The cast of “Anything Goes” from Porchlight Music Theatre, now playing through Feb. 25 at the Ruth Page Center for the Arts. (Liz Lauren)
To get straight to the point: Without a moment’s hesitation, the powers that be at Porchlight Music Theatre should invite a slew of heavyweight New York producers to Chicago to see its bravura production of “Anything Goes,” the classic 1934 Cole Porter musical. And without changing a single thing — from its sensational, multi-talented cast, to its superb band, to its outstanding direction and choreography and its expert design — some or all of those producers should immediately jump at the chance to bring this show directly to Broadway where it can serve as an ideal celebration of the musical’s 90th anniversary.
It might sound a bit cliched to say this, but they just don’t make many musicals like this one anymore. To begin with, there is the score, with both its music and lyrics by Porter and with one sensational song after another, almost all of which have become classics — from “I Get a Kick Out of You,” “You’re the Top” and “Easy to Love,” to “Friendship,” “It’s De-Lovely,” “Anything Goes” and “Blow, Gabriel, Blow.”
And then there is the show’s zany story about several notably mismatched couples with radically different personalities, all of whom ultimately end up finding their ideal partner on board a giant ocean liner that is traveling from New York to London. The original book, by P.G. Wodehouse and Guy Bolton, and Howard Lindsay and Russell Crouse (melded with a new book by Timothy Crouse and John Weidman), is full of snap, crackle and pop and with an ideal mix of sarcasm, role-playing and romance.
Driving all this is the wonderfully exuberant direction by Porchlight’s artistic director Michael Weber; the many terrific tap dance escapades choreographed by Tammy Mader (and expertly danced by a crew of sailors and others); and an absolutely stellar band (perched on a balcony overlooking the stage) that is led by conductor/pianist Linda Madonia (with superb music direction by Nick Sula). And deftly setting the scene is Jeffrey D. Kmiec’s clever ship design, Rachel Boylan’s terrific character-defining costumes, Max Maxin IV’s lighting and Matthew R. Chase’s impeccable sound design.
And now to the uniformly excellent 23-person cast. Front and center throughout the show, and with a truly larger-than-life personality, is Meghan Murphy, the dynamo singer, actress and dancer who plays the role of Reno Sweeney, the ship’s powerhouse cabaret performer who possesses a shrewd sense of sarcasm, a sensational voice and a galvanic dance style. The terrifically high-energy Murphy (who has performed throughout the world) is front and center much of the time. And while she entertains the passengers on the ship, she also gives a knockout, intensely demanding performance for the Porchlight audience.
(L to R) Steve McDonagh and Meghan Murphy in “Anything Goes” from Porchlight Music Theatre, now playing through Feb. 25 at the Ruth Page Center for the Arts. (Liz Lauren)
And she is not alone. Playing the role of Billy Crocker, a young Wall Street stockbroker, is Luke Nowakowski (in an ideally sung, wonderfully sensitive and winningly determined performance), who is supposed to remain in New York and oversee a major stock sale for his elderly, alcoholic, super-rich boss, Elisha J. Whitney (in a deft turn by Anthony Whitaker). But at the last minute, after spotting the lovely young debutante Hope Harcourt (played with ideal sensitivity by the altogether winning Emma Ogea), he decides to throw caution to the wind and become a stowaway on the ship. But things are not so simple because Hope is already engaged to marry the wealthy Lord Evelyn Oakleigh (the ideally zany Jackson Evans), a wildly eccentric Englishman who will save Hope and her mother, Evangeline (Genevieve VenJohnson), from their financial problems. However, no, as it turns out, love conquers all, and Billy and Hope secure their future together.
And there is more, including the criminal antics of Moonface Martin, Public Enemy No. 13 (ideally played by Steve McDonagh), and a pair of two young mischievous thieves (played by Gabriel Solis and Ciara Hickey).
I could go on and on about all this. But the truth is it will be far more fun if you just head to Porchlight and see the zany and at moments truly touching musical firsthand while tapping your feet to Cole Porter’s irresistible songs.
The Porchlight production of “Anything Goes” runs through Feb. 25 at the Ruth Page Center for the Arts, 1016 N. Dearborn St. For tickets, visit PorchlightMusicTheatre.org/Anything-Goes or call 773-777-9884.
And one last note: Just a reminder of the two other exceptional musical productions that arrived on Chicago-area stages in recent months. One was “Beautiful: The Carole King Musical” (at the Marriott Theatre in Lincolnshire, where the upcoming show will be “In the Heights,” by Lin-Manuel Miranda, of “Hamilton” fame, running Jan. 24-March 17). The other was the very likely Broadway-bound production of “A Wonderful World,” a new musical celebrating Louis Armstrong that was previewed by Broadway in Chicago.
Follow Hedy Weiss on Twitter: @HedyWeissCritic
