Date: Fri 18-Aug-1995

Publication: Bee

Author: SHANNO

Illustration: C

Location: A-8

Quick Words:

Anything-Goes-Porter-Richter

Full Text:

Theatre Review-

Old-Fashioned Contrivance Is Welcome, Because "Anything Goes"!

By Julie Stern

(with dropquote:)

`...the show is all but stolen by the comic drollery of Bruce Hanson as

Moonface and Dennis Martin as Sir Evelyn.'

DANBURY - It was freezing at Richter Park last Sunday night by the time the

second act rolled around of Cole Porter's romp, Anything Goes , but no one in

the audience minded a bit, both because it represented such a welcome change

in the weather, and because Brad Blake's large and talented assemblage of

performers was putting on such a splended rendition of the master's work.

When you get to hear such classics as "You're The Top," "It's Delovely,"

"Let's Do It," "I Get A Kick Out of You," "Blow, Gabriel Blow" and "Night and

Day," all packed into one performance, you don't even need a story to hold

them together, and admittedly, the plot of the show is contrived in the way

that musicals used to be:

The S.S. American is on a five-day voyage from New York to Southampton,

England. In the course of this crossing, the charming but penniless stowaway,

Billy Crocker, must win the lovely Hope Harcourt away from both her

overbearing mother, Mrs Wadsworth T. Harcourt, and her titled English fiance,

Sir Evelyn Oakleigh, with the help of the evangelizing nightclub queen, Reno

Sweeney, and his cabin mate, Moonface Martin, who, as Public Enemy Number 13,

is on the lam from the law and is therefore disguised as a missionary bishop.

Dominic Paolillo is both witty and energetic as Billy, in the manner of a

cross between Cary Grant and Donald O'Connor. Priscilla Squiers dominates the

stage with her presence as the hard-edged, but soft-hearted, Reno Sweeny.

Daryl Meyer, who plays Hope, is an actress who makes the most of her less

interesting part as ingenue. And the show is all but stolen by the comic

drollery of Bruce Hanson as Moonface and Dennis Martin as Sir Evelyn.

Fiona Crowley is wonderful as Moonface's ditzy moll, Bonnie, while Mark Garver

evokes memories of W.C. Fields as Billy's alcoholic employer, and Rhonda

Sipes, who handles the role of Mrs Harcourt, has a knockout singing voice that

stands out in a crowd.

Vincent E. Roca's sturdy nautical set, with its adjoining swinging doors,

allows for farcical coming and going, and the cast of 22 performers who double

as minor characters, sailors and passengers, provide plenty of spirited chorus

work. They can all sing, and they can all dance (I particularly liked the tap

dance numbers), and Joe Longo's costumes were a festival of eye-catching

color.

The weather pattern of too hot, followed by too wet, led to a low turnout on

the weekend we saw the show. This is a shame, because it is highly enjoyable

and definitely worth seeing. Hopefully, lots of people will realize this and

take advantage of the opportunity to see Anything Goes during this, the final

weekend of its run ( Anything Goes closes August 19).

You can rent a comfortable chair for $2, and you can buy coffee and hot

chocolate at the concession stand. Just remember: bring a sweater, and a hat,

and a jacket, and, if you like, a steamer rug, so that you can lie out under

the stars and feel like you're right up on deck with the players.

And there were no mosquitoes!