Anything
Goes was a great success, with packed audiences every night - we even had a
waiting list for tickets for the last three performances.The Story | The Cast & Production Team | Song List | Act 1 Photos | Act 2 Photos
Anything
Goes was a great success, with packed audiences every night - we even had a
waiting list for tickets for the last three performances.
Siobhan Mullin (Erma) and Eugene O'Hagan (Lord Oakley) were nominated as Best Comedienne and Best Comedian in the AIMS Awards.
Wall Street banker, Elisha Whitney, is meeting his assistant, Billy Crocker
at a New York bar to give him some important instructions to sell shares. Reno
Sweeney, evangelist turned nightclub singer, is in love with Billy but he is
interested in a girl named Hope. Reno tries to talk Billy into joining her on
the SS American but Billy just isn't interested. However, the next day he goes
to the ship with Whitney's passport.
The press are gathering to find out who is on board but the SS American has
failed to draw any big stars. The best the ship can offer is Hope Harcourt,
the American debutante, travelling with her fiancé, Lord Evelyn Oakley,
a wealthy Englishman. Her widowed mother, Evangeline is also there and renews
an old friendship with Whitney. Rev Dobson and two Chinese converts arrive but
the press care more about Reno and her four showgirls, the Angels.
Billy sees his long lost love, Hope and is heartbroken to hear her plans. As
he tries to talk to her, two F.B.I. agents force him to take them to the minister
who they believe is a gangster in disguise. Dobson is arrested while Moonface
Martin, the real Public Enemy #13, goes free. Moonface thanks Billy by giving
him Public Enemy #1's unused ticket. Unfortunately, Billy is mistaken for the
gangster and must disguise himself to stay out of jail and to hide from his
boss. He now tries to get Hope back.
Reno agrees to help Billy with Hope who has been left alone by a seasick Evelyn.
Moon also helps Billy, by stealing Whitney's glasses. Whitney spends the rest
of the trip in near blindness, even mixing up the Purser for his beloved Evangeline.
Old friends Moon and Reno decide to break up Evelyn and Hope. Reno fails to
seduce the Englishman but finds herself falling for his naïve charm.
Billy and Moon in a succession of poor disguises try to split up Hope and Evelyn.
But Billy is caught out and suspicion begins to fall on him. The Purser reveals
Billy to be Snake Eyes Johnson. The passengers are thrilled as this is a real
celebrity at last.
After the celebrations, Reno begins her nightclub act, calling for sins to
be confessed. Evelyn admits to everyone's surprise to a dalliance with a Chinese
girl many years ago. Reno encourages more confessions, so Billy admits why he
is on board. Billy and Moon are sent to the ship's brig where Moon tries to
cheer Billy up but only Hope can ends his depression. Evelyn is also in love
- with Reno - but feels obliged to fulfil his commitment to Hope.
The two Chinese converts have been running wild without supervision and are
thrown into the brig. Reno, Billy and Moon make a plan to ensure freedom and
bring about true love.
Erma has had a field day flirting with all the sailors but talks them out of their interest in marriage. Reno stops Hope and Evelyn's wedding, pretending to be Evelyn's Chinese lover, Plum Blossom. Whitney offers money to get rid of her but Hope plays along. She tells Evelyn to offer her to Plum Blossom's relative, who is Billy in disguise, to pay the debt of honour. Hope and Billy and Reno and Evelyn are together. However, Evangeline Harcourt is furious because she will not get Evelyn's money. Whitney offers to marry her and support her with his wealth. For a moment, this plan seems to fail when he realises he might be bankrupt due to being left with the stock Billy was supposed to sell. Thankfully, the value of this goes through the roof. Faced with the inevitable, Erma and Moon end up together and all four couples marry.