In olden days, musicals were big, brassy and exciting, with dancing girls and show-stopping choreography. The Magdalene Musical Production Society bring us some of this old fashioned magic with their production of Anything Goes at The Cripps Auditorium this week. Packed with some of Cole Porter’s most famous songs, the evening is set on board a cruise ship full of  gansters, sailors, glamour and of course, romance.

"Adam Long and Martha Cook make a wonderful pairing at the centre of this will-they, won’t-they romantic comedy"

The score is a wonderful mash-up of catchy songs, many of them popular hits in their own right and the lyrics are amazingly clever - packed with puns and jokes. The cast really make the most of songs like “You’re the Top” and “I Get a Kick out of You”. However, the plot is a little less exciting than the lyrics and serves as a bit of diversion while we wait for the next piece of music. Adam Long and Martha Cook make a wonderful pairing at the centre of this will-they, won’t-they romantic comedy. But, of course on board a ship with so many strange characters, who knows what might happen. 

There are certainly some twists and turns on this voyage, and many of those on board may not quite be who they seem. Ruth Warner, Alex Franklin and Luke Dell are all well cast as comedy misfits, with strong delivery and a great sense of fun. They clearly enjoy working together, and all the cast appear to have a great deal of fun. Much like a black and white movie on an Saturday afternoon, the focus is on being light-hearted, rather than anything terribly deep or serious. It is a very typically Broadway piece, where confusion and love collide.

Review: Speakeasy

Interspersed are songs which could be from any show, and don’t particularly link with the plot. But given the quality of the songs, this can be forgiven.  Musical direction is led expertly by Joanna Cheng, and the band give us a lively and spirited evening, full of energetic, brassy sounds. Lily Burge directs the large cast and keeps the pace of the show on track, despite the weirdness of some aspects of the dated script. The production side of team have a slightly harder job, given the constraints of the Cripps Auditorium.

"If Dr. Williams happens to read the Varsity theatre reviews, then I would urge the members of his college to ask him to let budding thesps play in Hall again"

In slightly less olden days, Magdalene presented its musicals in Hall, but now are sadly burdened with having to make use of a lecture theatre. And no matter how good the design concept, it is never going to prove possible to turn this auditorium into either a cruise ship, let alone an adequate theatre. Samantha Ruston and Daniel Lawson (in charge of set and lighting design) are to be commended for their inventiveness, but it really is an impossible task.

Perhaps with Young Frankenstein or The 25th Annual Putnum County Spelling Bee, the setting may be adaptable to site-specific performances, but I felt sad for the cast who had to perform in such an odd venue. If Dr. Williams happens to read the Varsity theatre reviews, then I would urge the members of his college to ask him to let budding thesps play in Hall again