If you are interested in singing, dancing and high jinks galore, you do not want to miss Anything Goes, opening tonight at Concord High School.
“This show is a comedy,” the show’s director, Clint Klose, re-emphasized to students during rehearsal last week.
Cole Porter’s popular Anything Goes musical focuses on Billy Crocker, a young Wall Street broker, played by sophomore Daniel Desmond, and his friend Reno Sweeney, a nightclub singer, played by junior Eliza Richards.
Reno is headed for London on the S.S. American; she’s in love with Billy and asks him to come with her. He declines saying that he’s in love with someone else, the debutante Hope Harcourt (junior Gracie Kontak). Billy sees Reno and his boss, Elisha Whitney (Nathan Smith) off, as he is also on the ship for a business trip.
While saying goodbye, Billy discovers that Hope will also be on board headed to England with her fiance Lord Evelyn Oakleigh (senior Tyler Shore) and her mother Evangeline Harcourt (Katharie Demers).
Billy stows away on board with the help of the gangster Moonface Martin (Pablo Rubin), who is disguised as a minister.
Once the ship sets sail, there’s no turning back. On the voyage, there are several cases of mistaken identity, many tricks and plenty of zingers.
“It’s obviously a love story, but there’s so many twists and turns along the way,” Klose said.
It’s the story of a person who really wants to get married, but to the wrong person, he said. The way they get out of it is very entertaining.
The comedy lets the love story shine through, he added.
In the end, everything works out.
“It’s kind of crazy, but it has a happy ending,” said stage manager Annika Vinje. “It’s gonna be a fun time; there will be lots of laughs.”
Shore, who plays Evelyn Oakleigh, said the show is similar to other popular shows from the 1930s. It has a Vaudeville feel.
“These kids bring a fun energy to the show,” Klose said.
Though not the same group, many of the students in the Anything Goes cast recently won a state theater competition for their production of My Name is Asher Lev.
The top two teams from each state performed at the New England festival.
“It was great theater,” Klose said.
The program is yearly, but Concord participates biennially. The school was the state’s runner-up in 2014.
Klose said he was lucky to work with students who take theater seriously and some want to pursue it as a career. He said many of the performers in Anything Goes take private dance and music lessons. The students also act with the Peacock Players in Nashua, the Community Players of Concord, the Winnipesaukee Playhouse and RB Productions.
“They take their craft very seriously,” Klose said.
Christina White choreographed the show and presented challenging steps to the dancers and nondance students, he said.
Anything Goes will be accompanied by a live pit orchestra.
The show will run at 7 p.m. in the Concord High School auditorium Thursday, Friday and Saturday. Tickets to the show are $12 or $10 for students and seniors.