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Altarena Playhouse Welcomes Audiences Aboard with ‘Anything Goes’

by Gene Kahane On In Arts | Comments Disabled

A wise person once said that great art is both a mirror and a window where we are able to see ourselves and see others in a cathartic, meaningful way. Laura Morgan, director of the terrific Anything Goes at Altarena Playhouse, notes in the program how the Cole Porter show from 1934 was a mirror of that era: “The show was meant to be a pointed satire of the United States, which was wallowing in the depths of the Depression and had just emerged from the relative lawlessness of Prohibition.”

Alameda Post - A man and a woman in vintage outfits pose on a set that looks like a ship. [1]
Photo by Grizzly De Haro.

Ninety-two years later this musical—a classic—is more a window into a time where dames, crooks, and rubes spoke kitschy lines and sang snappy lyrics to jumping music while dancing away in flashy costumes. Not that that kind of thing has disappeared on Broadway, but so many of the more recent Tony award-winning musicals are ones where a complex, engaging story is the backbone: Maybe Happy Ending (2025), The Outsiders (2024), Kimberly Akimbo [2] (2023) and A Strange Loop (2022). The story of Anything Goes has faded a bit over time, but the sizzle and shine of the musical for sure has not.

Alameda Post - An actor dressed as a ship captain and an actor in a black suit look at a small slip of paper together. [3]
Photo by Grizzly De Haro.

The plot of Anything Goes is familiar, light, and fun. It was not the source material for James Cameron’s Titanic, though both stories center around a guy trying to get a girl engaged to a snooty dude, all during a boat ride. In this case it’s Billy, in love with Hope, who’s supposed to marry Lord Evelyn. I can’t not comment on how names work in this play. Of course we root for Billy, he’s a Billy. And of course he wants Hope, she’s Hope. And of course Lord Evelyn annoys us, he’s a Lord named Evelyn. Other cool names are given to other characters who charm the heck out of us—the amazing Reno Sweeney played with sass and splash by Seana Nicol, Lippy and Slug, played by Sara Jozer and Isabella Seiden Miller (best smile onstage), and Moonface Martin played by the remarkable Dan Kolodny.

Alameda Post - Four women dressed in matching red dresses pose together during Anything Goes. One woman does a split on the floor in the front. [4]
Photo by Grizzly De Haro.

Names aside, what keeps this show afloat—and us enthralled—are the costumes (Jenn Stephens, wow), the musical direction (Armando Fox, of course), and the choreography (Rachelle King Campodonico, woohoo) all wonderfully guided by director Morgan.

Alameda Post - A woman with short curly black hair wears a blue dress and looks into the distance. [5]
Photo by Grizzly De Haro.

I need to pause again and comment on the dancing, and specifically the tap dancing. Two years ago I sat in my seat enjoying Pal Joey [6] until the tap dancing began and I lost all possible objectivity. To see and hear those feet make music with metal taps on a wooden floor was something else. And now, two years later, that same incredible hypnotic thing occurred when the core dancers did their awesome percussive performance not far from where I sat. Go see this show for many things, but prepare to be tapped out of your seat by the energy and craftsmanship.

Alameda Post - Actors dance onstage in Anything Goes. They are all posed together so only a woman in front is visible, and all the people behind her stretch out their arms out to the sides in a fan behind her. [7]
Photo by Grizzly De Haro.

Anything Goes is set on a luxury cruise liner—and set designer Tom Curtain has managed to fit a pretty cool one into the space at 1409 High Street. There are three levels, a pair of crows nests on either side, and a pit where Fox’s seven-piece band rollicks away as the engine for everything. This means the audience is in the water, but minus any wildlife with sharp teeth. And of course there are life preservers all about emblazoned with the ship’s name, the S.S. American, which end up being used in one of the musical numbers. (Very clever, prop person Tom O’Brien.) Also deserving kudos is Jeremy Letheule, wig and hair designer. Most of the women are topped with crayon-bright bobbed tresses that manage to stay in place while they Rockette all over the stage.

Alameda Post - A priest, a woman in a fur coat, and a man holding a fake beard together onstage. [8]
Photo by Grizzly De Haro.

One last thing, one great last thing, that’s really the core of the core of Anything Goes, is the relationship between Billy and Hope. They’re cousins to Jack and Rose, and while they do not end up in the water sharing a floating door, Billy and Hope do have several beautiful moments on stage, both singing and just being, that melt your happy heart. Nico Jaochio and Christina Swindlehurst Chan are adorable together—believable, sincere, and cute as heck. Chan was the voice of the night with her operatic stylings and Jaochico was the actor supreme, charming her and every other character as all of us watched both of them in awe. She killed in every dress she wore, and he glowed in white tie and tails.

Alameda Post - A man in a suit twirls a woman in a light pink dress on a set that looks like a ship. [9]
Photo by Grizzly De Haro.

Anything Goes is gloriously schmaltzy, so much fun, and runs until April 26 with performances on Fridays and Saturdays at 8 p.m. and Sunday matinees at 2 p.m. For more information or to purchase tickets, visit the Altarena Playhouse [10] website.

Alameda Post - A man dressed as a priest, a woman in a light blue gown, and a man dressed as a sailor dance onstage together. [11]
Photo by Grizzly De Haro.

Gene Kahane is the founder of the Foodbank Players [12], a lifelong teacher, and former Poet Laureate for the City of Alameda. Reach him at [email protected] [13]. His writing is collected at AlamedaPost.com/Gene-Kahane [14].