By skyforbes 
Cole Porter’s Masterpiece Musical
Love and slapstick explode aboard a luxury liner! A limited release of the 2021 London production of Cole Porter’s timeless musical “Anything Goes.” A farce where singer Reno and a wanted criminal complicate stockbroker Billy’s love journey aboard the ship, where he stowed away to follow his lover. The casting only possible in theater and the fourth wall-breaking direction that draws in the audience explode! A masterpiece comedy packed with the magic of the stage, offering pure, unadulterated fun and laughter!
■Synopsis
1930s New York. Stockbroker Billy visits the SS American, about to set sail, to see off his boss heading to England. His friend, singer Rino, is also aboard, but Billy’s attention is drawn to the Harcourt mother and daughter traveling to England with her fiancé, Lord Oakley.
Billy had met the daughter, Hope Harcourt, just days before and believed he had fallen fatefully in love. To prevent Hope’s marriage, he decided to stay aboard the ship without a passport or ticket.
Also stowed away on this ship was Moonface, Public Enemy №13, disguised as a clergyman. Public Enemy №1, Snake Eyes, was also supposed to be aboard, but due to a mix-up, he apparently couldn’t board. Moonface gives Billy the ticket he had prepared.
The ship leaves port. Reno decides to support Billy’s love, but Hope, though loving Billy, says she cannot interrupt the marriage…
■Thoughts & Review
This musical, with lyrics and music by Cole Porter, is being screened as the opening production of “Shochiku Broadway Cinema 2025 Autumn.” Its premiere was in 1934, over 90 years ago. This screening features a recording of the 2021 London production, with Sutton Foster playing Reno, the same role she portrayed in the 2011 revival.
While “Anything Goes” has been adapted into films twice before, this version felt distinctly like a stage recording. To put it plainly, casting Elisha J. Whitney, Billy’s boss, and Hope Harcourt, Billy’s socialite sweetheart, as Black actors is a casting choice only permissible in a stage production.
No matter how absurd the comedy, film operates in the realm of realism. If a wealthy black Yale alumnus or a mother-daughter pair with a white mother and black daughter appeared in 1930s New York in a film, some explanation would likely be required. But on stage, it’s permissible without explanation. That’s the magic of theater.
Breaking the so-called “fourth wall” is also a form of metafiction only possible in theater. The fun comes from seeing Reno and Moonface, who sing and dance “Friendship,” start arguing onstage as actors playing roles, or having roses delivered from the orchestra pit when needed in another scene.
Similar attempts exist in film, but they often feel contrived and end up alienating the audience. Yet on stage, the fourth wall is shattered effortlessly in an instant, or slipped through with ease. How fascinating, how delightful!
The story’s core is Billy and Hope’s romance, but the lead, Reno, acts as the narrator and doesn’t directly participate. She should have had feelings for Billy, yet it’s a strange structure where it doesn’t even become a love triangle. It felt like a character tailor-made for Ethel Merman, who played this role in the original stage production and the film The Sea Is Pink (1936).
(Original Title: Anything Goes)
Theater: To-Geki
Distributor: Shochiku
2021 | 2 hours 18 minutes | UK | Color | 1.85 : 1
Official Website: https://broadwaycinema.jp/anything-goes
IMDb: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt16727778/
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