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Spoilers
And so, a month after my grand return to the London Theatre scene, I have found myself back in the shrine of British Musical Theatre - the West End. Well, sort of... This visit was to see possibly one of the most exciting productions of the year, the star-studded, limited-run, Barbican production of Cole Porter's Anything Goes.
I had never been to The Barbican before. It is in The City of London rather than the actual West End and is quite a distinctive building, if not just a smidgen confusing to navigate. A rather late entry to the Brutalist canon (1982, according to Wikipedia), mild renovation and beautifying efforts have shown how pleasant this form of architecture can be when given a bit of TLC and thought. As a Brummie, it does make one wonder if the former Library of Birmingham could have been improved. But I digress...
After a rather confusing quarter of an hour wandering the Barbican Estate's labyrinthine walkways, suspended a story above ground level, we eventually found The Barbican Centre. Even then, the establishment seemed keen to not let you know which bit was the theatre, possibly hoping you'd stray into the gift shop and buy several souvenirs as a way of convincing one of their Charon-esque staff members to guide you to the theatre proper.
Finally, sat in our seats, we awaited the overture to strike up with much anticipation. Often, we see shows which we have never seen before or attend a revival which has a unique selling point (e.g. a particular star, exciting director, novel concept). This had both aspects as pulls, and then some. Although I had seen Anything Goes previously, it had only been on the amateur circuit, and my wife had never seen it at all. Most important was the line-up. Alongside the delightful prospect of seeing Felicity Kendall and Gary Wilmot (again) on stage, the key role of Moonface Martin was to be played by the legendary Robert Lindsay. One of my favourite musicals is Me and My Girl, which Lindsay starred in the revival of in 1985. His London and Broadway cast recordings are wonderful and it is worth watching his performance at the 1986 Tony Awards to see how this 30s show took both the West End and Broadway by storm. Alongside the strengths of his portrayal, he is a master of working with an audience. Lindsay does few musicals, mostly sticking to plays, so I was ridiculously excited to catch him singing and dancing once more.
Then there was the lead. Originally, the show had been advertised with Megan Mullally starring as Reno Sweeney. Mullally is best known as Karen in Will and Grace, although she has made Broadway appearances. This was a nice cast addition, although Lindsay was the main pull. Then it was announced she had broken her ankle in rehearsals and was being replaced short notice - being replaced by.... Sutton Foster! I imagine if you are not quite such a Broadway aficionado as myself digital tumbleweed just rolled passed your eyes. To explain, Sutton Foster is possibly the biggest Broadway star of her generation. She has two Tony awards for Best Actress alongside another four nominations, and is an truly outstanding performer. As a sign of her stature, later this year she will be appearing in Broadway's big revival of the year, The Music Man, where she will be receiving equal billing with Hugh Jackman.
Anything Goes is a show I am fond of - it has a catalogue of classic Cole Porter numbers ('I Get a Kick Out of You', 'Easy to Love', 'Anything Goes' to name a few) and the script is suitably silly. Having only seen amateur versions before, I was led to believe it was a bit slow at points and rather 'ho-hum' compared to more recent shows. It turns out, if you take the show, throw in four big theatre stars and an incredibly tight cast, you have a very funny musical. Jokes, titterable at best, became laugh out loud moments. With speed of delivery, excellent comic timing, and a whirlwind of chaos abounding, the show kept us howling with laughter. Scenes received applause. Nay, Robert Lindsay strolling across the stage following a comical sound effect received applause. The dialogue was kept slick, the pace quick. The first half was an hour and a half, which came as a complete surprise to me when I checked my watch at the interval. Time does indeed fly when the cast is having fun.
And that possibly was one of the big successes of this production. It was not just that the cast had impeccable timing, its that they looked like they were having a hoot. Foster and Lindsay share a rather daft duet in Act One, 'Friendship', which they beamed their way through. They smirked and jostled on stage, leading Lindsay to cause Foster to corpse with a series of off-the-cuff jokes about her "being the understudy" and "making her big break". When they were very literally yanked off stage with a shepherd's crook the audience applauded with gusto, more for the shared moment of fun than for the merits of the song. Throughout, Foster, who won one of her Tonys for the 2011 Broadway revival of the same show, seemed relaxed in her West End debut, surrounded by a cast just happy to be back on stage, just happy to be making people laugh.
This is not to undermine the quality of the production. Far from it, the show itself was of extremely high quality. The musical performances were some of the finest I have enjoyed in the West End. Although very different, it shared a similar level of cast quality with last month's Come From Away. Every cast member held their own, every cast member brought everything they had to their role, whether they were playing Reno Sweeney or the First Mate. Samuel Edwards as Billy Crocker captured the essence of the 30s leading man, smoothly leaning into some of the best Porter ballads ('Easy to Love' and 'All Through the Night') with effortless ease. Nicole-Lily Baisden sang equally well, especially on the heart-wrenching 'Goodbye, Little Dream, Goodbye'. Yet the singer who really epitomised this level of quality was Haydn Oakly as Lord Evelyn Oakleigh (oddly enough). The role, in my memory, usually comes across as a bit dull and ends with an awkward song about being a gypsy that is often underwhelming. Here, though, Oakly, under Kathleen Marshall's sharp direction, turned this into an impressively sung number, complete with ridiculous tango, and ended with him flying off into the rafters on a hoist. He received one of the biggest rounds of applause of the afternoon.
It would be remiss not to conclude by discussing an aspect I was also excited about. Anything Goes has picked up a reputation over the years for its two production numbers, 'Anything Goes' and 'Blow, Gabriel, Blow'. In fact, Foster's dancing in both for the 2011 revival was widely lauded. We were not let down in London. The former is a dazzling tap number, sending the audience off to their interval drinks with a major buzz. The chorus were astonishing in their tapping. At the front was Foster bringing a Fred Astaire ease to her footwork. Her feet barely seemed to move, she smirked at the audience as this astounding routine progressed with such little effort. Act Two began with the latter, a New York cabaret style number, with hints of Busby Berkley thrown in for good measure alongside incredibly well designed light work. Another triumph that reignited the audience as they settled in for another hour. Both numbers, toe-tappers to the last note, ended with Foster finishing her dancing displays with a long, high belted note, cutting over the rest of the cast. There was no exaggeration to her performing prowess.
After the show, we began enthusing about what we had seen and what a fun afternoon it had been. We discussed how we had looked forward to seeing the stars advertised in a 'safe' show. I'm not certain we had expected to be quite so blown away by the whole production as much as we were. Whilst we began to touch on the greatness of Robert Lindsay and Sutton Foster, we realised we were lost again. It took about twenty minutes to find street level. With a sense of wry humour, we assumed, the Barbican architects had installed a statue of the minotaur by the ramp's exit.
Anything Goes
2021, Barbican Theatre, London
Director & Choreographer: Kathleen Marshall
Composer: Cole Porter
Librettist: Timothy Crouse & John Weidman, after Howard Lindsay & Russel Crouse, after P.G. Wodehouse & Guy Bolton
Cast: Sutton Foster, Robert Lindsay, Samuel Edwards, Nicole-Hope Baisden, Felicity Kendall, Gary Wilmot, Carly Mercedes Dyer, & Haydn Oakley
Currently running in London
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