Less of a review and more of a list of things I loved about going back to see Anything Goes again at the Barbican
“You really know how to fill a girdle”
I didn’t need much prodding to go and see Anything Goes again, especially when second row tickets for £20 were in the offing but it was also great to see the show from a different angle. With a company and stage of this size, the expansiveness of Kathleen Marshall’s joyous choreography (and direction) is perhaps best appreciated from further back in the Barbican’s main auditorium (review from July) but there’s fun to be had up close too.
Bonnie Langford and Simon Callow having the time of their life hamming it up together, Samuel Edwards winking at all and sundry, the precision of Kerry Ellis’ breath control as she carries the weight of the show with her many impressive song and dance routines. I also really dug how much detailed work is being done throughout the ensemble, especially when dancing, those finer points sometimes lost in the dazzle of a kickline or from the distance of the circle.
So this remains an entirely warm-hearted, good-natured and spirits-raising production, with Cole Porter’s evergreen score still sounding fantastic under Stephen Ridley’s musical supervision. They’ve been touring since April but you’d be hard-pressed to tell, the connection with the audience is a palpable thing with cheeky bicep flexes (sailor #3), hip thrusts (Haydn Oakley) and high kicks (Bonnie, who else?!) making it a curtain call to remember. Just a few more shows to go to catch this before it set sail for the last time.
