Hey "Anything Goes," You're the Top

What do you get when you put a love-sick Wall Street broker, a sophisticated debutante about to be married, an evangelist turned lounge singer, and a gangster in disguise on an ocean liner setting sail from New York for London? A topsy-turvy trip filled with love, laughter and lots of dancing.

The show begins in New York City as businessman and Yale graduate, Elisha Whitney (Jeremy Wallace), announces his trip aboard the S.S. "American" to London and his intention for his broker, Billy Crocker (Austin Rooney), to stay in New York and sell all the stock in his company. In very same scene the audience is introduced to Reno Sweeney (Katie Weber) who professes her love for Crocker in "I Get A Kick Out Of You." This was our first glimpse at Weber's spine-tingling riffs and lead-worthy singing that carried throughout the show.

As the story progresses, the audience members find themselves in a web of hilarious dramatic irony. On board, Crocker discovers that the very girl he has been dying to see, Hope Harcourt (Jessie Torrance), is about to sail off with her fiance Lord Evelyn Oakley (Dan Frank). The best accent award should definitely go to Dan Frank for his guffaw-worthy British accent and energetic dancing.

All the while, Whitney, unaware of Billy's presence on the ship, tries to win over the heart of Hope's mother Evangeline (Rachel Fagut). Then, as Billy is figuring a scheme to stow away aboard the ship, he runs into gangster Moonface Martin (Noah Kaplan) and his sassy sidekick Erma (Whitney Tracey) who help him to evade the ship's crew.

It is here that the audience is introduced to the hilarious facial expressions and genius comedic timing that embody Kaplan's performance throughout. The same can be said about Whitney Tracy and her knee-slapping manipulation of the sailors on board.

As the ship inches closer to London, the threesome of Billy, Moonface, and Reno scheme and plot to break-up Hope's engagement while staying hidden from the authorities on board. While finagling disguises, Rooney showed his keen ability to change outfits in a flash while maintaining a consistently brilliant performance.

In the end, their antics lead to some serious relationship switching; which plays into the title song "Anything Goes." The tapping section in "Anything Goes" was spectacular and spoke volumes of the high quality of show's choreography.

The best number by far was "Blow, Gabriel, Blow." As Katie praised the Lord, her flawless vocals wowed the audience. As the song chugged along, the excitement rose to a boil that got the audience on their feet during the final performance on Saturday night.

As Hope realized her love for Billy, the audience realized Torrance's beautiful tone and serious acting chops in "Goodbye, Little Dream, Goodbye." Torrance continued to stun in her beautiful duet with Rooney later in "All Through the Night."

Overall, the cast did a phenomenal job. In fact, I thought this surpassed West Side Story due to its witty combination of joyous music and hilarious banter that kept the audience out of their seats far past the final bows.