Minor roles provide major enjoyments in ‘Anything Goes’ at Smith Center

I couldn’t tell if the touring production of "Anything Goes," currently at the Smith Center, was poorly directed or if the cast members were just having an off night in the opening performance. This exuberant musical comedy has all the elements of a stirring show: a funny script, a genius score, skilled dancers and a competent cast. Yet so much of what should have been exhilarating felt tired.

This 1934 standard shows why light musical comedy was such a cornerstone of American entertainment from the 1920s to the late 1950s.

The plot gives us a nonsensical story about two men on board a luxury liner who, for very different reasons, disguise themselves as celebrity gangsters.

It’s packed with beautifully awful jokes, the dialogue just an excuse to allow us to experience the wonder of Cole Porter’s score.

But director Kathleen Marshall’s mounting quickly puts us on our guard. We anticipate a big opening number and instead are stuck with two people talking at a bar in front of an anemic set.

When Rachel York – probably best known as the dumb girlfriend in 1995’s Broadway musical "Victor/Victoria" – dives into "I Get a Kick Out of You" – a plaintive, knock-your-socks-off song – she loses all authority. Her singing voice is pleasant but lacks a star’s pizzazz, certainly not the kind of magnetism we should associate with her Reno Sweeney, "New York’s most notorious evangelist." And her speaking voice doesn’t match her singing. She seems to be playing two different characters.

The set takes on some life when we move to what looks like a comic-strip version of a comfortable ship. But it’s not until the second act that the 36-member cast (backed by a 14-member orchestra) supplies the energy and showmanship that is such a vital part of this entertainment.

The major enjoyments are in the minor roles.

Chuck Wagner is an amusingly authoritative and put-upon captain. Fred Applegate makes a seductive, elderly song-and-dance man as the lovable but naughty Public Enemy No. 13. Sandra Shipley’s snootiness as the elegant and demanding Mrs. Evangeline Harcourt is a hoot. And Edward Staudenmayer as an aggressive Wall Street biggie exudes power and childlike want.

When his character finally hooks up with Evangeline, Staudenmayer’s charm makes a round of applause inevitable.

Anthony Del Valle can be reached at vegastheaterchat@aol.com.