Cole Porter's 1934 Broadway musical Anything Goes underwent extensive revision for a 1987 Broadway revival that has become the standard text ever since. Timothy Crouse and John Weidman rewrote the script; the song list was altered to remove minor tunes and add
Porter evergreens from other works ("Easy to Love," "It's De-Lovely," "Friendship"); and Michael Gibson wrote a new set of orchestrations. The show was a hit all over again in both New York and London (1989), with cast albums reflecting the changes. There was even a British studio cast album in 1995 that provided another reading. Now, the revival has been revived for a West End production that opened at the National Theatre's Olivier Theatre on December 18, 2002. So, with this cast album (billed as being the 2003 London cast recording, perhaps because it wasn't recorded until seven months after the opening), the 1987 version of Anything Goes has now had four recordings. This one manages to add 12 minutes to the running time that the 1987 Broadway and 1989 London albums had, mostly by including instrumental sections arranged by
Gareth Valentine, plus some dialogue. But the main distinction among the different versions really lies in the casting. Here,
Sally Ann Triplett steps into the role of Reno Sweeney, "an evangelist turned nightclub singer," a part created by
Ethel Merman. She sings well, despite some difficulties with her American accent, which is typical of British performers. (The same can be said for the rest of the cast.) However, the secondary characters played by
John Barrowman,
Mary Stockley,
Martin Marquez, and Annette McLaughlin fare better in their vocal interpretations. ~ William Ruhlmann