New York Theatre Guide

Kristen Weyer

If you do nothing else in the next two weeks, you must go to Bellport and see Anything Goes at the Gateway Playhouse. It is sure to leave you wanting more. This barrel of laughs is a fabulous must-see! With the classic music and lyrics of Cole Porter, and a new book by Timothy Crouse and John Weidman, this version first appeared on Broadway in 1987. Styled almost perfectly after Derek McLane’s set design, and Martin Pakledinaz’s costuming from Broadway’s 2011 revival, Gateway’s production is a beautiful and smashing success.

This madcap comedy of impersonations, gangsters, and romance, takes place on a transatlantic ocean liner during a 1930s voyage from New York to England. Billy Crocker is in love, and not just with any girl. Oh no, Hope Harcourt is a high society debutante with a formidable mother and, unfortunately for Billy, an English Lord as a fiancé. Deciding to ignore these obstacles, as well as an order from his boss, Billy stows away on board in pursuit of the fair Hope. Hilarity ensues as with the help from his friend, singer Reno Sweeney, as he juggles trying to woo Hope, avoid the captain and his boss, and even becomes entangled with gangsters!

The cast is incredible, pure and simple. Voices ring out sharp and clear, jokes fly every which way never missing their mark, and feet fly and float across the stage. Andrea McArdle stars as the spunky Reno Sweeney with a fantastic blend of sweet and sassy wit. Her powerhouse voice fills the theater while perfectly portraying her character’s every emotion. The energy she exudes is infectious, not only for the show, but for the audience as well.

Sally Struthers is simply marvelous as Hope’s mother, Evangeline Harcourt. Her rather gold-digging character’s escapades elevate the humor on numerous occasions.

Josh Canfield’s performance as Billy Crocker is utterly impressive. His voice is smooth and strong, his dancing impeccable, and you’ll fall for his portrayal of Billy from the beginning.

Hope Harcourt is charmingly played by the lovely Patti-Lee Meringo, whose sweet voice rings out on multiple pleasurable moments.

Ian Knauer plays the awkward English fiancé, Lord Evelyn Oakleigh, to hilarious perfection.

Equally amusing is Steve Brady’s portrayal of Billy’s boss, Elisha Whitney, and his amorous antics.

Ray DeMattis is completely hysterical in his role of gangster Moonface Martin. From his gait, to his vocal inflection, his brilliant interpretation is a delight to watch.

Moonface’s accomplice, Erma, is excellently played by Mychal Phillips, while Seth Lerner is very funny as the Captain. The entire ensemble also does marvelously throughout the show, and not to be forgotten is Sally Struthers’ Cairn Terrier, Little Bradford T. Kenney, who plays the Harcourt’s dog Cheeky.

From director Jayme McDaniel and choreographer Jason Wise, to lighting designer Rev. Jose Santiago, sound designer Don Hanna and everyone in between, each production member deserves commendation for this wonderful show. The orchestra, under the expert conduction of Charlie Reuter, performed magnificently. A beautiful set, gorgeous costumes, and delightful choreography tie the diverting dialogue, and lovely music into one perfect package.

An ideal mix of slapstick, corny jokes and pure fun, with just the right amount of romance, Anything Goes should not be missed.

Running Time: Approximately 2 ½ hours including one 15 minute intermission.

Advisory: A few adult themed jokes and sexual references.

 

The Long Island Advance

Linda Leuzzi

 

“Anything Goes,” the Cole Porter songfest salute to love and madcap times, had two Broadway revivals, one with Patti Lupone, the other with Sutton Foster. You need a strong lead to carry off main character Reno Sweeney, that great gal who doesn’t apologize for her confidence or big heart. While Lupone and Foster triumphed in their roles, Andrea McArdle embodies the lead. Her soaring voice captures the sexy evangelist, a bit jaded but still hoping for love.

The Gateway debuted its season Wednesday night with this musical — and two Broadway stars, McArdle and Sally Struthers — that has a right to be beloved. The songs are timeless and witty, the story is shot with humor and the exquisite, joyful dancing on a luxury cruise liner challenges the audience to sit still. (We didn’t.)

So we bow to choreographer Jason Wise, who has staged numbers for many greats, and to the cast and ensemble, especially the sailors (wow, those leaps). Whether it’s a sweet romantic twirl and rhumba to “It’s De-Loverly” with Hope and Billy, played by Patti-Lee Meringo and Josh Canfield, or the full-blown production number with Reno Sweeney and the gang, the tap dancing and moves are rousers. Happily, there are a lot of them.

Struthers, that well-known actress who keeps getting better, if that’s possible, makes her third Gateway appearance. (Remember her swinging chandelier shenanigans in last year’s “Nice Work If You Can Get It”?) She plays Hope’s mother, Evangeline Harcourt, and wants to marry her off to a rich, nice-but-stuffy Englishman, Lord Evelyn Oakleigh, as the ship sails to London. Struthers is a pearl. Whether it’s a subtle inflection, a raised eyebrow or an emphasized phrase, she muscles a role into a memorable stage presence.

And she stars with her dog, Little Bradford T. Kenney as Cheeky, a well-behaved rescue.

Canfield mentioned in a previous interview that his character Billy would do anything to get Hope, even winding up as a stowaway on the ship she sails off on. His acting and singing — whether it’s “All Through the Night,” deliciously pining for his lover, or impersonating a Chinaman to ward off her impending marriage — is convincing, infused with humor and looks effortless. (It wasn’t. This cast had two weeks to get this swell show in place.) Meringo, with her beautiful voice, rises to the occasion as the luminous young debutante who can’t deny her attraction to young stockbroker Billy.

Other characters who sock it with verve include Erma (Mychal Phillips), who gets laughs from her first flat “A” as she murders the English language and vamps her sexuality, Moonface the gangster (played by Ray DeMattis), whose vices are hilarious rather than chilling, and Lord Evelyn (Ian Knauer), who surprises everyone when his gypsy comes out for Reno. The orchestra, conducted by Charlie Reuter, does a great job capturing the jazzy, fun spirit of the times.

This musical, produced in collaboration with the Ogunquit Playhouse, is set to play for the Maine audiences of that theatre after the Gateway run.

In the meantime, lucky us.

 

Newsday

Steve Parks

“Anything Goes” aptly describes the romantic havoc that animates the 1934 Cole Porter musical of the same name. But it also describes the messy creative process that kept evolving through the third Broadway revival in 2011. The show has six authors — not counting Porter. The first effort, by P.G. Wodehouse and Guy Bolton, was revised by Howard Lindsay and Russel Crouse after a fire aboard an ocean liner killed 138, rendering the bomb-scare plot element untenable. Timothy Crouse and John Weidman updated the libretto in 1987, bringing it substantially to its current form in the opening of The Gateway’s summer season.

The SS American is departing New York for England teeming with romantic complications that turn “Bon Voyage” into a farce medley. Nightclub diva Reno Sweeney has eyes for handsome Wall Street gofer Billy Crocker, who’s hopelessly smitten by Hope Harcourt, London-bound to marry Lord Evelyn Oakleigh to save Mama Evangeline from a life of mere affluence. Moonface Martin, con artist and Public Enemy No. 13, is onboard posing as a cleric. Meanwhile, Billy’s boss, a drunken Yalie codger (Steve Brady), orders him to sell stocks on which he’s received an insider tip. As no cellphones are available for the next half-century, this would require Billy to abandon ship — and Hope.

The havoc sorts itself out to an utterly predictable conclusion, but these banal diversions are so amusing in the hands of gifted comic performers — principally Ray DeMattis as Moonface — that we laugh out loud, even while grimacing, at the dumb jokes embroidering Porter’s lyrical antics, rhyming Fred Astaire with Camembert in “You’re the Top.”

Andrea McArdle as Reno applies her clarion voice, imitating a bugle on “Blow, Gabriel, Blow,” but also to the nimble title song. Sally Struthers as snooty Evangeline makes deft use of diamonds and a mink-ish stole as comic accessories, aided by her real-life pet dog, Bradford T. Kenney, making his stage debut. Josh Canfield as Billy brings requisite good looks to the role as well as disarming song-and-dance chops, while Patti-Lee Meringo’s Hope allows us to see what he sees in her. Ian Knauer as Hope’s fiancé nearly steals the show with his malapropisms.

Director Jayme McDaniel keeps the comic mayhem moving briskly to Jason Wise’s riveting tap-dance choreography and Charlie Reuter’s robust orchestra. They make us want to sail away aboard the SS American designed by Derek McLane.

 

Smithtown Matters

Jeb Ladouceur

Award-winning writer, Jeb Ladouceur is the author of eleven novels, and his theater and book reviews appear in several major L.I. publications. His newest book, THE GHOSTWRITERS, explores the bizarre relationship between the late Harper Lee and Truman Capote. It maintains that each actually wrote the other’s most famous work. Ladouceur’s revealing website is www.JebsBooks.com

Theater lovers are so fortunate here on Long Island! Not only do we have some of the most comfortable, best equipped, and accessible theaters imaginable (Engeman, Theatre Three, Star Playhouse, John Drew, Patchogue … the list goes on and on) but established show business legends frequently star in the performances staged at these classic venues.

The Gateway Playhouse in the quaint South Shore village of Bellport is a prime example of the phenomenon. The place is a sheer delight … a theatrical oasis in the peaceful and bucolic setting we prize.

In most rural areas of this country, to witness a singing-acting-dancing combo like Andrea McArdle and Sally Struthers, performing in a hit show by a composer of Cole Porter’s stature, one would have to pack up, make an hours-long trek to New York City, dodge near-lethal traffic, and shell out a few hundred bucks—not here.

We Long Islanders can treat ourselves to all the sophistication and glitz of the big city, and when the final curtain comes down on whatever star-studded production we’ve chosen, we simply applaud and head to a late dinner … confident that on another night we can repeat the process simply by driving twenty minutes in a different direction.

The Gateway’s current production of ‘Anything Goes’ with its corny, dated jokes and sight gags, is probably faithful to the original Cole Porter musical mounted on Broadway in 1934. In those days, story lines were mere vehicles to give performers a reason to burst into appropriate melodious lyrics. It was the music that was important. Porter himself called his ‘Anything Goes’score “perfect” featuring as it does, songs that have become standards like ‘I Get a Kick Out of You,’ ‘You’re the Top,’ ‘Easy To Love,’ ‘It’s De-lovely,’ and of course the great show-stopping title number.

And they’re all from the first act, folks!

It was a revelation to see how, like the great Judy Garland, Andrea McArdle (‘Reno Sweeney’) has evolved from the endearing child star who was the original ‘Annie,’ and has blossomed into an attractive, agile performer with a great big voice and free-and-easy stage presence to go with it. Similarly, Emmy Award winner Sally Struthers (All in the Family) brought back fond memories with her impeccable timing and comedic genius in the limited role of ‘Evangeline.’ One cannot take one’s eyes off of Struthers.

But the most rewarding part of the evening for this reviewer was the emergence as an A-number-one star of Josh Canfield. He’s the male lead, ‘Billy Crocker.’ Make a note, this young man is the real deal! He has a beautiful, wide-ranging singing voice … and he dances up a storm, whether waltzing or performing a buck-and-wing. What’s more, Canfield’s spoken pacing is impeccable. He pulls off the near-impossible task of keeping the often tedious story moving along … something that must be seen (and heard) to be believed.

Director Jayme McDaniel obviously must be credited for keeping Canfield and the rest of his charges on an even keel, but he probably could have chopped half the insipid dialogue from this otherwise nifty show and thereby improved it by a factor of two.

Derek McLane’s vast ‘ocean liner’ set, Jose Santiago’s impressive lighting, and the attractive period costumes by Martin Pakledinaz are all what we have come to expect of Long Island mainstage productions. Particularly satisfying, however, was Don Hanna’s Sound Design. Call me a purist, but I am always distracted by the obvious presence of microphones visible on the faces of stage actors. In ‘Anything Goes,’ not once did I spot a mic … and the sound levels were spot-on … the best I have witnessed in years!

In sum, The Gateway’s current production is a fitting tribute to Cole Porter’s inexhaustibly witty rhymes (‘The world has gone mad today—and good’s bad today—and black’s white today—and day’s night today…’) and his toe tapping melodies—even if the four guys who wrote the book might have been three too many.

 

Dan's Papers

Genevieve Horsburgh

“Gateway Playhouse has kicked off its season with the delightfully entertaining romp Anything Goes. Set on a ship bound to New York from London, Anything Goes provides fun and antics that will have you laughing out loud!

The story follows a young broker on Wall Street, Billy Crocker (played by the adorable Josh Canfield), who fancies himself in love with heiress Hope Harcourt (played by Patti-Lee Meringo). He stows away on the ship Hope’s sailing on, with the help of some shady characters named Moonface Martin (Ray Demattis) and Erma (Mychal Philllips), to try and gain her affections.

The two would-be lovers have quite a few obstacles to overcome. Hope is engaged to Englishman Lord Evelyn Oakleigh (Ian Knauer) and chaperoned by her overbearing, melodramatic mother, Evangeline Harcourt (Sally Struthers). Struthers entered the stage to thunderous applause and immediately the audience began laughing. Her timing is spot on, and she brings the hilarity of Evangeline to life.

Much like the planets revolve around the sun, the show and all its characters rotate around the vivacious nightclub singer, Reno Sweeney (Andrea McArdle). McArdle has an impressive résumé, most famously becoming the youngest actress ever to be nominated for a Tony Award for her performance as Annie in the original 1977 Broadway show. Since then she’s performed in some of the most notable theaters around the world, has played countless leading ladies, and now she’s lighting up the stage at the Gateway Playhouse. McArdle’s Reno is flashy, outspoken, a little crass, a little loose with the gentlemen, but she’s also got a vulnerable side—especially when it comes to Billy. And when she sings? It’s compelling and endearing. Her full, slightly raspy voice is committed to each note. She embodies her character.

Some recognizable, favorite numbers include “I Get a Kick Out of You,” sung by Reno to Billy. Although Billy feels only friendship toward Reno, it’s obvious that she wants more. You can’t help but feel sympathy for her. Billy and Reno’s other number, “You’re the Top,” is so darn cute your toes are likely to curl. Canfield as Billy has a soft-yet-strong timbre that’s mesmerizing, and McArdle is all sass and passion. Reno and Moonface, who’s a gangster disguised as a priest for much of the show, take on the tune “Friendship,” and their antics will have you giggling.

Hope and Billy share the ballad “It’s De-Lovely,” and it’s all that and more. Meringo, in the role of Hope, is sweet, soft and lovely, and she’s the perfect lady—quite the opposite of Reno. Yet the two seem to have forged a friendship when all is said and done. “Buddie Beware,” sung by Erma, is a bit raunchy, but a whole lot of fun. Phillips is hysterical as the brazen babe who makes no bones about who and what she is, to the delight of the sailors onboard the ship.

“Anything Goes” is the big, flashy, classic Broadway number. Tap shoes on point, the talented cast dances its way into your heart, putting on a spectacular number that will leave you breathless.

Summer is finally here and Gateway Playhouse is back, better than ever, delivering its first hit of the 2016 season!