 1935
Producer(s)	Vinton Freedley
Director	Howard Lindsay
Choreographer	Robert Alton
Scenic designer	Donald Oenslager
Originally starring	William Gaxton Ethel Merman Victor Moore

Anything Goes is a musical with music and lyrics by Cole Porter. The "book" was a collaborative effort by Guy Bolton, P.G. Wodehouse, Howard Lindsay and Russel Crouse. It introduced such songs as "You're the Top", "I Get a Kick Out of You" and "Anything Goes".

1 History
2 Synopsis
3 Songs and singers
4 Movie versions
5 On Television
6 In popular culture
7 Notes
8 External links

[edit] History

Anything Goes was based on an idea by a producer, Vinton Freedley, who was living on a boat in Panama, having left the USA to avoid his debts. He selected the writing team, and the star, Ethel Merman. As the show was in preparation, a passenger ship, the SS Morro Castle, burned and over 125 passengers perished. The plot, which concerned a mad bomber running loose on an ocean liner, was deemed insensitive, and the Bolton-Wodehouse book was almost entirely recreated by Lindsay and Crouse, who became lifelong writing partners.

According to theatre legend, the show's new title, along with the title number, was born from the haste with which the show was revamped: at a late night production meeting, an exasperated and over-worked member of the production team cried out "And just how in the hell are we going to end the first act?!" "At this point," responded one of the producers, being more helpful than he realized, "anything goes!!"

The resulting story concerned the shenanigans below decks on an ocean liner bound for London from New York. On board: an evangelizing nightclub singer, Reno Sweeney (played by Merman); a love-sick stowaway, Billy Crocker (played by William Gaxton); and a second-rate gangster on the lam, Moonface Martin (played by Victor Moore). The show opened at the Alvin Theatre, New York City, on 21 November 1934 and became the fourth longest-running musical of the 1930s.

In 1962, the script was revised to incorporate several of the changes from the movie versions. Most changes revolved around the previously minor character Erma, whose name was changed to Bonnie. This revision was also the first stage version of Anything Goes to incorporate "It's De-Lovely".

For the 1987 Broadway Revival, which starred Patti Lupone in the role of Reno Sweeney, John Weidman and Timothy Crouse (Russel's son) updated the book and re-ordered the musical numbers, borrowing Cole Porter pieces from other Porter shows, a practice which the composer often engaged in. This version was also mounted in London in 1989, at the Prince Edward Theatre with Elaine Paige in the role of Reno Sweeney (she was replaced for the last month or so of the run by Louise Gold).

The musical enjoyed a London revival in 2002 with the National Theatre's production, directed by Trevor Nunn. First staged at the Olivier Theatre, then transferring (2003) to the Theatre Royal Drury Lane, in the West End, it starred Sally Ann Triplett and John Barrowman.

[edit] Synopsis

Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow.

Billy Crocker, a young Wall Street broker, stows away on the S.S. American, in hopes of winning the heart of his beloved Hope Harcourt. His boss, Yale graduate Elisha J. Whitney, is also on board. He plans to relax before the tremendous sale of his own company's stock (or, in the 1962 version, to make an important business deal in England). Hope is on her way to England to be married to Sir Evelyn Oakleigh (Lord Evelyn Oakleigh in the 1987 version), a stuffy, hapless British nobleman. Stowing away with Billy are "Moonface" Martin, a gangster labeled "Public Enemy 13," and his friend Bonnie (originally named Erma); the two have disguised themselves as a minister and a missionary, respectively, after stranding the ship's real chaplain back at the port. On board, Crocker runs into his friend, nightclub singer Reno Sweeney, who resolves to help Billy win over Hope, to the dismay of Hope's mother, Mrs. Harcourt, who insists she marry Evelyn. Billy simultaneously learns the true identities of Moonface and Bonnie, and in exchange for his silence, they join the plot to break up Hope and Evelyn; as the show progresses, Hope, Evelyn, Billy, Reno, Elisha, Mrs. Harcourt, Bonnie, and Moonface all end up in a variety of compromising positions with members of the opposite sex.

[edit] Songs and singers

The songlist for the Original 1934 Edition:

Act I

"I Get a Kick Out of You" (Reno Sweeney & Billy Crocker)

"There's No Cure Like Travel/Bon Voyage" (Company)

"All Through the Night" (Billy Crocker & Hope Harcourt)

"There'll Always Be a Lady Fair" (Sailor Quartet)

"Where Are the Men?" (Bonnie Letour, Chief Officer & the Girls)

"You're the Top" (Reno Sweeney & Billy Crocker)

"Anything Goes" (Reno Sweeney, Sailor Quartet & Company)

Act II

"Public Enemy Number One" (Company)

"Blow, Gabriel, Blow" (Reno Sweeney & Company)

"Be Like The Bluebird" (Moonface Martin)

"All Through The Night (Reprise)" (Billy Crocker & Hope Harcourt)

"Buddie, Beware" (Reno Sweeney)

"The Gypsy In Me" (Hope Harcourt & the Girls)

1962 Off-Broadway Cast Recording

The songlist for the 1962 Revised Edition:

Act I

"You're the Top" (Reno Sweeney & Billy Crocker)

"Bon Voyage" (Company)

"It's De-Lovely" (Billy Crocker & Hope Harcourt)

"Heaven Hop" (Bonnie Letour)

"I Get A Kick Out Of You" (Reno Sweeney)

"Friendship" (Billy Crocker, Reno Sweeney & Moonface Martin)

"Anything Goes" (Reno Sweeney & Company)

Act II

"Public Enemy Number One" (Company)

"Let's Step Out" (Bonnie LeTour)

"Let's Misbehave" (Reno Sweeney & Sir Evelyn Oakleigh)

"Blow, Gabriel, Blow" (Reno Sweeney & Company)

"Be Like the Bluebird" (Moonface Martin)

"All Through the Night" (Billy Crocker & Hope Harcourt)

"Take Me Back to Manhattan" (Reno Sweeney & Her Angels)

The songlist for the 1987 Beaumont Revival Edition:

Act I

"I Get A Kick Out Of You" (Reno Sweeney)

"There's No Cure Like Travel" (Sailor & Girl)

"Bon Voyage" (Crew/Company)

"You're The Top" (Reno Sweeney & Billy Crocker)

"Easy To Love" (Billy Crocker)

"I Want To Row On The Crew"(Elisha J. Whitney)

"There'll Always Be A Lady Fair"(Sailor Quartet)

"Friendship" (Reno Sweeney & Moonface Martin)

"It's De-Lovely" (Billy Crocker & Hope Harcourt)

"Anything Goes" (Reno Sweeney & Company)

Act II

"Public Enemy Number One" (Company)

"Blow, Gabriel, Blow" (Reno Sweeney & Company)

"Goodbye, Little Dream, Goodbye" (Hope Harcourt)

"Be Like The Bluebird" (Moonface Martin)

"All Through The Night" (Billy Crocker, Hope Harcourt, & Sailor Quartet)

"The Gypsy In Me" (Lord Evelyn Oakleigh)

"Buddie, Beware" (Erma & Sailor Quartet)

"Finale - I Get A Kick Out Of You (Reprise)" (Company)

"Curtain Call - Anything Goes (Reprise)" (Company)

Both the 1962 revised edition and the 1987 Beaumont revival's performance rights are available through Tams-Witmark. The performance rights for the original 1934 edition are not available, but the 1987 Beaumont Revival is considered closer to the original script.

[edit] Movie versions

Lobby card for 1936 film version of Anything Goes with Ethel Merman and Bing Crosby

In 1936, Paramount Pictures turned Anything Goes into a movie musical. It starred Ethel Merman (again as Reno), with Bing Crosby in the (newly renamed) role of Billy Crockett. This movie version was most notable because it required some lyrical revisions to get Cole Porter's infamously saucy lyrics past the censor boards (only four of Porter's songs were kept in the movie: "Anything Goes, "I Get a Kick Out of You," "There'll Always Be a Lady Fair," and "You're the Top" — and all of them underwent substantial lyrical revision). Bing Crosby also threw his weight around behind the scenes, and wrestled four new songs from three new songwriters. Aside from "Moonburn," which sold records well for Crosby, most of the replacement score was forgettable. When Paramount sold the film to television, they retitled the movie Tops is the Limit, due to the fact that the 1956 film version of Anything Goes, also from Paramount, was then playing in theatres.

DVD of 1956 film version showing Mitzi Gaynor, Donald O'Connor, Bing Crosby and Zizi Jeanmaire

The book was drastically rewritten for the second film version, also by Paramount, released in 1956. Though this movie again starred Bing Crosby (whose character was once more renamed), Donald O'Connor, and comedian Phil Harris in a cameo, the new movie almost completely excised the rest of the characters, in favor of a totally new plot: showbiz partners Bill Benson (Crosby) and Ted Adams (O'Connor) some 20 years Crosby's junior, each travel to Paris to sign a dancer to star in their new show. The problem? There is only one role, and the men have unknowingly cast two dancers, Patsy Blair (Mitzi Gaynor) and Gaby Duval (Zizi Jeanmaire). It is up to the men to sort out their mess on the cruise back to America. The primary musical numbers ("Anything Goes", "You're the Top", "I Get a Kick Out of You", "It's De-Lovely" and "Blow, Gabriel, Blow") with updated arrangements appear in the film, while the lesser-known Porter songs were cut completely, and new songs, written by Jimmy Van Heusen and Sammy Cahn, were substituted. These substitutions ranged from the lively tap number by Donald O'Connor with bouncy children and as many bouncy balls ("You Can Bounce Right Back") to the crazy kitsch ("Second-hand Turban"). This version of Anything Goes was released on DVD in the fall of 2005. For full credited cast and crew see: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0048954/fullcredits

[edit] On Television

In 1954, Ethel Merman, at the age of fifty, reprised her role as Reno in a specially adapted television version of the musical, co-starring Frank Sinatra as the hero, now renamed Harry Dane, and Merman's good friend Bert Lahr (who had co-starred with her on Broadway in DuBarry Was a Lady) as Moonface Martin. This version was shown as an episode of the Colgate Comedy Hour, and has been preserved on kinescope. It has been reported that Merman and Sinatra did not really get along that well; this was the only time they worked together.

[edit] In popular culture

The song "Anything Goes" achieved a minor revival when it was used in the famous Monty Python's Flying Circus "Courtroom sketch". The Pythons also introduced a completely different song called "Anything Goes" by "the other Cole Porter". ("Anything goes in, anything goes out, fish, bananas, old pyjamas, mutton, beef and trout...")
One of the most widely-seen versions of the song Anything Goes is the opening scene of Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom, where Willie Scott (Kate Capshaw) sings the title song in Mandarin at a Shanghai club Indiana Jones (Harrison Ford) is visiting. The first part of the Mandarin lyrics is: ^[1]

Yi wang si-i wa ye kan dao

Xin li bian yao la jing bao jin tian zhi Dao

Anything goes.

In the play Dancing at Lughnasa by Brian Friel, the song "Anything Goes" plays on the radio in Act 2 and is then sung by Gerry Evans while dancing about in the back yard and lane. "In old times a glimpse of stocking, was looked on as something shocking...Now, Anything goes..." The song summarises the whole play- of times changing and the new world having an influence.
In the 1974 movie Blazing Saddles, "I Get a Kick Out of You" is performed comedically by Cleavon Little and the other actors portraying black railroad workers, complete with a full harmony arrangement.
In the Family Guy episode Saving Private Brian, the Sergeant trainer claims "Anything Goes" to be one of his most favorite shows. Also, in the episode Brian: Portrait of a Dog, Lois sings the first lines of the song "Anything Goes."
Lucy and Ethel sing "Friendship" in an episode of "I Love Lucy."