| Everything’s
right with this
show
- By JERRY HERTENSTEIN
- Staff Writer
“There’s something wrong here!” is an
oft-repeated line in “Anything Goes.”
However, for the Cole Porter musical at the historic
Pulse Opera House in Warren, the line should be turned
around to “There’s something right here.”
One of numerous “rights” is casting Scott
Nedberg in the role of Moonface Martin.
Moonface is the character in this sexually charged,
comic farce of mistaken identities and double entendre
who most uses the “There’s something wrong
here!” line.
Nedberg is no newcomer to comedy and his experience
glues the fast-paced production.
“There’s no star in this show,” said
Nedberg, short of breath after a recent staging.
Yet Moonface is central in making key scene
transitions. He is responsible for getting principal love
interests Billy Crocker, acted by Huntington’s Kerry
Arnold, and Hope Harcourt, played by Kelly Leichty,
together.
Moonface, America’s 13th most wanted criminal,
believed by passengers and crew aboard the England-bound
ship American to be Bishop Henry T. Dobson, is also
matchmaker for nightclub singer Reno Sweeney and
high-strung Englishman Sir Evelyn Oakleigh. Sweeney is
played by Melissa Myers and the role of Oakleigh adeptly
handled by youthful Anthony Anderson.
Moonface has a love interest, a blonde bimbo named
Bonnie, played by Courtney Elmore. Elmore’s mature
stage presence belies her 15 years. She knows how to send
her feet into a frenzy when tap dancing.
Nedberg, a regular with a Fort Wayne-based company
that puts comical murder-mystery productions on the
boards, also sings “Be Like A Bluebird.”
Another number, “Friendship,” features
Nedberg, Myers and Arnold.
There’s something right with the trio. The
chemistry is there.
There’s something right in assigning Myers the
role of Sweeney.
Myers, who calls herself a “high soprano”
but shifts to alto for singing “Anything Goes,”
carries a heavy vocal load.
In addition to “Friendship” and the title
song, she teams with Huntington’s Arnold in singing
“You’re the Top,” duets with Anderson in
“Let’s Misbehave,” leads the ensemble in a
rousing rendition of “Blow, Gabriel, Blow,”
fronts backup vocalists the Angels — a foursome that
emulates the Spice Girls — in “Take Me Back to
Manhattan” and is at her best when spotlighted in
“I Get a Kick Out of You.”
“Blow, Gabriel, Blow,” “All Through the
Night,” “I Get a Kick Out of You,”
“You’re the Top,” and “Anything
Goes” were hits for Porter, a record not matched by
any of his other songs. Porter, a native of Peru, wrote
more than 100 songs for eight Broadway musicals and
original scores for three Hollywood movies.
“Anything Goes” opened to critical acclaim Nov.
21, 1934, in New York City after a trial run in Boston.
Although the musical and lyrical adaptation of a book
by Guy Bolton, P.G. Wodehouse, Howard Lindsay and Russell
Crouse played Broadway nearly 64 years ago, the Pulse
production directed and choreographed by Cynthia
Smyth-Wartzok is as current as today.
For example, when it’s ‘fess time in the
“Blow, Gabriel, Blow” sequence, a sailor played
by Brian Osborne of Huntington says, “I had an
inappropriate relationship with a young woman.”
Those words are carboned from the mouth of a certain
president.
That makes a something right touch added by
Smyth-Wartzok as commentary on a White House scandal
charged with moral implications with the jury still out.
Smyth-Wartzok and her crew — Charly Dye as
musical director, Eileen Dye and Cathy Preston as musical
accompanists, Neil Laymon trumpeter, Emily Dye, lights,
and Ron Wartzok, set design, — pack loads of
electricity into a small space.
When Elmore leads tap dancers Osborne, Ashley Elmore,
Madeliene and Sarah Hecht, Loralee Songer, and Tony Sirk
to close Act One, it’s a show pleaser.
“Scott (Nedberg) is great to work with,”
said Courtney Elmore, a sophomore at Southwood High
School near Wabash. “He knows what to do (when
something is wrong in a show) and how to fix it.”
That makes for something right.
“Anything Goes” will be staged at 8 p.m.
Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Aug. 27, 28 and 29 at
Pulse Opera House, 127 1/2 Wayne St., Warren. Tickets at
$8 adults, $5 for children under 12 are available at
Handcrafter’s Marketplace, 233 N. Wayne St., Warren,
or by calling 219-375-7017 from 10 a.m.-4 p.m. Tuesdays
through Saturdays.
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