All aboard for the Theatre Group at Santa Barbara City College’s production of Anything Goes, a show that brings the charm of the classic American musical to the Garvin stage. Written by creative teams P.G. Wodehouse and Guy Bolton and Howard Lindsay and Russel Crouse (with an updated book by Timothy Crouse and John Weidman), and directed by Katie Laris, Anything Goes revels in jazz-age merriment aboard the S.S. American. The show gives camp on the high seas with a massive cast of delightfully hammy sailors, ne’re-do-wells, and nightclub singers, all of whom lean hard into 1930s-era Americana.
Popular N.Y.C. nightclub vixen Reno Sweeney (Atalia Zahrndt) is in love with Billy Crocker (Sam Malone), who’s chasing after Hope Harcourt (Kaitlyn Diffenderfer), a debutant trapped in a loveless engagement to British nobility. Shake that up with ridiculous disguises, ham-fisted mobsters, silly sailors looking for a good time with a flirty moll, and music by Cole Porter, and Anything Goes is a breezy summer cocktail with a happily-ever-after chaser.
While the dancing is a bit uneven, the vocals are crisp and the overall zany mood is engaging. Zahrndt is a lovable centerpiece as Sweeney, with audacious “independent-broad” energy and a jazzy vocal style that suits the role. And while this show isn’t deeply concerned with social commentary, we do get an interesting comparison in female tropes, with Sweeney playing against Diffenderfer’s Harcourt, an example of a more obedient female type who’s softly raging against her function as a pawn-bride in a financially beneficial marriage.
Consistently funny Tiffany Story feels the fantasy as Erma (the Banche Devereaux of the sea) and Austin Escamilla steals scenes as goofy gangster Moonface Martin. Finally, Van Ryker and Fred Hunter are an unexpected highlight as Christian converts who, free from the watchful eye of their preacher, immediately revert to impish, swindling geezers causing background chaos.
See Anything Goes through July 25 on the SBCC campus. See theatregroupsbcc.com.
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