All aboard: Marriott Theatre takes on classic musical 'Anything Goes'

Ask any historian or die-hard theater fan to name “the quintessential Broadway musical of the 1930s,” and more often than not the answer will be “Anything Goes.”

And local audiences can revisit composer Cole Porter's 1934 screwball comedy in a revival at Marriott Theatre in Lincolnshire.

“It's got one of the best scores on the planet,” said “Anything Goes” director/choreographer Marc Robin. “I love this time period.”

The musical is set aboard a luxury Transatlantic ocean liner. The passengers include comic gangsters, a stowaway stockbroker, the young woman he loves, a brassy nightclub singer and a wealthy British lord.

So while some will argue that far more important musicals emerged during the Great Depression — such as George Gershwin's 1931 Pulitzer Prize-winning political satire “Of Thee I Sing” or his monumental 1935 folk opera “Porgy and Bess” — “Anything Goes” is really more emblematic of the shows and escapist entertainment of its era.

Among the musical's song standards are “I Get a Kick Out of You,” “You're the Top” and other songs like “It's De-Lovely” and “Friendship,” which were interpolated from other Porter shows into the 1987 Lincoln Center Theater script revision that the Marriott is using.

This is the first time that the Marriott has revived “Anything Goes” since 1991. That's also when Robin last staged the show, albeit for the long-gone Drury Lane Theatre in Evergreen Park.

Robin, acclaimed for his tap-dancing choreographic skills, says “Anything Goes” marks the 33rd Marriott show that he has helmed as both director and choreographer. He's happy to return, even though his main job nowadays is as artistic director of the Fulton Theatre in Lancaster, Pennsylvania.

“One of the things about the show that is deceiving is that people think of it as an enormous dance show,” said Robin, noting how there's really only one big tap dance number at the end of Act I with the title song and the big jazz number “Blow, Gabriel, Blow” at the top of Act II. “It's really a musical comedy. The writing of this play is fantastic — the situation comedy, the character actors and the principals in this production are amazing. We laugh eight hours a day rehearsing this.”

One thing that surprised Robin and his cast as they revisited “Anything Goes” was how up-to-date it seemed — particularly in how it mocks America's obsession with superficial celebrity culture. Indeed, one of the show's subplots involves how a notorious gangster gets lionized by the ship's star-crazed passengers.

“We still do that now,” Robin said. “We're about making celebrities about virtually anybody and, in this age of Facebook and social media, you can make a celebrity out of anybody.”

Another modern aspect of “Anything Goes” is its brassy leading lady: the supremely confident chanteuse Reno Sweeney. It's a role that actress Stephanie Binetti has always wanted to play. Reno is “unique,” Binetti said, especially for the era.

“They didn't write women like this. She's almost written like a leading man, and I think that's why she's so appealing to so many actresses,” Binetti said, citing role originator Ethel Merman and other Tony Award-winning stars like Patti LuPone and Sutton Foster.

“(Reno Sweeney) is 100 percent confident, she is straightforward, she doesn't balk to anyone and yet people love her,” Binetti said. “And she drives the ship — no pun intended.”

“Anything Goes”

<b>Location:</b> Marriott Theatre, 10 Marriott Drive, Lincolnshire, (847) 634-0200 or <a href="http://marriotttheatre.com">marriotttheatre.com</a>

<b>Showtimes:</b> In previews through Sunday, April 12; regular run is 1 and 8 p.m. Wednesday, 8 p.m. Thursday, 4 and 8 p.m. Saturday, 1 and 5 p.m. Sunday through May 31

<b>Tickets:</b> $50-$55; dinner and theater packages available