|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Anything Goes is a musical with music and lyrics by Cole Porter. The "book" was a collaborative effort by Guy Bolton, P.G. Wodehouse, Howard Lindsay and Russel Crouse. It introduced such songs as "You're the Top", "I Get a Kick Out of You" and "Anything Goes".
HistoryAnything Goes was based on an idea by a producer, Vinton Freedley, who was living on a boat in Panama, having left the USA to avoid his debts. He selected the writing team, and the star, Ethel Merman. As the show was in preparation, a passenger ship, the SS Morro Castle, burned and over 125 passengers perished. The plot, which concerned a mad bomber running loose on an ocean liner, was deemed insensitive, and the Bolton-Wodehouse book was almost entirely recreated by Lindsay and Crouse, who became lifelong writing partners.
The resulting story concerned the shenanigans below decks on an ocean liner bound for London from New York. On board: an evangelizing nightclub singer, Reno Sweeney (played by Merman); a love-sick stowaway, Billy Crocker (played by William Gaxton); and a second-rate gangster on the lam, Moonface Martin (played by Victor Moore). The show opened at the Alvin Theatre, New York City, on 21 November, 1934 and became the fourth longest-running musical of the 1930s. In 1962, the script was revised to incorporate several of the changes from the movie versions. Most changes revolved around the previously minor character Erma, whose name was changed to Bonnie. This revision was also the first stage version of Anything Goes to incorporate "It's De-Lovely". For the 1987 Broadway Revival, which starred Patti Lupone in the role of Reno Sweeney, John Weidman and Timothy Crouse (Russel's son) updated the book and re-ordered the musical numbers, borrowing Cole Porter pieces from other Porter shows, a practice which the composer often engaged in. This version was also mounted in London in 1989, at the Prince Edward Theatre with Elaine Paige in the role of Reno Sweeney (she was replaced for the last month or so of the run by Louise Gold).
SynopsisSpoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow.
Billy Crocker, a young Wall Street broker, stows away on the S.S. American, in hopes of winning the heart of his beloved Hope Harcourt. His boss, Yale graduate Elisha J. Whitney, is also on board. He plans to relax before the tremendous sale of his own company's stock (or, in the 1962 version, to make an important business deal in England). Hope is on her way to England to be married to Sir Evelyn Oakleigh (Lord Evelyn Oakleigh in the 1987 version), a stuffy, hapless British nobleman. Stowing away with Billy are "Moonface" Martin, a gangster labeled "Public Enemy 13," and his friend Bonnie (originally named Erma); the two have disguised themselves as a minister and a missionary, respectively, after stranding the ship's real chaplain back at the port. On board, Crocker runs into his friend, nightclub singer Reno Sweeney, who resolves to help Billy win over Hope, to the dismay of Hope's mother, Mrs. Harcourt, who insists she marry Evelyn. Billy simultaneously learns the true identities of Moonface and Bonnie, and in exchange for his silence, they join the plot to break up Hope and Evelyn; as the show progresses, Hope, Evelyn, Billy, Reno, Elisha, Mrs. Harcourt, Bonnie, and Moonface all end up in a variety of compromising positions with members of the opposite sex. Songs and singersThe songlist for the Original 1934 Edition:
Image:Anything Goes CD Cover.png 1962 Off-Broadway Cast Recording The songlist for the 1962 Revised Edition:
The songlist for the 1987 Beaumont Revival Edition:
Both the 1962 revised edition and the 1987 Beaumont revival's performance rights are available through Tams-Witmark. The performance rights for the original 1934 edition are not available, but the 1987 Beaumont Revival is considered closer to the original script. Movie versionsImage:Anything36.jpeg Lobby card for 1936 film version of Anything Goes with Ethel Merman and Bing Crosby In 1936, Paramount Pictures turned Anything Goes into a movie musical. It starred Ethel Merman (again as Reno), with Bing Crosby in the (newly renamed) role of Billy Crockett. This movie version was most notable because it required some lyrical revisions to get Cole Porter's infamously saucy lyrics past the censor boards (only four of Porter's songs were kept in the movie: "Anything Goes, "I Get a Kick Out of You," "There'll Always Be a Lady Fair," and "You're the Top" — and all of them underwent substantial lyrical revision). Bing Crosby also threw his weight around behind the scenes, and wrestled four new songs from three new songwriters. Aside from "Moonburn," which sold records well for Crosby, most of the replacement score was forgettable. When Paramount sold the film to television, they retitled the movie Tops is the Limit, due to the fact that the 1956 film version of Anything Goes, also from Paramount, was then playing in theatres. Image:Anything Goes.jpeg DVD of 1956 film version showing Mitzi Gaynor, Donald O'Connor, Bing Crosby and Zizi Jeanmaire The book was drastically rewritten for the second film version, also by Paramount, released in 1956. Though this movie again starred Bing Crosby (whose character was once more renamed), Donald O'Connor, and comedian Phil Harris in a cameo, the new movie almost completely excised the rest of the characters, in favor of a totally new plot: showbiz partners Bill Benson (Crosby) and Ted Adams (O'Connor) some 20 years Crosby's junior, each travel to Paris to sign a dancer to star in their new show. The problem? There is only one role, and the men have unknowingly cast two dancers, Patsy Blair (Mitzi Gaynor) and Gaby Duval (Zizi Jeanmaire). It is up to the men to sort out their mess on the cruise back to America. The primary musical numbers ("Anything Goes", "You're the Top", "I Get a Kick Out of You", "It's De-Lovely" and "Blow, Gabriel, Blow") with updated arrangements appear in the film, while the lesser-known Porter songs were cut completely, and new songs, written by Jimmy Van Heusen and Sammy Cahn, were substituted. These substitutions ranged from the lively tap number by Donald O'Connor with bouncy children and as many bouncy balls ("You Can Bounce Right Back") to the crazy kitsch ("Second-hand Turban"). This version of Anything Goes was released on DVD in the fall of 2005. For full credited cast and crew see: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0048954/fullcredits On TelevisionIn 1954, Ethel Merman, at the age of fifty, reprised her role as Reno in a specially adapted television version of the musical, co-starring Frank Sinatra as the hero, now renamed Harry Dane, and Merman's good friend Bert Lahr (who had co-starred with her on Broadway in DuBarry Was a Lady) as Moonface Martin. This version was shown as an episode of the Colgate Comedy Hour, and has been preserved on kinescope. It has been reported that Merman and Sinatra did not really get along that well; this was the only time they worked together. In popular culture
Notes
Sites |
Searched sites for "Anything Goes" |
|
No sites found. |
Sorry, no matching site records were found. |
Want your site listed here?
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Submit
your site |
 |
|
Relevant quality search results and fast easy navigation throughout the
different sections of the site, make Americola.com |
