ALL ABOARD
An heiress, a stowaway and a gangster
The chandeliers have just been hung on stage and they add some old-time glamour and a sense of occasion as they herald the finishing touches before opening night.
Cast and crew from Palmerston North Boys’ High School start to wander in. Heads down, they claim their seats, check their phones and have banter with their friends.
A bit later the girls from down the road at Palmerston North Girls’ High School burst in. They look up at the stage and stop. Gasps of delight and high-pitched squeals resonate throughout the auditorium as they notice the stage lights catching the glass sparkle.
A student carrying a trumpet needs to get by and the wide-eyed girls dissipate. Chris Burton, head of drama at Boys’ High and the director of the past 21 shows, stands up and shouts for quiet. He gets it. The students think that Mr Burton is cool with his famously un-pc ways, but they also know that what he says goes. Even in a show called Anything Goes.
The quiet is soon replaced by the voice of Sally Darby, who alongside Carol Kellett Darby, sorts out all the costumes for the show and with dress rehearsals about to start, it’s time for a swift and stern reminder about trousers.
‘‘They don’t live on the floor – they live on a coat hanger and they need to be hung up. If you need a lesson in how to do that then go and ask Finn.’’
Finn Davidson is an old hand at school shows. He is a year 13 student and has been involved in all of the productions since he has been at high school. He has also been part of Centrepoint Theatre’s Basement Company and was in its community production of Lord of the Flies last year, as well as in
Chat Room, staged at the Dark Room. He knows how to hang up trousers.
‘‘I play Moonface Martin. He’s a gangster, public enemy No 13 and he’s snuck on board the ship with his side-kick Erma, his partner in crime. We are making our getaway to England, but everything goes wrong.’’
Moonface Martin’s story is just one of many in the show. Anything
Goes is staged on board an ocean liner bound from New York to London and it’s full of madcap tangents.
Billy Crocker is a stowaway in love with heiress Hope Harcourt, who is engaged to Lord Evelyn Oakleigh. Reno Sweeney is a nightclub singer who, along with Moonface Martin, helps Billy to win over Hope. There is swinging Cole Porter songs galore, tap dancing en masse and, of course, sparkling chandeliers and sumptuous 1930s style. It’s a wonderfully silly storyline with suitably outlandish characters.
Callum Crawley plays Billy Crocker, the loveable rogue who has eyes on Hope Harcourt. Crawley is in year 13 and is trying to balance out his rehearsal commitments as a lead role alongside his training as a top Formula First race car driver.
‘‘It’s a bit of a juggling act. It’s definitely a bit of a mix and certainly not the norm, but I like a broad mix and I enjoy all of it. It’s great fun.’’
He’s getting to add tap dancing to his list of talents and while he says it isn’t exactly his thing, he’s giving it a good go.
‘‘The choreographers do an amazing job of coming up with things that make us look good.’’
Anna Dombroski will help him do that too. She is a seasoned dancer and in Anything Goes she is stepping up into a leading role. Burton says the standard for the lead roles is always high, but that Anna has been having singing lessons and proved her worth in the auditions. She says being involved in Girls’ High’s choir Cantatrices has really helped her singing.
‘‘I have grown my singing and it’s been really cool having this part. It’s a new challenge, I guess, and it’s my last year, so that’s a good thing.’’
It will be Digby Werthmuller’s last one too. He plays Sir Evelyn Oakleigh and will miss it. He has taken every opportunity that he could to get on stage since he was in primary school and he says with a laugh that he has finally fulfilled a dream to tap dance.
‘‘I really wanted to do tap, but I lived out in the wops, so I couldn’t get to town. So, my mum was like how about you go to Feilding and do hip hop? And I said that’s nothing like tap, but OK, I’ll do it, and I think I lasted a week or two with learning how to be hip. But no, it wasn’t my thing. It turns out now that I am a useless tapper, so there you go.’’
But he can do a fantastic posh English accent and is loving the Cole Porter songs, so it’s all good.
‘‘Jazz, 1930s jazz, I love it. And my character, he’s posh on the outside, but when you turn the page, he’s a bit different than his front cover. There is a dark side.’’
Digby is whispering as the rehearsal starts and gets a dark side glare from Burton. The trumpet player has found his way on to stage now, stage manager Ben Funke has exited after making sure that everything is sorted, and there is back-stage bustle.
As long as they hang up their trousers and the chandeliers catch the light in just the right way,
Anything Goes will be another polished production from Burton and his 80-strong team of cast and crew.
‘‘Quiet down the back,’’ he hollers. ‘‘And, 1, 2, 3, sing.’’
Anything Goes is on at the Speirs Centre, Palmerston North Boys’ High School, from March 15 to 24.
‘‘My character, he’s posh on the outside, but when you turn the page, he’s a bit different than his front cover. There is a dark side.’’
Digby Werthmuller plays Sir Evelyn Oakleigh