You, dear friend, can get onboard the S.S. America, and for the price of a ticket, can enjoy crossing the Atlantic Ocean with characters so diverse, you have never met their like. With entertainment so delightful and nostalgic, you’ll be singing in your sleep; with chuckles and guffaws, with twists and turns, and all sorts of outlandish, even bawdy fun.
“Anything Goes” is the title of the cruise, S.S. America is the ship you’ll be on, and 1934 is the era you will find yourself in. We guarantee this is a low-cal show, unless you stop at the candy counter at intermission. This is all at Haddonfield Plays & Players in Crows Woods, Haddonfield, United States of America. Come and enjoy.
You’ll meet Reno Sweeney, an evangelist turned nightclub singer, an old friend of Billy’s, and a sexy broad who’s always out for the main chance; Billy Crocker, Hope’s love-stricken suitor; Hope Harcourt, an American debutante; Evangeline Harcourt, Hope’s haughty and overbearing mother; Sir Evelyn Oakleigh, wealthy, handsome, veddy veddy English, and a rather stuffy bore; Moonface Martin, a second-rate gangster; Moonface’s sidekick, Bonnie; Elisha Whitney, Billy’s boss and a Wall Street banker; and assorted other characters. Reno comes with four angels; there’s a bishop by name of Henry Dobson; a couple of Chinese gamblers, and people you will never meet on a real cruise.
Billy is on the dock to say “bon voyage” to his boss, who is leaving on this trip, and he spots Hope getting out of a taxi. It is love at first sight; so he stows away on the ship. He manages to get to meet Hope, and, unbelievably, they both succumb to Cupid. Moonface, disguised as a minister to evade the law, gives Billy a cabin to stay in. Hope is determined to marry Sir Evelyn “in order to save her father’s company,” even though she loves Billy.
In the meantime, the law has closed in on Moonface and, presumably, Snake Eyes Johnson, whose cabin Billy occupies. The law thinks Billy is Snake Eyes, so…
All right, you’ve gotten the picture. It’s complicated, it’s hectic, and it’s fun! The show also has lovely music — I Get a Kick Out of You; All Through the Night; Easy to Love; Let’s Misbehave; Blow, Gabriel, Blow; You’re the Top; It’s DeLovely; Anything Goes; The Gypsy in Me; and much more.
This is a show that gets better and better with each viewing. It’s one of America’s favorites, having been revived everywhere again and again.
Dates are:
• July 16 at 7:30 p.m. $10.
• July 17 at 8 p.m. Buy one, get one free for $18. Not available online, call the box office at 429–8139.
• July 18, 24, 25, 31, Aug. 1, 7 and 8 at 8 p.m. $18.
• July 19, 26 and Aug. 2 at 2 p.m. $18.
Tickets available by calling the box office or by visiting www.haddonfieldplayers.com.
