All aboard who are coming aboard, Anything Goes at the University of Nebraska Omaha brought the audience out to sea for their opening weekend.
The 1934 Broadway musical follows the S.S. American’s passengers and their entangled romantic lives, stolen and mistaken identities, and scheming plans. The complex plot kept the audience guessing who was next to make an entrance and who was next to be exposed.
Makenna Cottone’s performance as Reno Sweeney, celebrated nightclub performer and evangelist, brought the 1930s swing style to life with her sound, dancing, and attitude. She worked beautifully alongside cast members Kaden Weis who portrayed Billy Crocker and Shemar Toussaint who portrayed Moonface Martin.
With the musical’s ever changing duos through love entanglements and schemes each duo that came together for a scene brought something new to the stage in terms of chemistry, comedic value, and vocal and stylistic blend.
Greta Hegarty and Kaden Weis as Hope Harcourt and Billy Crocker chased one another “All Through the Night” battling the love triangles and challenges they faced,
Comedic highlights came from Lily Pope’s perfectly over the top portrayal of Erma, Kevin Bray’s hilarious performance as Lord Evelyn Oakleigh, and Shemar Toussaint’s shenanigan driven portrayal as Moonface Martin.
The ensemble and supporting characters created and established the chaos Anything Goes is known for. From full cast dance numbers to exaggerated reactions and one-liners, every actor onstage contributed their all to the mayhem onboard the S.S. American ocean liner.
Besides the noteworthy performances from the cast, the set awed the crowd with every scene. The set, which takes the audience onto the 1930s S.S. American, has three levels, four spiral staircases, a deck, portholes, two rooms that pulled out from the deck, and included the band onstage. The two rooms that would open from the ship deck, becoming ship cabins for different passengers and morel, looked reminiscent of Barbie Dreamhouse rooms allowing the audience to look into the passenger’s lives.
Grab your ticket and your passport and come aboard the S.S. American to see Anything Goes at UNO of their closing weekend December 5-8. For tickets and more information visit https://events.unomaha.edu/event/unotheatre-presents-anything-goes.
