Court ties colours to mast in Anything Goes

ANYTHING GOES: Members of the cast at a dress rehearsal.

Relevant offers

The Court's annual summer musical has taken to the boards again, or rather it has been taken shipboard: onto the SS American, in fact, the transAtlantic liner on which Cole Porter set his Depression busting classic, Anything Goes.

And anything certainly does go. It may not be the ship of fools but it is the ship of zany antics as the loose, the lovelorn and the well-lubricated sail for England and try to unravel the complexities of their lives.

You would think the Roaring Twenties had never ended and, I guess, that is thrust of Cole Porter's intentions: to escape the here and now of the greatly depressed times of 1934 in which he wrote it.

The audience of our little depression in 2009 thoroughly enjoyed this escapist fantasy. With some very funny lines and, of course, some of the best songs from the American songbook in this musical, they could hardly do otherwise. Porter's lyrics are exquisite and the Court's performers delivered the songs in great style.

They danced the night away, too, in fabulous costumes on another terrific set from Tony Geddes.

The production took quite a while to get going, though, as the actors appeared to struggle early on to put their mark on the piece.

Once under full steam, we had a classic Court musical: all heart and energy, and plenty of real panache, with the tap-dancing finale delighting the audience.

The older hands on deck, like Steven Ray and Jude Gibson, showed their class as ever, and although they are too numerous to mention here, there were plenty of good performances all round. Even the dog barked on cue.

At the Court Theatre, 7.30pm. From November 21. Running time 2 hours 15 minutes. Reviewed by Alan Scott.

- © Fairfax NZ News