Theatre Review - Anything Goes

Theatre Review

Anything Goes 

Curtain Call Theatre - San Leandro, CA

Reviewed By = Mauricio Segura

     Pack your bags and join Curtain Call Performing Arts in San Leandro, as they take you on a fun and laughter filled cruise aboard the S.S. American in their latest musical, Anything Goes. With the music and lyrics written by the legendary Cole Porter, paired together with an amazingly talented cast, you'll be swooning, tapping your feet, humming along and clutching your stomach due to relentless laughter.

     The entire hilariousness takes place on a cross-Atlantic cruise where you'll follow the antics of larger than life characters like Reno Sweeny, an ex-evangelist turned night club singer, who along with her entourage of “Angelic” back up singers will hit high notes (both musically and comedic) all evening long. American Heiress Hope Harcourt, her rather clueless fiance Sir Evelyn Oakleigh, and Hope's mother Mrs. Wadsworth T. Harcourt take the upper class up an endearingly funny notch. Elisha J. Whitney, a drunk and pompous Wall Street broker, and his on again off-again (mostly off) assitant Billy Crocker, who's love for Hope takes him to the wildest extremes of courting. Moonface Martin (aka Public Enemy Number 13 ), a more brilliant criminal in his own mind, and his trusty sidekick Bonnie's hijinks make for the best cruise you're going to take this year!

     No one performer runs away with the production as is sometimes the case. Each plays their parts to sheer perfection. Flawless line delivery, dancing, and singing throughout makes Anything Goes a pleasure to watch. Ivan Harding as Billy Crocker is astounding. He's charismatic, has a great voice, and a unique style of comedic body language reminiscent of the late great John Ritter. Greg Lynch as high class Brit Evelyn is sure to bring laughter every time he opens his mouth! His accent and line delivery is so smooth you forget the guy is acting the part. And speaking of accents, both Scott Alexander Ayers (Moonface) and Hanna Schultheis-Gerry's command of the hard Brooklyn way of talking alone is mind-blowingly funny. Special kudos to the band for their musical interpretation that would make Cole Porter himself tip his Fedora.

     The only thing that took away points from the performance is the acoustics of the theater. It's a relatively small theater, but I still believe the actors should be mic'd. Not that it was a regular occurrence, but there were instances where some lyrics were lost because of weak singing. Not bad singing, just weak in the way that they weren't loud enough to project above the music. This of coarse might be due to where you sit. A person sitting in dead center might be able to hear everything perfectly, while a person in the corner might miss a little from time to time. But again, microphones would solve this little problem, and improve the experience.

     All in all, Anything Goes is a splendid show that I highly recommend. San Leandro itself is beginning to boom in the entertainment department, and Curtain Call Performing Arts is one of those leading the pack. So do yourself a favor, get on out and watch a performance of Anything Goes. Bon Voyage! 

Rating = 4 out of 5 Golden Bridges

Title = Anything Goes
Genre = Musical

Theater/City = California Conservatory Theatre 

                           999 E. 14^th Street, San Leandro, CA 

Contact Phone = (510) 969-7735

Production Dates = Now through August 25, 2013 

Ticket Prices = $22 - $25 

Click Here For More Info & Tickets - - - > http://www.curtaincallperformingarts.org/