“Anything Goes” by Act One
Iveshead Theatre, Shepshed.

Now, when I was a lad, we never had theatres like this in our school. A fully functioning theatre with a deep stage, professional lighting and sound and an orchestra. A massive asset to the students who go to Iveshead School and are part of Act One.

Anyway, for those of you who don't know the story of "Anything Goes", here goes.....

The S. S. American is sailing between New York and England with a colourful group of passengers: Reno Sweeney, a popular nightclub singer and former evangelist, her pal Billy Crocker, a lovelorn Wall Street broker who has come aboard to try to win the favour of his beloved Hope Harcourt (who is engaged to another passenger, Sir Evelyn Oakleigh), and a second-rate conman named Moonface Martin, aka “Public Enemy #13.” Song, dance, and farcical antics are abound as Reno and Moonface try to help Billy win the love of his life.

Olivia Needham (Reno Sweeney) is feisty and determined as Reno. She is very engaging and can really deliver a song. her dancing ability is also excellent and she has some energetic dance routines to perform while singing, and she does this without looking the slightest bit out of breath.

Oliver Halford (Billy Crocker) is a natural. He looks comfortable on stage and makes a fine leading man,and for one so young, he has a really good voice., I think there was just one song that may have been not in the right range for him, but he delivered on everything he did. And you know my love of a good accent, well this young actor pulled off several in his role. Someone to look out for in the future.

Isabel Morris (Hope Harcourt) has a lovely chemistry with the two men in her on stage life. Her duet with Oli on "It's Delovely" was performed in true Broadway panache, setting the tone for the whole show.

Alex Leeson (Sir Evelyn Oakleigh), what can I say? Alex was just incredible in this part. His upper class accent was perfect and he really got into this part, even when the focus was not on him, he was still performing. He is a young actor who gets inside the character and acts with his whole body. He is going to be a wonderful character actor in the future. One of my highlight performers in this richly talented cast.

Will Savage (Moonface Martin), I could say ditto as above because Will has a really good ear for accents and his Noo Yoik/ Yonkers accent was spot on. He was great fun to watch work and has a good sense of comic timing.

Nicola Coles (Bonnie Mia /Mrs Wadsworth T. Harcourt) did make me smile as the overbearing, bossy mother, desperate for her daughter to marry Oakley.

Kyle Cornwell (Elisha J Whitney) is also a really good character actor in his part as Billy's boss.

Ryan Moreland (Captain Of The SS American) and Noah Baguley (Purser) looked great in their roles and showed just the right level of authority in carrying them out.

Reno's backing ladies, The Angels were played by Katie Ince, (Melody), Millie-Mae Clarke (Harmony), Josie Ince (Symphony) and Scarlett Robinson (Rhapsody), and a lovely harmonic quartet they were too.

The Chinese Converts Ching and Ling were played by Charlotte Coles and AlicePowell., Bishop Henry T Dobson was played by Ryan Moreland, the sailors by Freya Lakin, Georgia Brierley Smith, Jessica Robinson and Lydia Bird.

Reporters & Passengers were Lily-Mae Dunnicliffe, Sophie York, Toby Ashurst and Yasmin Wilbram and the other passengers: by Charlotte-Grace Davis, Ellie Freer, Grace Burton, Gracie Collins & Leah Leslie.

An absolutely delovely cast and ensemble who really rocked the theatre with the large dance numbers, especially the amazingly good tap section.

Produced and Directed by Adrian Dobson, and you can really tell the passion that Adrian has for these shows because of the end product. I am sure that he in immensely proud of everyone involved in this, not the easiest of musicals to perform, performance.

Musical Director is Hazel Needham, again someone who I'm sure is very happy with the end product she produces with the other eight members of her orchestra. The sound was spot on, complementing the young actors and singers perfectly.

The music is very tasty, filled with some of the best known Cole Porter songs "You're the Top", "It's Delovely", "Friendship" - another one of my highlights of this show and sung with brilliant humour by Oliver, Olivia and Will - "I Get A Kick Out Of You" - beautifully arranged and sung with such class by Olivia- "Anything Goes", "Let's Misbehave" - another comic highlight sung by Olivia and Alex - the mighty ensemble number "Blow Gabriel Blow"- and a brilliant vehicle for Will Savage's comedy "Be Like A Bluebird". You see it's packed with great songs, and there are more.

Choreographed by Wendy Spencer with help from Helen Starkey, Michelle White, Olivia Needham & Danni Starkey. the dance sections are not easy, although this crew make them look easy. They are classy and as I've already highlighted, the tap sections were just wonderful.

Costumes by Lorna North, and boy did they look great. From the classic 1930's suits for the men to the glamorous ladies outfits and the glitzy outfits for Hope, The Angels and Reno. This is one classy wardrobe!

The set design is by LAOS, Kevin Spencer, Joe Harrison & Olivia Needham, and again, very classy indeed, and was well manged by the stage crew in the scene changes.

Sound (James White) and Lighting (Charlie Kent) were, as usual wonderful, although there were just a few mic issues, but it's first night, they'll all be ironed out for the rest of the run I am sure.

The only thing that disappointed me was that there should have been a bigger audience to see this very classy musical and the talented cast. this also meant that some of the more subtle comedy was missed. This cast and crew deserved more.

“Anything Goes” is being performed at Iveshead Theatre until Saturday 2 February 2019, with a Saturday matinee at 2.30pm.