Anything Goes

Reviewed by Holly Bartges

Turn actor, singer, dancer, Greg Price loose on the boards and anything goes. With a well of talent gushing full blast from a bottomless pit, Price out-comedies comedy. For one who is extremely hard on comedy, that’s spewing a mouthful, but a truthful mouthful. And anything goes.

Top row L to R: Mary McGroary as Purity, Christianna Sullins as Charity, Christine Paterson as Virtue, and Megan Delay as Chastity. Bottom row L to R: Troy Rintalla, Joey Kovach, Robert Hoppe, and Rob Costigan as sailors in the Country Dinner Playhouse production of Anything Goes playing through Nov. 14.

Rightfully so. Country Dinner PlayHouse opened last week with Cole Porter’s tap dancing extravaganza, Anything Goes. This production lives up to its name. Producer, director Paul Dwyer undoubtedly had his hands full keeping Price corralled within the limitations of the script. Without the limitations, Price could run the comedy gambit all night without repetition.

Dwyer’s own comedic timing allows him to know what works and what doesn’t, giving the fast-paced Porter musical its natural perimeter and sell-out quality production.

On a cruise ship in the 1930s, Anything Goes entangles a classic love triangle, gangsters, ministers, a prim and proper wanna be English mother, a cold fish fiancé, and a brassy nightclub diva hell bent for leather bound for London with her backup Angel Girls.

For the brassy nightclub diva Reno Sweeney, Country Dinner brought in Cyndi Neal to shine the glossy brazen devil may care singer. While initially, Neal produces the power to throw behind the brassy persona, the gloss on the brazen character loses some of its shine when her brassiness shows scuff marks in the diva’s powerhouse demeanor.

Surrounded by an exquisite cast of immense talent, nothing is lost to the potent thrust of the musical, which has to be one of the finest for which Country Dinner has dimmed the house lights.

There is some difficulty keeping the eyes off of Price who even with a stage topped with actors commands attention. He plays Moonface, a gangster, masquerading as Rev. Dr. Moon, who wiggles into every situation he can without trying.

Dr. Moon’s companion, Bonnie Latour, comes close to stealing the show a number of times with her powerful portrayal of a Doll’s dumb blond but smarter-than-you-think reality stunningly played by Brenda Faatz. She lights up the stage even in dim spots.

Scott Foster takes on puppy love smitten Billy Crocker for Hope Harcourt (Erica Hursh). He only met her once, but has fallen hopelessly in love with her, enough that he stows away on the ship. Hope engaged by arrangement to stuff shirt Sir Evelyn Oakleigh (Chris Keener) travels with her English royalty want-to-be mother, Mrs. Wadsworth T. Harcort, elegantly portrayed by Jan Giese. The well-defined characters weasel in and out of each other’s lives on a hilarious roller coaster ride.

The glue that sticks it all together is the chorus. Rob Costigan, Robert Hoppe, Troy Rintalla, Joey Kovach, and Kelly Schneider play the sailors and passengers. Reno’s angels: Purity, Chastity, Charity, and Virtue get kick and bounce from Mary McGroary, Megan Delay, Christianna Sullins, and Christine Paterson. While stars frequently get the lion’s share of attention, these par excellence singers/actors/dancers deserve huge kudos. They don’t take a back seat to anyone.

Choreographer Michael E. Gold shows his creative style of playing up the strengths of each of his dancers and in an anything goes fashion, he did it up brown. They shine. He shines.

Anything Goes is Delovely, a Kick, so go ahead Step Out, Misbehave, let Gabriel Blow All through the Night. As Price constantly raises the bar for comedy, so Anything Goes raises the bar of expectation for Country Dinner.