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Editorial Reviews

The 1989 London revival of Cole Porter's 1934 musical Anything Goes was the same production as the 1987 Broadway revival, employing the same revised libretto by Timothy Crouse and John Weidman; the same revised song list including interpolations such as "Friendship" and "It's De-Lovely"; the same new orchestrations of those songs by Michael Gibson; the same director, Jerry Zaks; and one of the same stars, Howard McGillin, as male romantic lead Billy Crocker. The cast album is also pretty much the same as the Broadway one -- it even has almost the same running time. The big difference, of course, is the casting. Here, British star Elaine Paige replaces Patti LuPone in the female lead role of evangelist-turned-nightclub singer Reno Sweeney, who gets to sing "I Get a Kick Out of You," "You're the Top" (with McGillin), "Friendship" (with Bernard Cribbins as Moonface Martin (aka Public Enemy Number 13), the title song, and "Blow, Gabriel, Blow." (In this version, "Buddie, Beware," originally one of Reno's numbers, is given to a minor character, Erma, played by Kathryn Evans.) Paige is unquestionably a star and she certainly gives the part her all. But most of the characters in Anything Goes are supposed to be Americans, and her American accent is inconsistent in a way typical of British actors; it's alternately overdone, relating to no specific region (a little cowboy here, a little gangster there), or simply absent. In Paige's case, she has particular trouble finishing off words ending in "r." In "Friendship," for example, "ever" keeps coming out "evah." At least she tries, however. Ashleigh Sendin, as the ingénue, Hope Harcourt, just gives up and sounds British most of the time. Cribbins isn't bad, but he seems to be auditioning for Guys and Dolls, unlike Broadway's Bill McCutcheon, who won a Tony for underplaying the part. McGillin stands out more than he did on Broadway, where he was overshadowed by LuPone. And Martin Turner has the easiest time of it, since his character, Lord Evelyn Oakleigh, is supposed to be British. The best of the lot is Evans, whose "Buddie, Beware" is a late triumph on the album. London theatergoers and Paige completists may want to own this album, but others looking for a recording of the 1987 revised version of Anything Goes should stick with the Broadway cast album. William Ruhlmann, All Music Guide

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