Delightful and de-lovely as ever aboard SS American...
Anything Goes (Barbican Theatre, London)
Verdict: It’s the top! ★★★★★
ABOUT 20 minutes into this joyous show, I stopped taking notes — because nothing sums it up better than the refrain from one of its famous numbers, ‘It’s delightful, it’s delicious, it’s de-lovely’.
After last year’s sellout and garlanded run (with nine Olivier nominations) followed by a nationwide tour, the SS American has now re-berthed at the Barbican with new principals under the direction of Kathleen Marshall (who also choreographed the show, revisiting her Tony awardwinning 2011 production).
Cole Porter’s musical — with a book part-written by P.G. Wodehouse — was a spirit-reviver in the Depression Era when it debuted on Broadway in 1934. Now, with a witty new book by Timothy Crouse and John Weidman, it’s the perfect post-pandemic pick-me-up.
The light-as-a-feather story concerns Billy Crocker (Samuel Edwards), who is in love with U.S. debutante Hope Harcourt (Nicole-Lily Baisden), who’s setting sail from New York to London on the SS American to marry English toff Lord Evelyn Oakleigh (Haydn Oakley).
Crocker stows away on the ship, using a number of daft disguises to avoid meeting his boss, Wall Street banker Elisha Whitney (Simon Callow), and Hope’s mother, Evangeline (Bonnie Langford). He enlists the help of nightclub singer Reno Sweeney (Kerry Ellis) and cuddly gangster Moonface Martin (Denis Lawson) to get his girl.
The jokes are delightfully lame (you’ll laugh anyway) but the energetic song-and-dance numbers are excellent; Anything Goes and Blow, Gabriel, Blow brought the audience to their feet. Mr Callow is clearly enjoying himself as self-important Yale man Whitney and Carly Mercedes Dyer (as gangster’s moll Erma) steals every scene she’s in, while Miss Ellis stands out in a very fine cast.
Derek McLane’s three-storey ocean liner set and Jon Morrell’s costumes both have a wow factor, while the band (under the tight direction of Mark Aspinall) add to the evening’s giddy fun.