Cole Porter’s show gets ham and glam

KEN LORD

The Courier Mail

If opportunity is slow to knock, build a better door. Careers in theatre are rare. You’d have a better chance of winning Lotto, but even in a world of few opportunities, dreamers still dream.

Last week, about 70 dreamers, on stage as the Ocean Theatre Company, opened a production of Cole Porter’s infectious 53-year old musical, Anything Goes, at the Tivoli (Costin Street, The Valley). The choice of the show is hot. Anything Goes is entertainment gold. It’s ripe with Porter’s timeless classics (It’s De-lovely, I Get a Kick Out of You, All Though the Night, are three.)

Set on an ocean liner, it’s witty, bright and funny: There’s a cackle in EVERY line. Ocean Theatre is amateur-plus. No one gets a razoo, but that has little to do with commitment. This show has its non-pro hiccups: It’s technically unsure, and it struggles to shine through a budget thinner than a politician’s promises. But shine it does! The cast, in a mighty push to make the thing work, delivers a cruise that’s amateur bliss.

Anything Goes swamps its audience in a rollicking tidal wave: It’s Fawlty Towers at sea! Perseverance is the caffeine, and Porter’s music is the cream. Don’t blink through ANY of it, and take special notice of Vicki Burns-Dwyer, Bill Carr and Rhylee Nowell when you’re not smirking at the humorous antics of de-lovely Elspeth Peake, Jay Bowen, and Patrick Carswell in the lead roles.

This show is like licking and ice-cream in the sun: when it’s all gone, you can’t believe you were quick enough to get it all.

Until January 25. Take the cruise and have a giggle!