'Anything Goes' In MHS Production

Staged before the powder blue and yellow facade of the ocean liner SS American, during its madcap voyage from New York to London, Anything Goes provides a riotous robbery every time another actor, dancer or singer pops out of a porthole, pushes through a doorway or struts down dueling stairways to steal a scene in this energetic and enthusiastic production of Cole Porter's 1934 classic .

And the audience at Friday's second performance of the Moorestown High School spring musical obviously enjoyed the mischief. It supplied rousing encouragement to each bit of theatrical larceny:

• Kelly DelDuca, only a sophomore, busts out as Bonnie in Scene 4 to a "Heaven Hop" number—supported by her "Girls"—that leaves you eager for her next turn;
• Josh Toro, just a freshman, is absolutely contagious throughout as Moonface Martin, but seems to tower even when sandwiched between the two leads in Scene 5's "Friendship" salute;
• Rett Mason, "finally a senior" as he writes in the playbill notes, has been doing to community theater what Willie Sutton used to do to banks: steal everything in sight. As Sir Evelyn Oakleigh, tut-tut, he's over the top in every scene he engulfs—and he knows it, and you know it, and he knows you know it. We keep waiting for him to stop, look out at us, and wink;
•  Erica Scanlon Harr, the choreographer. Poor Greg Harr and poor Cole Porter. Greg Harr is the director with a resume full of fall drama successes at MHS who has landed his first spring musical, and Cole Porter is still known as someone who could turn a phrase. But both get backseated by Erica Harr's ambitious and artful planning—supported by dancers and singers and costume designers and hair styling mistresses and Greg Connlain's orchestra and Dee Dugan's exhausted lighting crew—that sweeps both ensemble and audience seamlessly from one number to another. The ensemble's Act One finish with the "Anything Goes" title song and dance performance had so many people moving in so many directions in harmony and unison you felt you were lifted up on the stage with them.

Not only did the audience enjoy all this hilarious mischief making, but so did the ensemble. The leads, especially Alisha Kothari (Reno Sweeney), Rhys Scheibe (Billy Cocker) and Katherine Sebastian (Hope Harcourt), appeared to happily share scenes with their delightful cast of supporters. Kothari, particularly, was so good she seemed to be mentoring everyone, both in and out of character.

The hardest working man in the building had to be veteran sound guru Fred Binter, who had to keep up with Harr's machinations and occasionally got the volume up late on a solo here and there, or had sound cracking and popping through mics when things got raucous. But these are tiny waves in otherwise smooth sailing for the SS American, which departs again at 7:30 tonight and next Friday and Saturday. There is also a Senior Citizen performance at noon on March 9.

Just be prepared for some ocean-going theatrical mischief.

This entire company, it seems, has larceny in its heart and no lead in its feet.

Which leaves the audience no time to sit on its hands.