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Anything Goes STUDY GUIDE SETTING THE STAGE HELPFUL HINTS Arena Stage’s director of FOR THEATER AUDIENCES As an audience member at the theater, YOU are production, Joel Krause, shared part of the show! Just as you see and hear the about the construction of the set actors onstage, they can see and hear you in the audience. To help the performers do their best, for Anything Goes. please remember the following: ARENA’S PAGE Arrive at least 15 minutes early. “There are a lot of tap dancing Visit the restroom before the show starts. Sit in the exact seat on your ticket. Ask the GOLD STANDARD MUSICAL numbers in this show, which usher for help finding it. Before the show begins, turn off your phone, CONTENTS requires us to protect the surface of watch alarms and any other electronic devices. The Play the deck (stage). Tap shoes beat up If anything rings by accident, turn it off immediately. the surface. We are putting several Do not use your phone for texts, calls, games Meet the Composer or pictures. Historical Context: All Aboard! coats of a protective sealer on it to You cannot take pictures or make recordings in ANYTHING GOES Fichandler Stage make it a really hard surface.” the theater, even before or after the play. The World of the Musical There is no food allowed in the theater. Do not talk, whisper, sing or hum, unless invited From the Director’s Notebook “One of the design elements I find fascinating about this show is the process of by the performers to do so. making the railings for around the deck. All these pieces were custom bent by Keep your feet on the floor and off the seat in Three Big Questions front of you. hand in our shop. They started with steel that they ran through a bender multiple Avoid getting up during a show. If you must Resources leave, wait for a scene change and exit quietly times to match the curve they wanted. You can’t bend the metal too quickly and quickly. because it would strain the material, causing it to break and crack. So, with each Respond to the show; you can laugh, cry and gasp. However, don’t repeat lines out loud or run you make the bender tighter and tighter until you get the shape you want.” talk to the performers on stage. Be sure to applaud at the end! THE PLAY It’s the 1930s, and the S.S. American BY THE NUMBERS RESOURCES is about to set sail across the ON THE WEB Atlantic Ocean. “ Cole Wide Web” The Cole Porter Resource Anything Goes is a massive musical http://www.coleporter.org/ When he learns his love is aboard, production for all Arena Stage’s “ Comfort, Courtesy, Safety, Speed” lovestruck Billy Crocker stows shops. Here are some numbers Smithsonian National Museum of History https://tinyurl.com/atlantictravel away on the ship. Hope Harcourt from our costume shop: “ The History of Theater on Broadway” is heading off to London, where Octane Seating https://tinyurl.com/broadwayhistory she plans to marry the millionaire Cast: 21 artists and 2 dogs “ The Transatlantic Crossing” Norway-Heritage: Hands Across the Sea Lord Evelyn Oakleigh. With the help https://tinyurl.com/steamshiptravel of crew members and showgirls, Pairs of shoes: 62 “ The World Has Gone Mad Today” Billy attempts to win Hope’s heart, The Bad Boys of Musical Theatre Number of costumes: 80 https://tinyurl.com/agculture despite her determination to please MUSIC AND LYRICS BY COLE PORTER “ Welcome Aboard Atlantic Liners” her mother and remain loyal to the Atlantic Liners https://tinyurl.com/atlanticliners ORIGINAL BOOK BY P. G. WODEHOUSE AND GUY BOLTON Wigs: 15 marriage she has arranged for her. “ Writing a Show? Anything Goes!” AND HOWARD LINDSAY AND RUSSEL CROUSE Michael Kotze https://tinyurl.com/writingag Meanwhile, nightclub evangelist Amount of fabric: and gangster NEW BOOK BY TIMOTHY CROUSE AND JOHN WEIDMAN Reno Sweeney DIRECTED BY | CHOREOGRAPHY BY 300 yards (equivalent to Moonface (Public Enemy #13) also MOLLY SMITH PARKER ESSE scheme to prevent the marriage of MUSIC DIRECTION BY PAUL SPORTELLI 3 football fields) Hope and Evelyn. Their plans create more romantic dilemmas. FICHANDLER STAGE | NOVEMBER 2 — DECEMBER 23, 2018 Costume design by Alejo Vietti. The pursuit of love can get messy, especially aboard a ship with “In olden days a glimpse of stocking was looked on as such a lively crew and collection something shocking, but now, God knows, anything goes” 1101 Sixth Street SW of passengers. In a time when Washington, DC 20024 — Reno Sweeney, Anything Goes Phone: 202-554-9066 “anything goes,” what won’t people Fax: 202-488-4056 do for love? How does Why is How do Anything Goes is generously sponsored by , Written by Lauren Miller George and Duffy Ftikas, Margot Kelly, Hubert M. (Hank) Schlosberg and Sheila Stampfli. class affect the the name current events Edited by Rebecca Campana Choreography is sponsored by Virginia McGehee Friend. characters in “S.S. American” impact art? Visit www.arenastage.org for more The D.C. Ticket Partnership is generously sponsored by the Paul M. Angell Family Foundation. information on Arena Stage productions Additional support is provided by the DC Commission on the Arts and Humanities, the play? significant? and educational opportunities. The Bay & Paul Foundations, Rockwell Collins, and the Albert and Lillian Small Foundation. MEET THE PLAYWRIGHT HISTORICAL CONTEXT: FROM THE DIRECTOR’S NOTEBOOK ALL ABOARD! “ We’re in an ‘Anything Goes’ moment in America right now — where anybody can be whatever they want to be The first transatlantic steamship crossing was the S.S. Savannah in as long as you say you are. ‘I’m a gangster’— all right 1818. At first, steamships were used you are. ‘I’m a debutante’— all right — if you can fake it, primarily for immigration and trade. As ocean travel grew in speed and we will believe it. Mobsters walk amongst us and are safety, the wealthy were eager celebrated like kings. Masquerading — being someone to travel in luxury, opening a new market in leisure travel. Not having else — is the name of the game. Lying and manipulating to rely on the wind, steamships is just fine — because ‘Anything Goes’. You can become a could move at a rapid pace and Molly Smith cross the Atlantic Ocean in about millionaire in a day — as long as the scam works.” a week. While onboard, upper- COLE PORTER — Molly Smith, Arena Stage’s artistic director class passengers enjoyed smoking and the director of Anything Goes lounges and dining saloons. Cole Porter wrote over 1200 songs and The S.S. (short for “steam ship”) American in Anything Goes was is one of America’s most significant Anything Goes is a THE WORLD OF modeled after a famous ocean liner called the Mauretania, which songwriters. His songs include “Let’s Do It famous tap show. made over 54 crossings from 1923 to 1934. While the safety of (Let’s Fall in Love),” “I Get a Kick Out of You” Here, Parker Esse THE MUSICAL such travel was improving, there were also several ocean liner (choreographer) and “I’ve Got You Under My Skin.” His music tragedies during the era. and Corbin Bleu During the 1930s, America faced has been sung by Ella Fitzgerald, Frank (Billy Crocker) One month before rehearsals for the original production of Sinatra and Aretha Franklin. rehearse a number major shifts in its culture, economy Anything Goes were to begin, disaster struck the ocean liner S.S. in the rehearsal and government. When the Great Born in 1891, Porter showed an interest Morro Castle. It caught fire off the shores of New Jersey, killing hall. Esse says Depression began in 1929, the in music at age 6, learning how to play 135 crew members and passengers aboard the ship. that at times in the arts started to focus on comedy the piano and violin. He began writing The first version of Anything Goes included a bomb threat, show “feet become to brighten people’s mood during music when he was 10 and published his the instrument.” mischievous adventures on a desert island and a shipwreck. troubling times. Plays with happy first musical piece at the age of 11. While Audiences may After this tragedy, the producer, Vinton Freedley, decided the endings were in high demand. studying at Yale, Porter wrote musicals for remember Bleu show needed some changes — fast. He turned to Howard Lindsay Audiences loved Anything Goes for the university’s clubs and organizations. from High School and Russel Crouse to quickly rewrite some of the scenes. Musical. its upbeat dancing, numerous pop He first studied law at Harvard, trying to After this collaboration, Lindsey and Crouse became lifelong culture references and cheeky slang. satisfy his grandfather’s wishes. However, collaborators, writing the books (scripts) for many more musicals America was also moving from a he found his true passion was for the arts, together such as The Sound of Music and Life with Father. and he transferred to the Harvard School rural and conservative culture to a of Arts and Sciences to pursue a career in more urban and liberal one. Women’s music. His first musical, See America First, fashion embraced more European was not very successful, but he gained trends. Skirts became shorter, great recognition for his songs in the limbs were exposed, and dresses musical Paris in 1928. became more form fitting. Some A musical requires saw this fashion and women’s more After his success with Anything Goes in 1934, actors who are independent behavior as scandalous.
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