When skeptics of musical theater say the form is outdated and corny, they’re inadvertently describing Anything Goes. This proudly square throwback is about as far from Hamilton’s relevance a production can get (even if, without the former, the latter probably wouldn’t exist). Characters, from gangster plebes to stately patricians, speak with an old-timey lilt. A convoluted plot of love and marriage by P.G. Wodehouse and Guy Bolton (updated by other writers through the years) merely cues the next song and dance number. Humor abounds, but every joke is a Vaudevillian groaner with a waka-waka punchline.
Though slightly less edgy than a dad in cargo shorts, the bright and brassy Anything Goes remains the platonic ideal of what would become the modern American musical. First produced in 1934, the show is escapist by design, ridiculous at every turn. Gigantic emotions balloon and burst. Exuberance goes to eleven during an early number, where it stays until curtain call.
Anything Goes was the kind of distraction America needed most during the Great Depression. Likewise, this dose of old-fashioned medicine arrives at Arena Stage at the best possible moment, given our anxiety-inducing political climate. And it still delivers the therapeutic goods.
Set on an ocean liner heading from New York City to London, Anything Goes is basically a maritime showcase of Cole Porter’s genius as a tunesmith and lyricist. A handful of these songs—“I Get a Kick Out of You,” “You’re the Top,” “It’s De-lovely,” “Anything Goes”—have become standards of the American Songbook, melodies other musicals secretly hum in the shower. When coupled with Parker Esse’s buoyant choreography and a cast that’s fully committed to daffy vignettes, these numbers can be exhilarating. The title showstopper, for example, ended the first act with a standing ovation, a rare outcome even from the friendliest audience.
Director and Arena artistic director Molly Smith takes a square, black-box stage and transforms it from a cocktail bar to a ship’s deck, a first-class cabin, the brig, and back again. Porter’s immortal songs and Esse’s clickety-clack steps are executed with flair by the show’s headliners, Corbin Bleu (of High School Musical fame) as a lovesick stowaway trying to win the heart of a debutante, and Soara-Joye Ross as sharp-tongued nightclub singer Reno Sweeney (capably filling the giant stilettos once worn by Ethel Merman, Patti LuPone, and Sutton Foster).
The SS American (hardy har har) sails eastward in choppy narrative waters throughout Anything Goes. The story concludes with its true destination: multiple weddings. The finale mirrors the musical it caps: It’s at once obvious, dubious, and joyous. It’s demonstrable. It’s debatable. It’s de-lovely.
Anything Goes runs at Arena Stage through December 23, tickets $51-$105. Runtime approximately 1 hour 45 minutes with intermission.
