Croswell Opera House's 'Anything Goes' is big, splashy fun

ADRIAN — When it comes to the canon of music labeled the Great American Songbook, Cole Porter was as much responsible for its contents as anyone.

After all, a whole raft of tunes that became classics came from his creative genius. And many of his biggest hits are found in “Anything Goes,” his 1934 musical that’s now onstage at the Croswell Opera House.

“Anything Goes” is a glorious celebration of all that’s great about early-to-mid-20th century American musical theater, and the Croswell’s production of it is terrific on all levels. The tremendously talented cast sings and dances up a storm, the orchestra sounds fantastic, and the way the choreography and the staging unfold are both outstanding.

Playing the role of Reno Sweeney, Amber Woollcott anchors everything that’s going on around her and does it perfectly. She’s the full package as a triple-threat performer (actor, singer, dancer), and she’s solid and spot-on every time she’s on stage. Reno is one of those iconic roles in musical theater, and Woolcott most certainly does her character proud.

She’s also surrounded by a fine cast in the other main roles. Steven Kiss is superb as Billy Crocker, a role that seems right for him in so many ways. Besides the high level of acting talent he brings to it, songs like “Easy to Love” are a really nice showcase for his voice.

Steve Antalek is likewise perfectly cast as Moonface Martin. It’s a great role for him, and he carries it off with exactly the right attitude and comic timing.

Sydney Bramlett does a very fine job in the role of Hope Harcourt, and certainly brings her own nice vocal talents to songs like Hope’s showcase piece, “Goodbye, Little Dream, Goodbye.”

Hope’s fiance, Lord Evelyn Oakleigh, is played to the hilt by Joseph Ball, with all the eccentric goofiness the role requires. He’s a complete hoot as the fish-out-of-water Englishman who among other things is trying to learn American idioms and generally mangles them.

More: Croswell Opera House stages 'Anything Goes'

William E. McCloskey is also great fun as the equally eccentric and goofy Elisha Whitney, as is Mary Rumman as Hope’s mother Evangeline. Anjewel Lenoir lights up the stage as Erma LaTour.

Henry Seifried and Matthew Antalek as Spit and Dippy, Adam Baker as the Purser, and Ron Baumanis as the Captain are all really funny. And Reno’s “angels” — Purity, Chastity, Charity and Virtue — are nicely played by Emily Hribar, Aiyanna Fivecoat, Jessica Briggs and Logan Richardson.

Applause must go out to the chorus too, especially all the men who play sailors and sound terrific singing together.

Mark DiPietro, as he always does, puts his tremendous talents as a director to full-throttle use with this show. His vision for how to stage the production is first-rate, creating any number of really nice visuals, plenty of comic moments, and action that uses the stage and the cast members in interesting ways.

He’s one of those directors that can just always be counted on to make a show extraordinary, and he does it here too.

I also like Sarah Nowak’s choreography for this show a lot. The way, for example, that the dance starts out in “It’s De-Lovely” and then grows into something much larger — with a look and feel that’s very classic for a musical of its particular era — is really interesting (never mind that Hope’s dress, on opening night at least, left a trail of feathers across the stage).

And then there’s the Act I finale, which likewise begins small and then builds and builds into this massive, high-octane tap number. People in the opening-night audience not only cheered as it went on, but some even stood up and applauded while there was still half the number to go, and it’s totally understandable why because it’s a spectacular piece.

When it comes to all that great Cole Porter music in this show, vocal director Mandy Kruse has done a fine job of getting this cast to sound terrific. Music director Ray Novak, for his part, does a fine job leading a top-notch orchestra that gets to show its stuff right up onstage, instead of being hidden away in the pit. The ensemble — and it’s a pretty large one — looks like it’s the ship’s orchestra, which makes it all really organic and it works.

Doug Miller’s design for the S.S. American looks good and is really effective not only for the way characters move around the stage but also in the way scenes transition.

Huge kudos, too, for costumer Pam Krage’s tour de force job in outfitting such a large cast and doing so with some very nice pieces that really add to the show’s look.

For a production with the array of technical demands this show has — lighting, sound, getting people and things on and offstage — opening night went off almost, but not quite, without a hitch.

The Act I transition between Scene 2 and Scene 3 was kind of awkward, and later on an unheard first sound cue evoking off-stage skeet shooting made things confusing for a moment. And then there was the time that an entire section of the set got jammed up by the people moving it. But all that is pretty minor in the whole scheme of things, and easily fixed.

“Anything Goes” is one of those light, frothy, song-and-dance extravaganzas that used to be American musical theater’s bread and butter. By any measure, it’s a massive show that requires a lot of its cast, its orchestra, and its crew.

And the Croswell does it superbly. Its production is big, splashy, high-energy, puts a tremendous cast of singers and dancers on stage — and is just plain fun.

If you go 

WHAT: “Anything Goes” 

WHERE: Croswell Opera House, 129 E. Maumee St., Adrian 

WHEN: 2:30 p.m. Sunday, Aug. 14; 7:30 p.m. Thursday, Aug. 18; 7:30 p.m. Friday, Aug. 19; 2:30 and 7:30 p.m. Saturday, Aug. 20; 2:30 p.m. Sunday, Aug. 21 

TICKETS: $20-$40 

HOW TO ORDER: By calling 517-264-7469 or online at croswell.org 

This article originally appeared on The Daily Telegram: Croswell Opera House 'Anything Goes' review