Last year the school’s drama department wowed audiences with their spectacular performances in Annie and Pirates of Penzance (which mainstaged at the State Thespian Festival in the spring). This year they’re back with Anything Goes, a romantic comedy aboard a ship sailing from New York to England. This intricate love tale centers around several main characters, including Billy Crocker, a young Wall-Street broker; Reno Sweeney, a nightclub singer and ex-evangelist; Hope Harcourt, an American aristocrat; and Sir Evelyn Oakley, a conservative English gentleman who is Hope’s love interest. Billy Crocker, played by sophomore Owen Dee, has hopelessly fallen for Hope, played by senior Jessica Walters. Billy illegally boards the S.S. American in the hopes of sweeping her off her feet. “Moonface” Martin (senior Josh Bailey), a wanted criminal, and his accomplice, Bonnie, are also among those on the boat and have disguised themselves as missionaries.
The story takes an interesting twist as Reno decides to help Billy win over Hope, and Billy discovers the true identities of Bonnie and Moonface. The two crooks resolve to help him to keep him quiet, handing him the boarding pass of Snake Eyes, who they have mistakenly left behind. Soon the ship crew discovers that the criminals are onboard, and Billy must disguise himself in order to avoid capture. As the plot develops, these characters interweave, falling in and out of love with each other, creating a comical story that appeals to any audience.
“This was my very first play in high school,” said Lindsay Painter, who took on the role of cruel orphan matron Mrs. Hannigan in last year’s Annie, but will not be featured in this musical. “I’m excited to get to expose my students to the show,” said Painter. It’s fast-paced, it’s high-energy, the dance numbers are really impressive and the music’s catchy, so I think everyone will really enjoy it.”
The play features significant tap-dancing portions, for which the major cast members had to take several weeks of lessons.
“I’m glad I got this part, because it’s a new challenge,” said junior Jon-Paul Schaut, who will be playing Sir Evelyn Oakleigh. “He’s British, so my main priority is to get the accent down. I’ll probably be watching a lot of Harry Potter.”
The musical includes catchy numbers such as “I Get A Kick Out Of You”, “Bon Voyage”, and “Public Enemy Number One.” Also featured in this play are senior Natalie Foster as Reno Sweeney, senior Josh Bailey as Moonface Martin, and freshman Mattew Balkum as Elish J. Whitney. The cast of the show will rehearse six out of seven days a week. Needless to say, we can expect a great performance given the success Painter and company had with Pirates, which they took to the Florida Thespian Festival last year.
Opening night for Anything Goes will be October 25th at 7 p.m. in the auditorium. Other productions we can expect to see this year are Ring of Fire for One Acts in December, as well as a student-directed play The Diviners and a comedic Thirty-nine Steps next spring.
Nataly Capote / Chief Copy Editor
