Transcript
Speaker: Hello and welcome to Sunday on the Pod with Casey, Flo and Rosa.
Speaker: Welcome back to Sunday on the Pod.
Speaker: Sunday on the Pod is a podcast all about musical theatre.
Speaker: However, this podcast isn't just for performers, but it's for anybody who loves musical theatre.
Speaker: Each episode will be covering musicals that some of you may love, some of you might hate, or maybe you've never heard of them before.
Speaker: Either way, we'll be singing and dancing about them.
Speaker: If you didn't already know, we pick a musical and discuss its plot,
Speaker: the show's creators, dissecting specific songs lyrically and musically, delving into any juicy goss from past and present productions, and my personal favourite, putting on our very own casting director hats and choosing a fantasy cast with our magic generator.
Speaker: Woo!
Speaker: Just when you thought it couldn't get any better.
Speaker: For the finale, at the end of each episode, we'll have an interview with a fabulous special guest performer who will then sing us out with a song from the show.
Speaker: You can stream their cover on our Sunday on the Pod cast album found in our link tree.
Speaker: So what are you waiting for?
Speaker: Sit back and enjoy the pod.
Speaker: Thanks so much everyone out there who's been supporting our little show so far.
Speaker: We absolutely love bringing you our thoughts on our fave and not so fave shows and we would love to keep bringing you more.
Speaker: The best way to support our show is by rating and reviewing us wherever you listen.
Speaker: We're available on Spotify and Apple Podcasts and by keeping up with us on socials.
Speaker: You can find us on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook at Sunday on the Pod.
Speaker: How are we all on this lovely, lovely Sunday?
Speaker: Good.
Speaker: A bit run down, but we shall persist.
Speaker: You know what you need?
Speaker: You need Sunday on the pod.
Speaker: That's going to be your medicine.
Speaker: I do.
Speaker: I do.
Speaker: That's the best medicine.
Speaker: Casey, tell everyone what you've been up to lately because you have been a gallivanting lady.
Speaker: I have.
Speaker: So I've literally, like two and a half weeks ago, finished my PGCE.
Speaker: That's all done and dusted.
Speaker: And then I've literally been off to Switzerland and Paris, which has been amazing.
Speaker: Also, I really enjoyed it.
Speaker: I see a lot of people talking about Paris and being like, oh, it's so overrated.
Speaker: I love that you're like, also, travelling is great.
Speaker: I love that that's what you took from it.
Speaker: You're like, also, why has no one told me about this?
Speaker: Paris is great.
Speaker: There's so much slagging off of Paris.
Speaker: Before I went, I was like, oh, I don't know what to expect.
Speaker: I don't know if it's good.
Speaker: Because I went to Belgium, and no offence to any Belgians listening, but I was so bored.
Speaker: I was really bored.
Speaker: Belgium was boring.
Speaker: They've got good chocolates.
Speaker: But even that, do you know what really upset me when I went to Belgium?
Speaker: Little tidbit here.
Speaker: I went to a chocolate making workshop because I was in Belgium.
Speaker: And then I got there, I paid an arm and a leg for it, and then realized that we were all making dark chocolate and I can't stack dark chocolate.
Speaker: So I couldn't even eat it.
Speaker: I was making it like- Did it have anything in it?
Speaker: Did it have like nuts or- You could put like little bits in it, but they're kind of just like, you know, they left out little things with like crushed M&Ms and like pretzels.
Speaker: What a shame.
Speaker: Dark chocolate, I know, I wish I was sophisticated enough to like dark chocolate, but I'm not there yet.
Speaker: I'll tell you what, though, the right dark chocolate, now this is me, you know, going back on myself, typical, being like, I hate it, now I love it.
Speaker: The right dark chocolate, I don't know if anyone at home knows about this, Tony's Chocoloni, they are, ooh, great.
Speaker: They are doing it right.
Speaker: The light green one with almonds and sea salt, that, it has a special place in my heart.
Speaker: That is delicious.
Speaker: That is delicious.
Speaker: I think that I like that for the almonds and the sea salt, not necessarily.
Speaker: Me too, absolutely.
Speaker: But it's still very good.
Speaker: I think dark chocolate for me is one of those things that I have in the cupboard and that's the thing I revert to when I've not got any other chocolate.
Speaker: I'll just have to like dip it into a brew.
Speaker: I just think I like a creamy milk chocolate.
Speaker: And I'm partial to white chocolate as well.
Speaker: I do like white chocolate.
Speaker: Do you remember that advert?
Speaker: I don't know why I'm remembering it.
Speaker: but I've always thought it was an odd one with galaxy where it was like, this woman was in her house and she was in like this beautiful, like long flowing dress.
Speaker: And she's like, Oh, she's in the mood for some chocolate.
Speaker: And she's like running around her house trying to find it.
Speaker: She opens the fridge and she has like a pack kind of like foiled and she opens it.
Speaker: Oh, and there's nothing in there.
Speaker: And she's so upset.
Speaker: And then I think she goes to like a photo box.
Speaker: under her bed it's under her bed and there's pictures of her children and her husband and it's beautiful and then she just unveils there's a galaxy bar and she breaks off like four and i always thought it was the weirdest advert i'm like that's advertising advertising is so weird yeah yeah i just always thought that advert was odd
Speaker: Also, who's putting, which one, is it her husband or her children?
Speaker: Who's putting the chocolate wrapper back in the fridge after it's gone?
Speaker: Because that is bad behaviour.
Speaker: That is criminal.
Speaker: It's like putting the milk back when it's done.
Speaker: I'll tell you what, my sister, if she's listening to this, she knows as a kid she used to eat all of the Ben and Jerry's
Speaker: put the lid back on, put it back into the freezer, and then, but she'd do it at night.
Speaker: So we had no idea she was doing it.
Speaker: This is so bad, I'm literally outing her.
Speaker: She would do it at night when no one knew.
Speaker: The next day after dinner, be like, oh, we've got some, you know, Ben and Jerry's in the freezer, what a treat.
Speaker: Open it, empty.
Speaker: And she'd be there just like, no comment.
Speaker: She wouldn't even admit.
Speaker: It was so bad.
Speaker: It was so bad.
Speaker: that's so funny I used to go to my grandma's and my uncle used to buy Ben and Jerry's for him and his girlfriend all the time and I'd always ask if I could have some and they'd be like no so what I did when I was a kid is I'd literally sit there and then like pick out all of the cookie dough chunks I'd like sit there and pick through it and take out all the cookie dough chunks and then put the ice cream back in the freezer so that when they'd come to eat it it'd just be plain vanilla ice cream because I'd taken all the chunks out of it
Speaker: That's cruel.
Speaker: That's clever.
Speaker: That is clever.
Speaker: That's the best bit.
Speaker: That's what I like with fish.
Speaker: Fish food's my favourite Ben & Jerry's flavour.
Speaker: Is it?
Speaker: I like it, but it's very sickly.
Speaker: Which, actually, the fishes are actually dark chocolate.
Speaker: Full circle.
Speaker: Full circle moment.
Speaker: She's been caught out in a lie.
Speaker: Also, I was suspicious when you said, oh, I've got dark chocolate at home.
Speaker: But it's just something I reach for when I'm not in the mood for anything else.
Speaker: I'm like, why would you have it in your home?
Speaker: Because, no, that's like if somebody's gifted it to me.
Speaker: Like, you know what I mean?
Speaker: If I've got like a bar of chocolate from somebody.
Speaker: It's all unraveling, Katie.
Speaker: The lines keep stacking up.
Speaker: You're guilty.
Speaker: You like dark chocolate.
Speaker: Oh dear.
Speaker: I'm glad you remember that advert though, Phil, because it really stuck with me as an advert.
Speaker: I remember really weird adverts.
Speaker: Like they're stuck in my head forever.
Speaker: Like there was a really weird one about Febreze and it really annoyed me where it was like, I think it was like a woman.
Speaker: It was always a woman.
Speaker: It was a woman on the toilet.
Speaker: This is a bit too much information.
Speaker: She was a woman on the toilet and she clearly like went to the loo and it stank.
Speaker: And the advert was about how if you had this Febreze toilet freshener, like people would like you.
Speaker: And it was just like, it was the weirdest advert.
Speaker: And it made me so angry that I remember we had this English project where we did Room 101.
Speaker: And my Room 101 was that Febreze advert.
Speaker: That is hilarious that you hate it that much.
Speaker: It's so niche.
Speaker: I hated it so much that I was like, right, here's my PowerPoint presentation about why I'd put Febreze into Room 101.
Speaker: I just hated it.
Speaker: Also, just rude, like being like, no one's going to like you if you maybe don't have like the best smell.
Speaker: Like that's a, people have other medical issues.
Speaker: That is, I'm not a fan of that, Febreze.
Speaker: I don't like that.
Speaker: I know.
Speaker: Not cool.
Speaker: I don't like the Febreze adverts where they're like, they take someone into a stinky place that they've sprayed with Febreze and then the woman's like, it smells like, like freshly done laundry.
Speaker: It's amazing.
Speaker: And then they're like, oh, the bad for it.
Speaker: And she's like, oh my God, it's really stinky.
Speaker: It's ridiculous.
Speaker: I love, Rosa, I love how every single episode you uncover like another accent.
Speaker: But none of them are good though, that's the thing.
Speaker: None of them are good.
Speaker: That was good.
Speaker: It's really stinky.
Speaker: I remember a really weird advert, and I must have been really young, and it was a little girl, and I can't for the life of me remember what it was advertising, but she picks up like two cherries, and the cherries start singing, and it goes, if you leave me now...
Speaker: you'll take away the peat and I was like I can't I'm gonna have to find out what that was must be like a cherry juice or like what were those little sweets maybe that were like the red and white swirl oh you think of the lollipop were they like campon campon campon ah yes of course two little cherries
Speaker: Escaro.
Speaker: I think they were called like campanions.
Speaker: Campanions.
Speaker: Clearly their advertisement worked.
Speaker: I don't know what's wrong.
Speaker: But it was two little cherries going, baby, please don't go.
Speaker: I've just found it.
Speaker: Okay, it's an advert for...
Speaker: Three.
Speaker: The mobile network three.
Speaker: I wonder what Cherries has to do with them.
Speaker: I don't know.
Speaker: Also, is anyone on three anymore?
Speaker: Is it even a thing anymore?
Speaker: Does it exist?
Speaker: You know, there's like orange.
Speaker: Who's still on orange?
Speaker: Oh, God.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: Oh, no, that's not a thing anymore.
Speaker: There's some poor person at home listening to this being like, I'm on orange.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: No, because I used to be on Orange and I loved it for Orange Wednesdays where you could get two-for-one cinema tickets.
Speaker: Oh, yeah.
Speaker: That was good.
Speaker: Same with Vodafone, though, but none of that's ever come to fruition for me.
Speaker: I'm almost like I'm still waiting for my Vodafone deals and they never come through.
Speaker: Yeah, the O2 deals were good for a while and then they just kind of died to death, I think.
Speaker: But you used to be able to get some good stuff on O2 priority.
Speaker: How have you got onto this?
Speaker: I don't know.
Speaker: So, you may be wondering what the show we are covering this week is, and wait no more, we are covering Anything Goes!
Speaker: Woohoo!
Speaker: Woohoo!
Speaker: Which, surprisingly, before we discussed that we were doing this episode, I had never seen.
Speaker: I just cannot believe that.
Speaker: Shocking.
Speaker: I know, because I feel like I'm always very golden age, tits and teeth musicals.
Speaker: So...
Speaker: I love that description.
Speaker: Tits and teeth.
Speaker: But yeah, that's always my thing.
Speaker: And I don't know why it just never happened.
Speaker: I've never seen it.
Speaker: I'm going to make a very bold statement right there.
Speaker: Anything goes is...
Speaker: You know how you have a rotating maybe five, you maybe have five top musicals and it rotates out all the time.
Speaker: Anything else has never left that for me.
Speaker: Really?
Speaker: It is one of my favourite shows of all time.
Speaker: Wow.
Speaker: It is like the one, I actually genuinely think if they were like, you're on a desert island, you can have like two albums, that would be one of the albums.
Speaker: So this is quite a special episode then.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: I love this show.
Speaker: I love it.
Speaker: I love it.
Speaker: I'm surprised, Casey, you didn't see it because it was at the Barbican for a while, right?
Speaker: And then it went on tour?
Speaker: It went, it came Sutton Foster did a stint and then that went on tour.
Speaker: Kerry Ellis took over and then they came back to the Barbican and did like a little three-week residency.
Speaker: So it went on tour and we actually did have tickets because me and my friends, we do this little thing where for our birthdays, we all...
Speaker: I'm not sure if I've mentioned this before, but we all choose a show.
Speaker: So the four of us, the three who's not birthday isn't, will all put together our money and buy our tickets and for the person whose birthday it is.
Speaker: That's just so cute.
Speaker: I made that sound really complicated.
Speaker: Sorry, I've got a bit of brain fog.
Speaker: No, no, I got it.
Speaker: You all chip in for the... We all chip in, yeah.
Speaker: And it's just kind of a nice way for us all to get together again during the year because...
Speaker: I know, you are very sweet.
Speaker: You're like a group of friends from uni.
Speaker: It's very, very cute.
Speaker: You guys are like such a tight four.
Speaker: I know, it's really sweet.
Speaker: And then that's why we started the tradition at uni and then we just carried it on because it kind of, after we left, we stopped it for a little bit and then we were kind of like, why did we stop that?
Speaker: It's a nice way for us all to see more theatre, see each other more often.
Speaker: And like, yeah, it was just a really nice little tradition we had.
Speaker: And then it wasn't that big thing of, oh, what do you get for someone for the birthday?
Speaker: Because now we just kind of get like some little bits and then the ticket.
Speaker: So it's nice.
Speaker: So did you say you had tickets?
Speaker: We had tickets for Anything Goes.
Speaker: I think it might have been for mine last year for my birthday.
Speaker: And then it was cancelled.
Speaker: I'm not sure why.
Speaker: I had said to Casey that basically listeners...
Speaker: they did a recording of the Sutton Foster revival version that was at the Barbican and it's actually on BBC iPlayer for UK based listeners so go and watch it it's like a beautiful I know that some I understand the whole filmed theatre thing but it's one that probably works because it's like visually the set doesn't change that much like once they're on the boat they're kind of on the boat
Speaker: and it's just spoiler alert oh sorry sorry what they're on a boat yeah spoiler alert oh my god that's so funny
Speaker: Yeah, but go and watch that BBC version.
Speaker: It's really well done.
Speaker: Also, like, filmed version, schmilmed version, it's sat in foster vibes.
Speaker: I actually saw her live.
Speaker: I saw her do the real thing in the flesh.
Speaker: And my mum got incredible tickets.
Speaker: I think it was my Christmas present.
Speaker: We were literally front row.
Speaker: And I kid you not, it was...
Speaker: phenomenal like absolutely incredible she's like an absolute powerhouse I mean obviously I don't have to say that but like she is incredible so that's the best
Speaker: Yeah, I'm so jealous of you.
Speaker: I saw it when it came back after True for its stint.
Speaker: So I saw Carrie Alice as Reno.
Speaker: And I saw it twice.
Speaker: And it was, she was excellent.
Speaker: Was she good?
Speaker: She was very good.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: Also, I feel like I don't really associate Carrie Alice too much with dance.
Speaker: And this really was like a lovely showcase of her because she's like a brilliant dancer.
Speaker: she's absolutely excellent i feel like i just always associate her with like really strong like vocal roles um and on the second time that we went to see her me and my friend annie were just like walking to like the tube afterwards and we just passed her because she was waiting on her taxi and i was like oh my god hi i'd be like i'm not one for like i'd never do stage door because it just i just think it's a bit
Speaker: I don't know, I just feel uncomfortable.
Speaker: And also I'm always like, I'm just about to get to the pub afterwards.
Speaker: It's fine.
Speaker: Don't need to make me air eyes.
Speaker: But she was so nice.
Speaker: And she was like, hey girls, thanks for coming.
Speaker: And I was like, you're amazing.
Speaker: I've been twice now.
Speaker: And she was like, oh, thanks so much.
Speaker: Oh my God, I love that.
Speaker: Big up Carrie Ellis.
Speaker: Big up Carrie Ellis.
Speaker: But the cast that I saw, I don't know about you Flo, I think a lot of them stayed on.
Speaker: I just thought it was such a strong cast.
Speaker: I had Robert Lindsay.
Speaker: Is that the guy from... Who played Moonface.
Speaker: Yes.
Speaker: And then Felicity Kendall.
Speaker: In it as well.
Speaker: Does that ring a bell?
Speaker: No, I saw the Bonnie Langford.
Speaker: Bonnie Langford played Evangeline, the mum.
Speaker: She must have been amazing.
Speaker: She was a bloody hoot.
Speaker: It was just classic.
Speaker: She was having fun.
Speaker: Bonnie Langford, she was having fun on that stage.
Speaker: Okie dokie.
Speaker: So Anything Goes was originally conceived by producer Vinton Friedley who also produced the American classics Funny Face, Girl Crazy and Pardon My English.
Speaker: Friedley was a frequent collaborator of the Gershwins and originally conceived the idea for Anything Goes when he was living on a boat.
Speaker: Of course he was.
Speaker: Hilariously he was actually hiding on the boat because he owed a lot of money to the bank and they were coming after him.
Speaker: I tried to find out what
Speaker: why he owed so much money, but maybe he was just, he was a bad producer probably.
Speaker: He basically thought it would be a great idea to have a show set on an ocean liner and was so taken by this idea that despite the whole creditor nonsense, he just immediately sourced a writing team and a star, despite the show not having been written yet.
Speaker: So, Vinton Friedle had a different strategy for producing musicals.
Speaker: to other producers at the time.
Speaker: He essentially wanted the creative team and the stars to be engaged like right from the very beginning.
Speaker: So for him, his original team was P.G.
Speaker: Wodehouse, which I'm sure people will have heard of.
Speaker: He wrote the Jeeves and Worcester series and Guy Bolton for the book, the magnificent Cole Porter for music and lyrics.
Speaker: And the star was the great Ethel Merman.
Speaker: So bear in mind, Reno Sweeney, who is the kind of main female character of Anything Goes, hadn't even been written yet.
Speaker: But bringing Ethel on at the very beginning means that her style, her stardom and her skills would kind of go on to inform and shape who Reno was.
Speaker: I think this has happened in quite a few other shows that I've heard of.
Speaker: So I certainly know Kander and Ebb wrote this show after the success of Cabaret called The Act.
Speaker: And it was written for Liza Minnelli.
Speaker: And it is all the songs were written to showcase Liza Minnelli's like, her vocal range.
Speaker: So like every number is belting.
Speaker: And like the whole thing is it's like a washed up
Speaker: It's kind of like Sally Bowles, the musical.
Speaker: So she's like a washed up nightclub singer.
Speaker: And then she just does like the entire show talking about like this man that she's lost.
Speaker: But what do you think about that?
Speaker: Kind of like having a star already in mind before something has even been has even been written, like a character has even been written.
Speaker: That happened quite a lot, I think.
Speaker: They did.
Speaker: We talked about that with Clamity Jane.
Speaker: that, like, I can't remember who it had been written for.
Speaker: Calamity Jane, it wasn't for Doris Day.
Speaker: It was Judy Garland.
Speaker: Oh, no, it wasn't, right.
Speaker: Calamity Jane was for Doris Day because she was promised Annie Get Your Gun and then she didn't get it.
Speaker: That was it.
Speaker: Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Speaker: You're right.
Speaker: You're so right.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: So it was, but Annie Get Your Gun was written with Judy Garland in mind.
Speaker: In mind, yeah.
Speaker: Yeah, yeah.
Speaker: But it was, yeah, written specifically for Doris Day.
Speaker: I love that.
Speaker: I feel like...
Speaker: I would do that.
Speaker: I would pick one of my favorite actresses and go, I'm gonna write a musical just for you.
Speaker: Just so you can star in it.
Speaker: It's so like Ethel Merman as well.
Speaker: Like Reno Sweeney is such an Ethel Merman character, like that kind of big and brassy.
Speaker: I feel like if they're a huge star, I think it really, really works.
Speaker: I think maybe from a creative point of view, there's only so many times that you can do that.
Speaker: But it's like, actually, I feel like when you tell a story,
Speaker: rather than be like, we just really want to showcase you.
Speaker: Again, I'm going to go back to my future husband to be Ryan Gosling.
Speaker: If I had to write a show, I'd write something for him.
Speaker: But I think after a while, I think I'd find it quite annoying having to be like, it has to be for this person.
Speaker: But yeah, I think you guys are right.
Speaker: It was probably off the time to kind of suit...
Speaker: I'm trying to think who I'd do now, like vocally, who I'd pick now.
Speaker: I mean, I guess you'd, I mean, I guess that'd be obvious.
Speaker: Someone would probably say like Idina Menzel.
Speaker: They'd be like, let's write a show for Idina Menzel.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: But yeah.
Speaker: I feel like Lady Gaga would be a good one.
Speaker: I'd love to see a musical written specifically for her.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: Wasn't, well, didn't they have her in mind when they were writing A Star Is Born?
Speaker: Yeah, probably.
Speaker: Obviously it's been done three times.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: So I wonder with A Star Is Born if they had the star in mind each time.
Speaker: I think so, because I feel like with the original, with Judy Garland, I think it probably was written for her because she was such a big star at that time.
Speaker: And she was probably the go-to girl for things.
Speaker: Then when they redid it in the 70s, I feel like if they hadn't have gone, I feel like they wouldn't have gone, we need to remake A Star Is Born, but who could we put in it?
Speaker: I feel like it was very much...
Speaker: oh my gosh, Barbra Streisand is amazing.
Speaker: Yeah, she's the it girl of the time.
Speaker: Why don't we do A Star is Born and put her in it?
Speaker: And then I feel like they've done the same thing with Lady Gaga.
Speaker: Yeah, I think it's quite interesting to see how that connects the three of them, to see how Judy Garland connects with... What is it about Judy Garland, Barbra Streisand and Lady Gaga that makes them perfect for that part?
Speaker: Because it weirdly is, when you watch all three of them, you're like, yeah,
Speaker: completely works and the three of them there are three people that I never would be like they would play the same roles or anything like that and I know that the iterations are different each time so it isn't really the same role but like it's the same like framework isn't it yeah yeah premise but when you when you hear them linked I'm like yeah that does make sense for a star is born maybe it's also like a following thing because all three of them had I mean obviously they all still do have a huge following and
Speaker: But I guess like to play that role, I think you need to have like a huge cult following anyway.
Speaker: And I think it really works when then they're cast as that part.
Speaker: Because it makes it, I guess, more believable because you're like, oh, yes, it's them.
Speaker: Oh, yes, of course, Lady Gaga.
Speaker: Well, what I think it kind of does, which is quite interesting, is it.
Speaker: it essentially makes the show kind of not conform to like the previous standard.
Speaker: So if we think of like 1930s musical theatre landscape, the traditional thing for kind of like book musicals, fully integrated book musicals, is you've got like two, probably like two sets of lovers.
Speaker: You have like the comedy couple and like the main romantic couple.
Speaker: And it's quite strange that in Anything Goes,
Speaker: it kind of bucks this trend.
Speaker: It weirdly has like three different partnerships going on and they're kind of, obviously there's like the main one, I guess, with like Billy and Hope, which we'll kind of come on to more than the synopsis.
Speaker: But really all three of them are kind of given like this equal footing.
Speaker: And it's quite interesting that Reno is, Reno, Reno, is billed as like the lead, but she's actually not in the kind of primary romantic partnership.
Speaker: She's in the secondary comedy one and she is not like the ingenue
Speaker: She's this kind of like wise, sexy.
Speaker: She's kind of been there, done that.
Speaker: She's definitely not innocent character.
Speaker: So I suppose having like Ethel Merman in mind allows for like that show to kind of not conform in that way and to be a little bit something different.
Speaker: Oh, that's interesting, you know, because when I watched it, I was like making links between Anything Goes with Hello Dolly.
Speaker: Because when it all like when, you know, all the characters starting to get introduced and things...
Speaker: I can't remember the two guys that are like, we're going to hide out on the ship and not tell anybody who we are.
Speaker: Those two guys.
Speaker: It's like John and Andy or something like that.
Speaker: And they never really say their names.
Speaker: No, yeah.
Speaker: And that really reminded me of like, what's the names in Hello Dolly now?
Speaker: The ones that sing out there.
Speaker: There's a world outside of Yonkers.
Speaker: Barnaby and Cornelius.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: Like that sort of.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: But they're really rarely heard from.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: They kind of only have that.
Speaker: I think it was just when they all came on and it was just kind of the character tropes that I was seeing.
Speaker: Like Dolly would be your Reno.
Speaker: Sort of.
Speaker: Powerhouse.
Speaker: Blase.
Speaker: I don't know.
Speaker: It's just something cheeky in the
Speaker: it's a little bit cheeky it's a bit cheeky well it's not your it's your typical leading lady in the sense of like the actresses playing them are your typical leading ladies but it's not the typical leading lady character of the time oh definitely not no like even like obviously you think of like babe pajama game like she is still quite like wow like big and brassy and exciting but she you you still have that kind of ingenue feel don't you that you feel
Speaker: she's kind of innocent going into this partnership where with Reno, she's basically like, I'm a bombshell, baby.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: It's obviously like the show itself, which we'll come into, is like very sexually liberating, but it really holds like no... What's so... Oh God, we're moving on too fast, but it's just such a good show.
Speaker: What is so interesting about it is it places zero importance or kind of like zero villain, hero, mother whore dichotomy...
Speaker: against like the characters sexual like practices so actually quite a lot of the characters are very openly have just been shagging about basically but there's never any sense of that affecting one of their future romantic partnerships or whether they're seen as like villains or heroes like it's just it's very sexually liberated in that way where they kind of like irma for example obviously she talks openly about
Speaker: kind of getting off with the sailors and like having multiple partners and stuff like that but it's never used in a way that's like kind of Edo Annie sometimes where it's like oh she's silly and young and she's kind of lost a bit of herself and she needs someone to rein her in it's just like oh that's Irma and that's perfectly cool and she still has a boyfriend even though he's a gangster yeah yeah there's quite a lot of references because it doesn't even hope who is supposed to be that sort of ingenue like more innocent type character
Speaker: one of the opening scenes is that they talk about having sex in the back of the taxi, don't they?
Speaker: Exactly.
Speaker: For 1930s, that's pretty unheard of.
Speaker: Yeah, it's madness to say that she's engaged to this other man and her first opening scene is, and she very much is like, she's like, oh, blah, blah, blah.
Speaker: I find her a bit annoying, to be honest.
Speaker: I feel like what helps the story, though, is that because it's so chaotic,
Speaker: the audience just like go along with it.
Speaker: Like I feel like anything, anything goes, literally anything goes in the show and people will be like, okay, like they'll just follow along.
Speaker: Like I think at one point there's a disguise with like a Pomeranian where the Pomeranian's fur is made into a beard and then they're like, oh yeah, that's someone different because he's got a beard now.
Speaker: It's just like, it's just so chaotic.
Speaker: So many things happen that you're like, what the hell?
Speaker: But it just works.
Speaker: It really, really works.
Speaker: Yeah, and I think you're so right.
Speaker: I think even just the title itself,
Speaker: Basically is like a catch all for being like any kind of preconceived mindsets that you come into or any kind of formula that you have for other shows at the time.
Speaker: Like it goes out the window and you do just enter into like quite a random world of expressionism where like everything is just fine.
Speaker: And just as soon as something happens, you just automatically like consume it.
Speaker: And you're like, yeah, cool, great, we're moving.
Speaker: Like, that's what's going on.
Speaker: Like, it's just so random.
Speaker: And now a tap dancing.
Speaker: Like, it just came to you.
Speaker: Like, it's such a well-crafted show, I think, that it can make you do that.
Speaker: It can throw all of your preconceived notions out the window and you just accept whatever is happening on stage.
Speaker: And that's probably why it's had such longevity, because it's so fun.
Speaker: And you are allowed to have fun with it.
Speaker: Anyway, we're moving on very fast.
Speaker: But this is honestly, it's the best show ever.
Speaker: Watch that BBC version, guys.
Speaker: The show went through many drafts and rewrites, with the first iteration including plotlines such as bomb threats, shipwrecks, and even a human trafficking storyline on a desert island.
Speaker: I'm glad that didn't get put in.
Speaker: Well, it's the way why.
Speaker: Very sadly, a few weeks before the show was due to open in 1934, there was a fire on a passenger ship.
Speaker: called the SS Morrow Castle, where over 130 passengers and crew died.
Speaker: So there are kind of two stories reported on why the show didn't open in 1934 and why the script went under rewrites.
Speaker: One is that Vincent Freedley, the producer, thought that putting the show on just after this horrific accident would be improper or in kind of bad taste and asked the writers to change parts of the script that were similar to the circumstances of the crash.
Speaker: The other is that the original draft was apparently an absolute dumpster fire.
Speaker: It was just so, so bad.
Speaker: And they used the accident to kind of like basically allow them time to completely redraft it and come at it again.
Speaker: So the original book writers weren't available.
Speaker: So the director Howard Lindsay and collaborator Russell Cruz took on the job of rewriting an entirely new book.
Speaker: So Ethel Merman served as the bassist for Reno Sweeney.
Speaker: The main male and the supporting male characters, Billy Crocker and Moonface Martin, were actually written for the comedy duo William Gaxton and Victor Moore.
Speaker: And of course, we have the wonderful Cole Porter doing music and lyrics.
Speaker: So the show officially debuted at the Alvin Theatre on November 21st, 1934 and ran for 420 performances.
Speaker: It was directed by the book racer, Howard Lindsay,
Speaker: choreographed by Robert Alton and it starred Ethel Merman as Reno Sweeney, William Gaxon as Billy Crocker, Victor Moore as Boonface Martin, Bettina Hall as Hope Parker, which I was like Bettina, you never hear of that name anymore, gorgeous name, Bettina, and Leslie Barry as Lord Evelyn Oakley.
Speaker: The show has been frequently revived over the years and with each revival small adaptions to the book and score have happened with each new show.
Speaker: And it's definitely worth noting today that we will be specifically talking about the book and the score from the 1987 revival, which has kind of served as the basis for any revival since.
Speaker: And the kind of tours and productions from 2011 onwards use the 1987 revival.
Speaker: And if you don't know what the story is about, let me tell you.
Speaker: So it's a little bit of one of those, it's one of those plots where there's lots that's going on at once.
Speaker: And I'm gonna try to explain it in the most succinct way possible because also it is a comedy and hence why there's so many kind of mistaken identities and lots of kind of plots within plots and plots that don't really lead anywhere.
Speaker: So we kind of open with meeting a young Wall Street broker named Billy.
Speaker: who is helping his boss Whitney prepare for a trip to London and he's about to get onto the ship SS American.
Speaker: American?
Speaker: American.
Speaker: You know why I call it American.
Speaker: Whitney then tells Billy the next morning he has to make a huge sale of their assets which apparently are sinking.
Speaker: Pardon the pun.
Speaker: The same day, Billy meets his friend, nightclub singer Reno, who is leaving on the same ship, which his boss Whitney is leaving on.
Speaker: And cut long story short, Billy ends up jumping onto this boat because he sees a woman who he has fallen in love with called Hope, who is also on the ship at the same time.
Speaker: We learn that Hope is in fact the
Speaker: about to be married to an English fiance named Lord Evelyn Oakley and Hope has a mother called Evangeline.
Speaker: Billy then chats with Hope on the boat.
Speaker: This is a really like short version of explaining everything that happens.
Speaker: Basically, Billy has a chat with Hope and expresses his love for her.
Speaker: She expresses it back for him.
Speaker: However, she cannot marry Billy because her family are in huge debt, hence why she's having to marry this English lord Oakley.
Speaker: We then meet some of my favourite characters, Moonface Martin, who is public enemy number one.
Speaker: joined by his kind of partner, Irma, who is the girlfriend of public enemy number one, Snake Eyes Johnson, who we never meet.
Speaker: However, that's a very important piece of information because Billy, who shouldn't be on the boat, then takes Snake Eyes Johnson's ID and he uses it and basically disguises himself as that person on the boat.
Speaker: Then as we go through the plot we learn that Reno is in love with Billy, but Billy is obviously in love with Hope.
Speaker: And then Reno meets Evelyn and she falls in love with him.
Speaker: We then establish the two main relationships within the plot, which is Reno and Evelyn and Billy and Hope.
Speaker: At the end of the plot, Reno and Evelyn end up getting married and Billy and Hope end up getting married and all their financial toil is kind of put to rest because it turns out that the assets that Billy was supposed to be selling actually have gone up in value and Whitney, his boss, has made loads of money.
Speaker: So everyone that was complaining about the fact they had no money has now suddenly got lots of money.
Speaker: So that is a very, very short version of the plot.
Speaker: Um...
Speaker: It's definitely worth saying that the plot is crazy.
Speaker: There's so many more little things that happen.
Speaker: And I have not done justice to the smaller parts, i.e.
Speaker: Irma.
Speaker: She has some really, really funny bits.
Speaker: And Moonface Martin has some hilarious skits, especially when he's in jail and he sings a whole song about a bluebird.
Speaker: It's very, very funny.
Speaker: But you'll have to watch the show to find out more.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: Yeah, and like, it's definitely the thing with Anything Goes is they are constantly chasing a gag.
Speaker: So like, whatever is going to be funny, they'll like put their characters in situations that might not even advance the plot, or like hinder it in any kind of way to it's just there because they're like seeking a gag.
Speaker: So
Speaker: There's a random bit where Evangeline has a dog on the ship, which just feels mental to me anyway.
Speaker: I just don't think dogs belong on ships.
Speaker: I don't think it's safe for them.
Speaker: And she's lost the dog and obviously her kind of love interest, Mr. Whitney, he's wanting to propose to her and he's helping her look for the dog.
Speaker: And then Moonface Martin comes and the dog's annoying him or something.
Speaker: So then he like...
Speaker: Where's the... I think he throws the dog overboard...
Speaker: but then at one point wears the dog as a beard as like part of his disguise.
Speaker: So like none of this does anything to like a bounce of the plot, but it's just there for the gag.
Speaker: He takes, no, he takes the fur, I thought of the dog and puts it around Billy's face as another disguise because Billy has all these different disguises.
Speaker: Like he's dressed as a sailor.
Speaker: Then he's dressed as like this mysterious man with a beard.
Speaker: Like there's lots of different random disguises to basically cover up the fact that he's Billy.
Speaker: And also actually that reminds me there's a very funny bit where the ship are basically really wanting a kind of like a celebrity.
Speaker: And when they find out that there could be this like public enemy, number one, snake eyes Johnson, who's actually secretly Billy, they have like a whole bit where they're like, Oh my God, we've brought a celebrity on board.
Speaker: And that's just like, again, such a random, like, it's so funny.
Speaker: Like the way they do it as well.
Speaker: It's like,
Speaker: the i don't know the fbi i think the fbi are on the ship hilariously and they're like we've got him in custody it's moon face mark or it's sorry it's snake eyes johnson take him away boys and the captain's like what would you do that for it's such an honor we've got public enemy number one oh dear oh it is yeah it's a very very fun show kind of as we were saying and
Speaker: all these random bits you just completely buy into it because they're moving so far away from the kind of standard of American musicals.
Speaker: But they also just set it up as such a... In every scene, someone is being silly and having fun.
Speaker: There's no serious moments.
Speaker: It's just this kind of complete expressionism, complete... What's the word?
Speaker: It's complete escapism.
Speaker: And you've got to think as well, backdrop of that is what we're in 1934,
Speaker: America's still kind of in the throes of the Great Depression.
Speaker: People really don't actually have tickets to, you know, they don't have the money to buy tickets for these shows, but that did really, really well on Broadway because I think people wanted that.
Speaker: I think they were fine with just going in and having a complete and utter lovely time without thinking about anything serious and just kind of buying into the joy, I think, of that show and just anything goes.
Speaker: Anything goes.
Speaker: How many times do you think we're going to say anything goes throughout this podcast episode?
Speaker: I don't know, but I feel like if this was like a different show, we'd have a shot every single time we said it.
Speaker: I think it'd be a very different podcast by the end of it.
Speaker: Or we should do a drunk episode once.
Speaker: That would be so funny.
Speaker: That would be... Actually, that really reminds me.
Speaker: There's a... In Edinburgh, they have a shit-faced Shakespeare where I think... Isn't one of the cast members gets really, really drunk and then they do the show?
Speaker: Yeah, so it's like every night a different cast member will get drunk and do the show.
Speaker: I've seen it a couple.
Speaker: It is good.
Speaker: Is it good?
Speaker: Yeah, it's really good.
Speaker: It's really good.
Speaker: It's quite chaotic.
Speaker: It's very chaotic.
Speaker: But then half of it, you know, as with everything in theatre, like sometimes you're like, didn't really land.
Speaker: Or no, more just like, are they really drunk?
Speaker: ah or is it acting and scene yeah which is fine obviously i'm not advocating for a job requiring you to get drunk one day of the week that would be so weird can you imagine like you're imagine seeing that in like the job center being like do you enjoy getting drunk you can do it one day a week for this job so just before we move on to the songs i just wanted to say a few words about the magnificent cole porter so cole albert porter was born in
Speaker: in 1881 to a very well off family in Indiana.
Speaker: His grandfather was keen for the young Porter to study law, but Cole Porter practicing his kind of non-conformity from a young age completely defied his wishes and began a career in music, more specifically composing for musical theatre.
Speaker: So Cole, unlike many of his kind of composing peers at the time, wrote lyrics as well as music.
Speaker: And he also kind of famously never orchestrated any of his shows.
Speaker: with his lyrics becoming well known for their pop culture references, witty innuendo, light and cheekiness.
Speaker: His most successful show, Kiss Me Kate, which is fantastic, would go on to win the Tony Award for Best Musical, and many of his songs have gone on to become classic American standards, such as Easy to Love from Anything Goes, Night and Day from The Gay Divorcee, and I Happened to Like New York from The New Yorkers.
Speaker: Cole served in the French Foreign Legion during World War I and soon after the war ended he kind of stayed in Paris in this really fancy apartment where he basically just held like kind of fabulous parties so these kind of parties I will quote who they said that they were kind of with so quote with much gay and bisexual activity Italian nobility cross-dressing international musicians and a large surplus of recreational drugs
Speaker: Apart from the drugs, because I don't do drugs, that sounds fucking great.
Speaker: Literally.
Speaker: Like, I'm an Italian nobility, gay behaviour, international musicians and drag.
Speaker: That sounds excellent.
Speaker: I'm here for all of that.
Speaker: And I'm fine if you want to do drugs.
Speaker: That is your prerogative.
Speaker: But honestly, imagine being a fly on the wall at one of his Paris parties.
Speaker: I will be high on life.
Speaker: I will be very drunk on champagne.
Speaker: There's a lot of smoke and mirrors about Cole's sexuality but it's kind of largely accepted that he was gay and he married Linda Lee Thomas, a very rich older divorcee, as a kind of semi-lavender marriage.
Speaker: So lavender marriages obviously at the time was when two gay people would marry and kind of appear to society to be in a heteronormative relationship whilst obviously both being gay and having...
Speaker: relationships outside of the marriage which was kind of agreed but this is really not to say obviously lindalee thomas was not gay that's why i said sama uh this is really not to say that it was like a sham marriage at all they genuinely really loved and respected one another they enjoyed traveling together and linda became a kind of
Speaker: confidant for Cole throughout his career.
Speaker: Linda had been in an abusive marriage before and obviously Cole was homosexual in a time where it was illegal and kind of historians basically kind of say that they just sought kind of safety in one another and they remained married and devoted to one another until Linda died in 1954.
Speaker: Cole would go on to kind of have a very odd and successful career
Speaker: He was constantly creating and writing new musicals, films, scores, pop songs, but with varied success across the boards.
Speaker: Obviously his biggest was Kiss Me Kate and Anything Goes.
Speaker: But a lot of songs from his lesser known musicals have gone on to become standard songbook songs.
Speaker: And he's widely regarded as one of the best lyricists of that era.
Speaker: He eventually succumbed to kidney failure, age 73 in 1964, 10 years after his beloved Linda died.
Speaker: And to be honest, there are a million things I could say about Cole Porter.
Speaker: He's one of my favourite composers, lyricists of all time.
Speaker: I think he brought a sense of like fun to musical theatre that has been unmatched since.
Speaker: But the most important thing to say is the way that he kind of refused to conform to the heteronormative and pious view of the kind of typical early American musicals.
Speaker: is just absolutely fantastic and he really did lead his work with a sense of mischief debauchery and fun which I am here for
Speaker: Okay, so talking of the title song, Anything Goes, it is one of my favourites.
Speaker: As I said before, I haven't really seen the show before we started talking about what we're going to do.
Speaker: But I knew the song because, as we've mentioned, Cole Porter's songs have kind of been scattered about.
Speaker: But I'll talk a little bit about that later.
Speaker: I've got something on that.
Speaker: But Anything Goes...
Speaker: is really interesting.
Speaker: I think it's quite ironic because it's sort of talking about how life is now scandalous and nothing is as it was before.
Speaker: And I find that quite funny because I feel like if the people from the 1930s now saw what life was like in 2023, we could have an Anything Goes revival part two of these and now.
Speaker: Like updated lyrics to Anything Goes.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: That's so good.
Speaker: I feel like it would be quite a sad version of anything goes.
Speaker: I feel like with everything going on at the moment, it would be like, anything goes.
Speaker: It would be like, anything goes wrong.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: Everything goes.
Speaker: Like all the little things, like if bare limbs you like, it's like, oh, shocking.
Speaker: Bare limbs.
Speaker: Stockings.
Speaker: Matron.
Speaker: Well, there is a, I do love the bit that it said, it's like, if young bears you like, which I'm presuming isn't referenced to gay bears.
Speaker: Yeah, that's what I thought as well.
Speaker: And then if, if grandmama who's ages 80 in nightclubs is getting, getting shady, I think with gigolos.
Speaker: With gigolos.
Speaker: I love that line.
Speaker: I know.
Speaker: And there's quite a lot of references to Coke in the musical as well.
Speaker: There's so many references to Coke.
Speaker: So it's like he's putting his little parties in there, which I think is really nice because I think if this musical was to be set nowadays, Reno would be such an ally.
Speaker: I think she's... I just love her.
Speaker: I love her.
Speaker: I was standing her when I was watching it.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: And I love that line where she's like, if me west you like, if me undressed you like.
Speaker: And it's just like.
Speaker: It's so, yeah, it's so like tongue in cheek, isn't it?
Speaker: Yeah, yeah.
Speaker: That's what I said before.
Speaker: She's a bit cheeky.
Speaker: She would be Debra Messing.
Speaker: She'd be the Debra Messing of our time.
Speaker: Yes.
Speaker: Yes.
Speaker: Oh my God, definitely.
Speaker: I love Debra Messing.
Speaker: If Debra Messing could sing, bless her.
Speaker: She's not very good.
Speaker: I mean, she admits it.
Speaker: She admits it, but...
Speaker: So there's quite a lot of references to pop culture in Anything Goes, which I really like.
Speaker: Like pop culture of the 1930s.
Speaker: So like Rockefeller, Max Gordon, all these kind of names that would have been big names in 19... I mean, some of them are still big names today, but definitely back in 1930s, it was kind of all the pop culture references, which is very gay.
Speaker: Well, pop culture references.
Speaker: Just pop culture references, yeah.
Speaker: It's very like... That's the thing now, isn't it?
Speaker: The gays have a hold of pop culture references.
Speaker: They always have, I think.
Speaker: I think this is what this proves.
Speaker: They always have.
Speaker: And they always will.
Speaker: And can we just say that a lot of sailors is also very queer-coded, right?
Speaker: They're all more erotic.
Speaker: But it is, it's just... It's so interesting hearing your perspective because I just thought like, oh, so I see all these sailors.
Speaker: But now I'm like, oh my God, I'm really like rethinking everything.
Speaker: I'm like, wow, it does mean that.
Speaker: Yeah, like, I think, I mean, a lot of the time you write what you know, and I feel like you probably would write a character with yourself in mind, and I think if it was sort of, it wasn't the thing then to be gay, and, like, it was illegal, and maybe he's put himself into this character a little bit.
Speaker: But then I suppose you've got to, so we're talking about Cole Porter, like, for music and lyrics, but
Speaker: He, I mean, obviously Ethel Mermans is serving as the basis for Reno.
Speaker: And then it would have been the book writers that probably took more of a lead on that.
Speaker: Yeah, true.
Speaker: I'm just thinking more lyrically wise for Anything Goes.
Speaker: Because he did all lyrics, right?
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: I suppose.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: I suppose maybe anything goes as his like war cry for.
Speaker: Like it's just it's just purely about hedonism, basically.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: Basically just saying do absolutely whatever you want with no regard to anyone else.
Speaker: And obviously that is fun and we love that.
Speaker: But it is very much like this.
Speaker: I mean, it's a very American view.
Speaker: where it's very siloed, isn't it?
Speaker: It's just like, do what you want.
Speaker: Everything's great.
Speaker: Anything goes.
Speaker: Oh, gosh, that was really bad.
Speaker: But, yeah, it's like that kind of very American view.
Speaker: Another accent.
Speaker: Another accent.
Speaker: Of where it's just kind of like one focus, I guess, and that is just you and yourself and whatever you want to do.
Speaker: No, yeah, sorry.
Speaker: Yeah, I should have, sorry, I probably should have been clear on that.
Speaker: I just mean like in that song in specifics.
Speaker: in specifics god in that song specifically i feel like that's kind of him putting all of his maybe wants and desires onto reno rather you know i mean rather than seeing himself as reno he's probably putting all of his sort of like desires and the things that he likes and all that kind of things but reno's singing it so it's fine yeah definitely like it definitely gives a sense of his
Speaker: perhaps what he is regarding it as important at that time.
Speaker: Yeah, like with the reference to bears, which is very wildly known to be a term for a specific type of gay man, it wouldn't make sense, really, for re-noticing that.
Speaker: So I think it is kind of him putting himself in this song and being like, well, what do you like?
Speaker: And it's probably, there's an innuendo there that his straight counterparts
Speaker: writing team would not get that.
Speaker: Yeah, exactly.
Speaker: So that feels like a little, like something he's just added in.
Speaker: It's like a little secret, isn't it?
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: With young bears, you like, I've always thought that was fascinating whenever I've listened to that.
Speaker: I wonder if like you were a young, kind of liberated gay person in Paris that's like, oh, Cole's just written a musical.
Speaker: I'm going to listen to it.
Speaker: And then you hear your young bears.
Speaker: You're like, oh my God.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: But yes, so I just love that song.
Speaker: And I just think there's so many little nitpick bits that you can pick out of it and sort of dissect and things like that.
Speaker: And also, they did it on Glee, which is where I first heard that song.
Speaker: That's so funny.
Speaker: And became obsessed with it.
Speaker: Oh God, that's so good.
Speaker: I don't remember the episode where they did that in Glee.
Speaker: Yeah, it was one of the girls that was... I think she was...
Speaker: She didn't win the Glee Project.
Speaker: I think she was on the Glee Project.
Speaker: And it's where Rachel and Kurt go to see one of the rival high schools.
Speaker: And she's sort of like the girls like, oh, you must watch her new number.
Speaker: And then just go straight into times have changed.
Speaker: Oh my God, I need to rewatch that right now.
Speaker: I need to watch that.
Speaker: And Rachel Berry loves a little sailor outfit.
Speaker: That's true.
Speaker: She does, but she wasn't in it.
Speaker: It's...
Speaker: I'm pretty sure it's the rival club singing it and I'm pretty sure that is like her and Kurt are kind of looking at it like with jealous eyes because this girl's just like belting out anything goes
Speaker: All right.
Speaker: So there's one thing that you can say about Cole Porter and Anything Goes in general.
Speaker: They love a duet.
Speaker: The show is absolutely choking with them.
Speaker: So we have... Honestly, it's crazy.
Speaker: Sorry.
Speaker: I love that.
Speaker: I love that you use that word to describe...
Speaker: It's choking with them.
Speaker: It's choking with them.
Speaker: Duets have a chokehold on this musical.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: It has a chokehold on me.
Speaker: So we have All Through the Night, Easy to Love, Friendship, which is one of my faves.
Speaker: It's Da Lovely.
Speaker: Big up Da Lovely.
Speaker: Love that song.
Speaker: You're the top.
Speaker: So as we've kind of said, where Cole differs from other musical peers of that time is that he really doesn't reserve his best writing or his best duets for his romantic couples.
Speaker: And actually anything goes really differs from early forms of American musicals as it doesn't have the kind of classic romantic couple comedy couple.
Speaker: Although we might see elements in both, we can see Billy and Hope as the most earnest, most naive couple.
Speaker: And Reno and Evelyn as kind of the more comedy, the more sexy, the more debauchers kind.
Speaker: The three couples, so Billy, Hope, Reno, Evelyn, Mr. Whitney and Evangeline really are given perhaps not equal time, but certain kind of equal validity and equal footing as they traverse similar obstacles to kind of get to one another.
Speaker: So what I love even more about this kind of odd dynamic, this like lots of couple pairing and this ensemble cast is the importance that Porter gives to kind of platonic relationships as well throughout the show.
Speaker: So some of his best songwriting, I think, in the show comes out of these friendship duets.
Speaker: So we have a couple kind of peppered and the one that I'm going to talk about is You're the Top.
Speaker: So this is sang just after Reno bumps into Billy on the ship and apologises.
Speaker: Basically, the previous night before they got on the ship, Reno says, why don't you marry me, Billy?
Speaker: And he says no, that he's in love with Hope.
Speaker: She apologises for this kind of out of the blue proposal.
Speaker: And Billy talks about hope with her, basically lamenting that he doesn't feel like he's good enough for her.
Speaker: And Reno responds like a true pal, really buoying Billy with all the reasons why she thinks he's the top, with Billy responding in kind.
Speaker: What Cole does in this number, which kind of really no other composers at the time had dared to do at such scale, was use pop culture references in his lyrics completely engaged throughout.
Speaker: So he kind of elevated these numbers from, like,
Speaker: classic beautiful prose about friendship um and a lot of numbers before that they would have that longevity because they're not tied to a particular time um to really music of the here and now that really resonated with his audiences so he named dropped celebrities tidbits of gossip products and jingles of the 30s all with a sense of tongues firmly in cheeks um
Speaker: The duet doesn't really do that much to move the story on at all, apart from kind of just re-establish Reno and Billy as just friends and allies.
Speaker: With Reno and I advocating on his behalf for his relationship with Hope, despite previously having been in love with him, that's never really explored again.
Speaker: There's no other big jealous bit she is.
Speaker: She might reserve some feelings for Billy, but really she's here for his relationship with Hope.
Speaker: And what's delivered is a gorgeous, really fun number that is really cleverly written.
Speaker: So the number is very similar to I Can Do Without You, which we covered in our Clemity Jane episode available on Spotify and Apple Podcasts.
Speaker: It's a variation on the counterpoint US.
Speaker: So at first, Reno begins with a pre-verse, outlining her aims of the number by saying, at words poetic, I'm so pathetic that I always have found it best instead of getting them off my chest to let them rest unexpressed.
Speaker: I hate parading my serenading as I'll probably miss a bar.
Speaker: But if this dissy is not so pretty, at least it'll tell you how great you are.
Speaker: So essentially, she's just saying it's kind of a weird reason to have a song, which I don't mind because it's fun.
Speaker: where she's basically like, I'm shit at words, so let me just tell you a bunch of statements about why I think you're great.
Speaker: So she then moves into the main melody with her first set of kind of convincing statements, the reasons why she thinks Billy is great.
Speaker: So a couple of these are, you're the top, you're the Coliseum, you're the top, you're the Louvre Museum.
Speaker: Billy then responds with a further pre-verse that outlines his aims, which is essentially, I also think you're great.
Speaker: And he dives into his first set of convincing statements.
Speaker: So his are slightly more interesting, I think, at the start bit.
Speaker: You're the top.
Speaker: You're Mahatma Gandhi.
Speaker: You're the top.
Speaker: You're Napoleon Brandy.
Speaker: You're the purple light of a summer night in Spain.
Speaker: You're the National Gallery.
Speaker: You're Garbo Salary.
Speaker: One of my favourite lyrics, you're cellophane.
Speaker: And he really, what I love about that line is he really shouts it.
Speaker: I don't know if you guys have heard, but he goes, you're a celibate.
Speaker: Yeah, like it's this like amazing thing.
Speaker: But I, you know what though, this song, I love this song, but when I first heard it, I was so confused by their relationship.
Speaker: So I was like, does he, does he like her?
Speaker: But I think because it's so like jokey, I guess he is just establishing like, they're just friends.
Speaker: But I see, I think it is Cole Porter just giving equal credence and equal importance to platonic relationships.
Speaker: Yeah, that's true.
Speaker: That is true.
Speaker: Because I think of like, as Casey was saying, him, I suppose him bringing his worldviews into numbers.
Speaker: Like he at that time is with him in a marriage with a woman who they aren't romantically engaged, but they're very much like a partnership and he loves and respects her.
Speaker: So I think it's, I don't know.
Speaker: I think he probably just had a philosophy on like platonic and romantic relationships.
Speaker: Being just as important.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: yeah yeah um so as as with i can do without you they sing separately on the same melody until the end and then convinced of each other's greatness they sing a last kind of rousing um but if baby i'm the bottom you're the top which is just a great lyric isn't it um in gorgeous harmony which also wink wink could be another sneaky little reference in there
Speaker: I've also thought that that you're the top, you're the bottom is a reference to...
Speaker: to gay sex.
Speaker: How have I never clocked this?
Speaker: I've always been like, baby, oh, the bottom.
Speaker: Just being like, in my room, being like, what a great line.
Speaker: And I'm like, no, now I understand.
Speaker: Everything is, everything is not what it seems.
Speaker: You know what, I had this even as a kid.
Speaker: I had this with like, really obvious songs, like Rihanna, when she came up with S and M. I had no idea what that meant.
Speaker: And I was there just like, S, S, and M. And now I'm like, now I know what that word means.
Speaker: So...
Speaker: Thank you.
Speaker: Thank you for educating Florence.
Speaker: But I think it is a total like Cole Porter perhaps speaking to the queer community through anything goes moment where he's just dropping and it's just part of his cheekiness.
Speaker: I think he's dropping these little these little like nuggets.
Speaker: for people, there's little Easter eggs almost for people to pick up on and he's just trying to get in like I honestly think as cheeky as because they used to say that his lyrics were really vulgar so I think this is him trying to be like fine I'll be a bit more corporate but I'm just throwing some stuff in yeah because it's all things as well that I mean it's kind of more recognised now but definitely in the 1930s if you weren't gay you wouldn't have understood the reference of bottom and top or bear or anything like that
Speaker: So I think it's kind of his cheeky little way of getting them in there without nobody even knowing.
Speaker: And everything kind of slipping through the net because nobody would have picked up on it.
Speaker: Yeah, completely.
Speaker: I think it is just him being like, wink, wink, nudge, nudge.
Speaker: Like, if this is for you, you'll get it, kind of thing.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: It can also be described as a combo of the counterpoint you hit and a list song.
Speaker: So a list song is essentially, it does what it says on the tin.
Speaker: it's a song kind of more in standard American musical theater where you just list a bunch of stuff.
Speaker: So like the classic one is a modern major general from Gilbert and Sullivan's Pirates of Pinsence.
Speaker: Like I'm the very modern, I can never remember it.
Speaker: Modern.
Speaker: I should remember this because people used it all the time as like a warmup.
Speaker: A patter song.
Speaker: I am the very modern major of a modern major.
Speaker: Oh, I should really know this.
Speaker: It's a bit like Peter Piper picked a pickled pepper.
Speaker: Like that will always be in my head.
Speaker: And I should know modern major general.
Speaker: Modern major general.
Speaker: Yeah, I should know that.
Speaker: Maybe I'll learn that for the next episode.
Speaker: Both Billy and Reno essentially just list a lot of things that the others are like that make them the top rather than being like, you're actually a kind person and you did this for me once.
Speaker: They're just like, you are, at one point they just say, you're broccoli, which I love that.
Speaker: Maybe broccoli was new at the time.
Speaker: It was like a vegetable that you can't get your hands on.
Speaker: I don't know.
Speaker: But at one point, Reno just screams, yeah, broccoli, which just brings me so much joy.
Speaker: What I especially love about this number is,
Speaker: is now when we listen to it in 2023, the long list of references provided by Billy and Reno not only gives us insight, kind of as Casey was saying, to the pop culture space of the 30s, but also to Porter's own thoughts and his own opinions, as he mentions creatives that he highly regards.
Speaker: For example, Billy says, your Garbo salary, so that's obviously Greta Garbo, and Garbo is mentioned a further three times throughout the show in kind of little random interactions.
Speaker: So clearly he thought Garbo was worth her salary,
Speaker: which I looked up.
Speaker: So guess how much you think in 1934's money, Greg Arbo reportedly earned for one year.
Speaker: So in 1934 money.
Speaker: Oh, I'm going to get this wrong.
Speaker: It's probably like, I'm going to say $10 million.
Speaker: What, in 1934 money?
Speaker: See, this is where I'm going wrong.
Speaker: I have no concept of value of anything.
Speaker: I'd be like, 100 million.
Speaker: 100 billion.
Speaker: I have no idea.
Speaker: I'm going to say... 1 million. 130,000.
Speaker: Casey's closer.
Speaker: Oh, shame.
Speaker: So in 1934, Greg Garbo reportedly earned $480,000 for the year.
Speaker: Wow.
Speaker: And that was a good year of work, which is equivalent now to almost $11 million.
Speaker: See, now I was close with that.
Speaker: I'm kind of mad.
Speaker: I was close.
Speaker: If I was today, see, I would be in the right ballpark.
Speaker: Yep.
Speaker: Yep.
Speaker: Yep.
Speaker: Oh dear.
Speaker: Which is kind of mad because she was the star of her era.
Speaker: I suppose it just goes to show now how... Because I do think Hollywood actors and actresses these days are vastly overpaid.
Speaker: I think it's kind of disgusting that some can earn that much money on a film.
Speaker: Not to say that I don't think actors should be well paid, but I don't think that anyone should earn five million.
Speaker: I think it's to do with box office though.
Speaker: A lot of the time, if it's a huge film...
Speaker: surely because I was really surprised sorry this is so random apparently the guy who plays John Wick earns like mega bucks and I've never but yeah and I I watched John Wick's the other night and I was like it's good but I wasn't like it's you know phenomenal but he gets paid so much money to do those movies I just think it's I really disagree with that I just don't think there's
Speaker: I think fine if everyone in the world was like having a lovely time and was being paid really well and no one was living in poverty and no one was dying because they couldn't afford things I'd be like sure then pay them whatever because everyone else is fine but I just it is unfathomable to me so like Keanu Reeves how much did he get paid for John Wick 15 million
Speaker: No one needs 15 million for eight months worth of work.
Speaker: I think that's obscene.
Speaker: But it's mad, even without, you can disagree with that.
Speaker: That's just my thoughts.
Speaker: I think it's utterly vile.
Speaker: But even without that, Greg Arbo's meant to be the star of her time, right?
Speaker: And comparatively, so that's someone earning 15 million for one film.
Speaker: She probably did, what, like three, four films that year?
Speaker: So even comparably, they are being paid a lot more now.
Speaker: Yeah, definitely.
Speaker: But I think they're also making a lot more money off of things now.
Speaker: Like, I think...
Speaker: in the 1930s there wouldn't have been things like merch or like soundtracks and things like that that they were bringing out.
Speaker: I mean, maybe for a musical, but for movies and things like that, there wouldn't have been sort of press tours like we have today and all the sort of collaborations and things.
Speaker: So I think they are probably making more off films today than they would have been.
Speaker: Also things like... I don't think they are because I think the market's saturated.
Speaker: I know most films don't break even.
Speaker: They just serve as advertisements for other stuff.
Speaker: You know, I suppose, like, if you think about that... But with residuals and things.
Speaker: Yeah, that's true, yeah.
Speaker: They wouldn't have really... Like, literally, 1932, you would have gone and watched a movie, and that would have been it.
Speaker: Like, you wouldn't have watched it again.
Speaker: Whereas July 21st, everyone's got a really tough decision to make.
Speaker: LAUGHTER
Speaker: I saw quite a funny thing, actually, and it was like every 30 years we're asked to make a decision.
Speaker: And it was like in the paper.
Speaker: I don't know if you've seen the tweet.
Speaker: Hang fire.
Speaker: No, I haven't.
Speaker: What was last year's then?
Speaker: No, no, it was like every 30.
Speaker: Every 30.
Speaker: Every 30.
Speaker: I'm going to have to find it because it made me really giggle.
Speaker: It's a lot.
Speaker: I feel like I'd want to go see Barbie first because I feel like I'd want to be happy before I go see Oppenheimer rather than seeing Oppenheimer and then being like, oh God, the atom bomb and then seeing Barbie and being like, oh God, what am I doing?
Speaker: Like, I feel like I'd want to see it that way.
Speaker: Yeah, I think Barbie first, then a lovely, delightful lunch with like cocktails.
Speaker: Yeah, get a bit tixie.
Speaker: And then Oppenheimer and then you have like maybe a nice little coffee and dessert.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: I love this.
Speaker: Just sober up.
Speaker: Oh dear.
Speaker: It's going to really bother me that, but basically it was like in the 70s I think Grease and Jaws 2 came out the same day.
Speaker: Then not long ago, obviously there's Barbie and Oppenheimer.
Speaker: Then one was like Hocus Pocus and then something else that was really like gritty.
Speaker: And it was just kind of this gritty action type film versus a really campy, fun movie.
Speaker: And they all came out every... It might have been 20 years, actually.
Speaker: But every 20 years on the same day.
Speaker: That's so funny.
Speaker: So, Carrie O'Dell actually did a really great article about You're the Top.
Speaker: And they kind of cite just quite a cute little fun fact.
Speaker: They say legend has it that Cole Porter wrote, you're the top or most of it, whilst on a cruise on the Rhine River.
Speaker: So he pulled his fellow passengers to tell him what they considered the most important in life from their kind of assorted eclectic answers.
Speaker: Porter fashioned the song a duet, a sort of call and response in which two characters attempt to one-up each other with creative compliments.
Speaker: By the end of the song, roughly 10 verses, an astonishing 37 persons, places or things have been mentioned, making it one of Porter's most densely populated list songs.
Speaker: So, out of all the you're the top statements, which is your favourite?
Speaker: I can start us off with a couple.
Speaker: So, I love the ones that are just referring to really random objects.
Speaker: So, cellophane, broccoli, camembert, just that as like a whole thing.
Speaker: Just be like, you're camembert, because camembert is the best.
Speaker: I also love in the revival that me and Flo both watched,
Speaker: The guy who was in it does a good... And it's gorgeous, but most of the time when they say, you're the moon over Mae West's shoulder, they just kind of throw it away.
Speaker: So they're like, you're the moon over Mae West's shoulder.
Speaker: This guy really just decided for some reason that this was his moment to make his voice heard.
Speaker: And he goes, you're the moon over Mae West's shoulder.
Speaker: Love a bit of vibrato.
Speaker: It's absolutely gorgeous, but every time I saw it, because I saw the show a couple times, I'm like, oh.
Speaker: That's so funny.
Speaker: You know what, though?
Speaker: I love that in musical theatre when someone just, like, vibs the hell out of a line and you're like, good for you.
Speaker: You're just like, that is just so, it's so empty.
Speaker: Like, no one asked for it, but you delivered it and it's fantastic.
Speaker: It's brilliant.
Speaker: It kills me every time because he goes into, like, this beautiful closet.
Speaker: He's like,
Speaker: Just going through it like And then that one time he's like You're the man It's just so good But yeah let me know what is your top What is your top You're the top statements I really enjoy your turkey dinner Because There's just nothing better than like a Christmas dinner
Speaker: Do you know what I mean?
Speaker: And I feel like that's just such a good compliment because I'm just thinking about a Sunday dinner with all the trimmings and I'm like, wow, are you better than that?
Speaker: I don't think many people are.
Speaker: This is a great measurement of friendship, isn't it?
Speaker: Or romantic partners where you're like, are these people better than camembert?
Speaker: Actually.
Speaker: I think that's a good way of seeing if you've got good friends.
Speaker: Would I describe this person as better than the Tower of Pisa, for example?
Speaker: Or the Mona Lisa.
Speaker: The Mona Lisa.
Speaker: I love.
Speaker: It's actually not one of the lines where it's like, you're the whatever.
Speaker: It's a line near the end where she says, I'm a frightened frog that can find no log to hop.
Speaker: Oh, that is funny.
Speaker: I love that line.
Speaker: It's also very sweet.
Speaker: Because it's so cute.
Speaker: And then I think there's another one which is very similar where they say, I'm a toy balloon that's fated soon to pop.
Speaker: Yeah, I like that one.
Speaker: I just, I love, it's so clever.
Speaker: Like little images that you're like, oh, I can see that.
Speaker: I like the inversions as well.
Speaker: So like he says, you're Dante's Inferno.
Speaker: I think that's quite cool.
Speaker: I also love just I don't know why it makes me laugh so much your Waldorf salad yeah I don't even know what a Waldorf salad was I think that's quite an American thing it's like a pear and well I think it's like pear walnut and like maybe blue cheese see but I I think I'd be quite offended being compared to a salad I
Speaker: I thought the Waldorf salad was based off the hotel.
Speaker: Maybe.
Speaker: I think there's a Waldorf hotel, which is what it was based on.
Speaker: The ingredients, for anyone that wants to know, um, apples, celery, grapes, and nuts in a mayonnaise-based dressing.
Speaker: Oh, I got it completely wrong there.
Speaker: Oh, really?
Speaker: What did you think it was?
Speaker: I thought it was walnuts, pear, and blue cheese.
Speaker: Close, but no cigar.
Speaker: Um,
Speaker: Glenn.
Speaker: No, I don't think I've ever had a Waldorf salad.
Speaker: I may have accidentally had one by mistake.
Speaker: It kind of sounds gross.
Speaker: Yeah, I'm not going to lie.
Speaker: Grapes in a salad freak me out.
Speaker: I can do apples, but grapes... With meal?
Speaker: Oh, it's a bit, it's giving gross vibes.
Speaker: It's giving gross vibes.
Speaker: A little fun fact, which I find quite funny because I feel like it's another one of like, it's Cole Porter's sort of slipping in his little innuendos in there.
Speaker: Is it a line like, you're the pants on a Roxy Usher?
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: Which, I mean, I know quite a lot about the Roxy Ushers because I went through a very big Golden Age movies phase when I was like 16.
Speaker: And the Roxy Ushers were like pretty much, it was like military vibes of all of these young men Ushers that would wear like tight white pants.
Speaker: Oh.
Speaker: And like they were Ushers, but it's...
Speaker: I can't, who is it that says the line?
Speaker: I think it's Reno.
Speaker: Yeah, Reno says that line.
Speaker: Because she does that weird, she goes like, Roxy, yeah.
Speaker: Yeah, it's really weird.
Speaker: Yeah, so they were all like the ushers of the time in like theatres, in the Roxy theatre.
Speaker: And it was kind of run like the military because it was like one of the biggest well-known theatres and all the ushers would be like perfectly uniformed.
Speaker: But they were known to have like these high top,
Speaker: tight white pants and it was like usually like young men oh they should bring that back i wouldn't say no to saying that but it's just interesting that cole port like like cole port was like oh the pants of a roxy osha yeah that's definitely a little a little rudeness a little bit of rudeness i like you're the moon over may west's shoulder i've always thought that was really gorgeous
Speaker: But I think my fave is just your broccoli.
Speaker: It just kills me.
Speaker: I just think it's so funny to me.
Speaker: Which I do.
Speaker: I really enjoy broccoli.
Speaker: So that's great.
Speaker: Great vegetable.
Speaker: Seasoned correctly.
Speaker: It's delicious.
Speaker: Oh, I could eat it anyway.
Speaker: Now, one of my favorite songs from Anything Goes is called It's Delovely.
Speaker: Now,
Speaker: If you don't know Anything Goes, you may have heard of It's Too Lovely anyway, because it's been covered multiple times by different celebrities, including Robbie Williams off the top of my head, Ella Fitzgerald, and there was a lovely duet with Lady Gaga as well.
Speaker: Robbie Williams was really random I didn't realise that he did one but he did it for the It's Da Lovely movie because there's the movie I don't know if it's called It's Da Lovely maybe it's just called Da Lovely about Cole Porter and he's the one singing it Ashley Judd I think plays yes so yeah fun fact who did Robbie Williams sing it with he just sang it alone I think it was just a solo act where he just sang yeah
Speaker: Love that for him.
Speaker: I know.
Speaker: So yes, it's one of Cole Porter's most well-known songs.
Speaker: And actually, it originally appeared in his 1936 musical, Red Hot and Blue.
Speaker: And it was sung by Ethel Merman and Bob Hope.
Speaker: The song was then later used in the film version of Anything Goes in 1956, sung by Donald O'Connor and Mitzi Gaynor, which I think is just interesting that it was obviously a well-known song before it was then later put into Anything Goes.
Speaker: And I think as well, there is because there's a couple of Cole Porter songs that made it into later iterations.
Speaker: I think this song, You'd Be So Easy to Love.
Speaker: Ah, yes.
Speaker: So I think it was written for Anything Goes.
Speaker: But the guy who was playing Billy was basically like, it's too high because it is quite high.
Speaker: He then like reused it in a different show and then it made its way back in.
Speaker: It's really clever because, yeah, I mean, it's very clever because then the audience will be familiar with the song and be like, oh, it's this song.
Speaker: And actually, I felt like that when I was watching the musical for the first time.
Speaker: I was like, oh, my God, I didn't know that this song was in this musical.
Speaker: So, yeah, very, very clever.
Speaker: bit of kind of muso stuff as always it's written in F major for anyone that wants to know and the key signature is 4-4 so it's quite like it's nothing too complicated quite simple F major it's a happy song it's essentially the love song between Billy and Hope
Speaker: And kind of one of the main themes of the song is a lot of copying melodies.
Speaker: So Billy kind of starts his kind of opening kind of song and then Hope kind of mirrors him by singing like, I feel a sudden urge to sing the kind of ditty that invokes the spring.
Speaker: And it's just, and then he then later mirrors that by being like,
Speaker: This verse you started seems to me the tin pan thesis of melody.
Speaker: So it's there's lots of kind of mirroring between each other, which is really lovely.
Speaker: And it's kind of it's establishing, I guess, that kind of give and take and flirting and.
Speaker: It's very sweet.
Speaker: And I think it's just interesting that Hope's verse that she then sings is exactly the same tune as what Billie kind of opens the song with.
Speaker: So she kind of starts with like, me, me, me, re, re, re, almost like she's kind of warming herself up.
Speaker: And then she kind of goes into her, the night is young.
Speaker: And it's like, she's basically seeing what he sings.
Speaker: And then later on, he then joins her on the last moments of her kind of verse, almost kind of acting as like a call and response to each other.
Speaker: So like she sings one line, he sings the next.
Speaker: And it's kind of almost showing them getting closer and closer together.
Speaker: and kind of them forming this very intimate kind of relationship.
Speaker: And then all of a sudden there's a dance break, which is actually one of my favourite bits of the song.
Speaker: It's this beautiful kind of instrumental bit where it just feels like the music suddenly erupts and they go into this really gorgeous kind of duet dance together.
Speaker: And it really feels like that's them just kind of letting themselves...
Speaker: basically just let themselves go and I think it's also one of those really beautiful moments in like old school musical theatre where you feel like well of course there'd be a dance break you know like I feel like sometimes in in modern musical theatre you're like oh god another bloody dance whereas like in this it feels like art it feels like almost like a relief that they go into a dance it feels quite earned I think yeah absolutely definitely they're really like
Speaker: kind of getting each other up and they're having this kind of gorgeous moment where they've like erupted into song because of just what a lovely like flirtatious time they're having and then it's like it's almost like a mirroring isn't it suppose of like sex or something yeah definitely step is they're like they're coming out of that and then they're moving together i guess yeah
Speaker: And it is gorgeous because it's such like the other dance in the show was very like, we're doing jazz, we're doing tap, we're doing ba-da-ba.
Speaker: Whereas this is like very fluid, very, it's just, it's very Fred Astaire.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: I think what's really nice about that era of musicals where it kind of had that little, the little soft dance breaks in the songs was kind of like, we all kind of know that when
Speaker: people are singing in a musical it's because the word they no longer have the words to express what they want to say so then it kind of elevates to a song and then it's kind of like in these sort of songs it's kind of like now the song is not enough I'm just going to have to show you with my body yeah exactly yeah it's that sort of elevation of how you're trying to express your feelings which I think is really nice yeah and I think what's also interesting is like the instrumental goes through different stages as well like
Speaker: there's a moment where it almost feels like quite tango-y and like the tempo where it kind of, they change it up.
Speaker: So that's like a different tactic of them almost like flirting with each other.
Speaker: And there's a really lovely bit where the drums suddenly re-enter and there's this really gorgeous like jazz swing tempo that kind of comes back in and like this really sexy like saxophone line that also like starts to come in.
Speaker: And it's kind of building this like energy and tempo and this kind of excitement between each other.
Speaker: It's kind of suggesting that like their love is so great for each other that it like it just keeps building and building.
Speaker: And then suddenly there's like a slow fade with these kind of chimes.
Speaker: It almost feels like a dream.
Speaker: And if anything it does, it's almost kind of like them coming back to like, oh yeah, we're on a boat and you're about to get married.
Speaker: And then he, Billy, then starts singing again
Speaker: So please be sweet, my chickadee.
Speaker: And when I kiss you, just say to me.
Speaker: And then he says, it's delightful.
Speaker: It's delicious.
Speaker: It's and he stops and they kiss.
Speaker: And it's just I think it's such a beautiful moment in the song because it's just like, I guess that's there.
Speaker: It's them just being like, but I love you.
Speaker: I don't care that you've got this fiance.
Speaker: I don't care that there's all these other things going on.
Speaker: and um they kiss and there's a big kind of again there's like like almost like a swelling in the music and the trumpet kind of takes over what was Billy's phrase so when he stops kind of his words and they kiss the trumpet continues and it's almost like the music is continuing his trail of thought even though they're kissing and then after they kiss there's actually a moment of silence and like a moment of suspense and then Billy and Hope
Speaker: acapella sing in harmony um it's still lovely and then the music slowly then rejoins and then kind of completes the song so it's a really gorgeous end it's really it's so so gorgeous and it kind of it feels like
Speaker: they are so in love with each other but they know that right now in the plot they they can't progress it and it's it's sad because you're like oh but it's so gorgeous and then obviously obviously it's a musical so everything gets resolved um but yeah that's why I love this song because it's got so many beautiful moments you're like oh so romantic yeah it's kind of like going back to what we were saying before of like them throwing all of these preconceived prejudices out of the window as well because
Speaker: classic unfortunately tends to be the way with male attitudes towards women in that time is like once you have had sex with a woman she decreases in value whereas like for Billy obviously they they met and they did whatever in the back of the taxi where he's like what about that five hours and she says four which I always think is quite funny um but for if anything like he's like oh my god I love this woman like this we've shared this thing and this is beautiful and I love her and I want to marry her
Speaker: And then if we're following, I suppose, this train of thought, which that perhaps that dance break is a visualisation of them, I don't know, coming together again in an intimate way, then afterwards, what you were describing there is quite nice because I suppose you've had that climactic moment you were saying where the drums are kicking in again and then it goes right back down and then it's this gorgeous centring or holding someone after an intimate moment of being like,
Speaker: I love you.
Speaker: Again, he doesn't abandon her.
Speaker: I love that I'm saying that the bar is so low for men at that time.
Speaker: But it's just a reinforcement of actually no, they really love each other.
Speaker: And this is something that they've shared together and this intimate moments happen between them rather than it's happened to the women and now he's not bothered.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: I also just love my chickadee.
Speaker: I love that so much.
Speaker: It's such a cute nickname.
Speaker: I don't know.
Speaker: I don't think I could cope with someone being like, my chickadee.
Speaker: Really?
Speaker: Oh, it's cute.
Speaker: I don't think I want my partner to call me chickadee, but it's just a cute nickname, I think.
Speaker: And I think the other...
Speaker: I think the other thing in this song I really like is that he kind of almost throws like he throws grammar out the door.
Speaker: He throws like any like dictionary out the door.
Speaker: And like there's a bit where it's like it's it's divined it.
Speaker: It's divined it.
Speaker: It's divunderbar.
Speaker: It's divictory.
Speaker: It's divinner.
Speaker: It's divinner.
Speaker: It's like they're both it's again it's like it's very similar to You're the Top where
Speaker: the both of them kind of like build on each other and it's just this like silly ditty that they have between each other and I love it's Devinderbar it's just like it's so it's so silly Devinderbar is very so cheeky yeah it's so he has like quite an interesting rhyming style really where he's a great he's a fantastic rhymer but he does do very cheeky things with his rhymes yeah to make them fit like that's why Inferno's Dante
Speaker: is so funny yeah you're the top because he's like oh how am I gonna make this fit yeah um but he does quite clever things like that I have always loved it's the boon de bar I think that's just outrageous yeah it's the boon de bar and I must say actually because he'll be very upset if I don't mention so my dad maybe it's why I love it so much but because my dad's not really that into musicals but he loves anything goes oh um
Speaker: And one, I think he just, he quite likes Cole Porter's attitudes towards things and stuff.
Speaker: And like that kind of laissez, well, I don't think he likes the laissez fairness of it, but like he can appreciate that kind of,
Speaker: throwing all the rule books out of the out the window um and like his quite progressive attitudes towards like sex and stuff but it's also because when he was a teacher in north london they uh the skill put on anything goes and he was the stage manager and he always is like packed house every night oh that's so cute packed house every night
Speaker: that's funny i phoned him the other day and i was like oh i'm just doing some research for the podcast and he was like oh what are you doing i was like anything goes and he was like oh make sure you tell them about my my turn as stage man oh my goodness
Speaker: But he always sings, and it always makes me laugh.
Speaker: He always sings It's Da Lovely, but he always gets mixed up with other shows.
Speaker: So he'll sing It's Da Lovely, and then it'll go into Favourite Things.
Speaker: So he's like, It's Delicious, It's Da Lovely.
Speaker: And he's like... Oh, God.
Speaker: It's different songs, love me.
Speaker: It's like this weird mega mix of...
Speaker: oh dear i'm always like that is not the song but you were you're really happy and that is fun so just following on from that one of my favorite things about anything goes is as we kind of talked about like this kind of hedonistic uh joyous attitude that um that cole porter has and the kind of cheekiness in it so like it's a very light show it's very fun show
Speaker: I don't think it's there to make any great points of anything.
Speaker: Like we obviously we've seen the little tidbits of kind of gay humor and stuff, but you know, he's not, it's, there's no agenda really from him, but I do think it's quite interesting.
Speaker: The attitudes that they have towards crime within the, within the show.
Speaker: And I do think perhaps that is a little bit of a critique on like the American, American justice system or kind of politics at the time.
Speaker: obviously we have moon face Martin on board and he is, what was it?
Speaker: A public enemy number 13 flow.
Speaker: Yes.
Speaker: Number 13.
Speaker: And the FBI are there chasing them.
Speaker: And then as soon as it's found out like, Oh my goodness, we've got moon face Martin and snake eyes on board.
Speaker: Suddenly obviously the captain's like, Oh my God, we've got celebrities.
Speaker: This is so interesting.
Speaker: And I quite like that little play, I think, on infamous versus famous.
Speaker: I think it's quite cute.
Speaker: And then we have Blow Gabriel Blow, which is just an absolutely brilliant number, not just for the dance.
Speaker: But basically, Reno is, she's on board the ship because she's providing the entertainment.
Speaker: And they keep kind of hinting at, like, oh, tonight she's going to take us to church type thing.
Speaker: So it's the evening of her performance and her and the four kind of backup dancers that she has puts on essentially like a sermon.
Speaker: And it really reminds me of Rock the Boat.
Speaker: So now we're rocking the boat from Guys and Dolls.
Speaker: It really reminds me of that.
Speaker: And I think you can see where that inspiration perhaps came in.
Speaker: And it covers a lot of the same ground.
Speaker: I think a lot of the same critiques where she basically says to everyone in the club,
Speaker: like confess your sins, like you're all very rich and you're on this boat, confess your sins.
Speaker: And we have kind of random sins.
Speaker: Someone says like, oh, I drink a bit.
Speaker: So it's all very like, it's all very like rich people problems.
Speaker: Do you know what this really reminds me of?
Speaker: There's a Disney movie and I can't remember if it's Tangled or if it's Pixar and it's Shrek I'm thinking of.
Speaker: But there's like a pub scene where they go into this pub and then they all start like confessing about stuff they've done.
Speaker: I think it's in Shrek 3, is it?
Speaker: Shrek, you're right.
Speaker: Yeah, yeah.
Speaker: That's what that reminds me of.
Speaker: I don't know why that came into my head.
Speaker: All the villains are like, I've done this.
Speaker: And it's so funny because it's just like, it's just so weird.
Speaker: Doesn't Pinocchio, and then isn't it like Pinocchio says something and...
Speaker: I can't remember it.
Speaker: He's like... I need to re-watch Shrek.
Speaker: His nose isn't growing.
Speaker: It's like, oh.
Speaker: Yeah, it's where he's like, I'm wearing ladies' underwear.
Speaker: And it doesn't grow.
Speaker: And it doesn't grow.
Speaker: Bless him.
Speaker: Pinocchio, you can do what you want.
Speaker: That's not a confession, my love.
Speaker: That is absolutely gorgeous.
Speaker: You wear what you want to wear.
Speaker: Isn't it someone tells him to say it?
Speaker: They're trying to get his nose to grow.
Speaker: and they're like say something and he's like I don't know what am I saying and they're like say that you're wearing women's underwear and he goes oh I'm wearing women's underwear doesn't cry and they're like that is such a good gag uh well yeah so no one no one's wearing uh women's underwear but to be honest within the confines of anything goes even at the time I think that would have been fine I think it is um
Speaker: Evelyn hilariously has a thing where he's like basically says oh I had sex with a woman in a field or something like that when he was living in China.
Speaker: Plum Blossom?
Speaker: Yes Plum Blossom.
Speaker: And then doesn't... And everyone's like oh that's fine like no one cares.
Speaker: Doesn't Reno use that as her disguise later or something?
Speaker: Yeah she comes as Plum Blossom to the wedding of... I know.
Speaker: It's a crazy show guys.
Speaker: but then basically once everyone has been kind of they've had their confession then she goes into blow Gabriel like the full number and it's like a full dance number she changes from like these white robes into like this gorgeous like sexy like flame leotard and they basically do like this incredible dance but like the kind of choreography of the dance because it stayed quite similar I think in vibe because it's punctuated by like these these trumpets that are like boom ba-doom
Speaker: is it's very like chest driven so like they're kind of constantly throwing their arms up like when they're coming up from their chairs like they're being like pulled from their chest and it's like very evocative I think of like those kind of baptist churches yeah where like people are speaking in tongues and it's like rena was whipping them up all up into this frenzy
Speaker: So I know that Cole Porter wasn't, I think he grew up Episcopalian and that he wasn't religious in his life.
Speaker: And to me, this is perhaps, I think, a little bit of a critique on, because obviously around about this time, obviously homosexuality is illegal.
Speaker: A lot of it is wrapped up in kind of more Christian-centered thought and regulations.
Speaker: And I think this is his way of being like, everyone's a hypocrite, essentially, because we're,
Speaker: We preach from like the same Bible type thing.
Speaker: But some sins are worse than others kind of thing.
Speaker: So all of these people have repented for these sins and that's fine.
Speaker: But his sin is not is not able to be repented in the same way.
Speaker: I personally think.
Speaker: I don't know about you guys, but I would love a bit of campy gossip.
Speaker: So Casey, what have you got?
Speaker: It's hard to find a bit of a T on Anything Goes.
Speaker: I mean, we've sort of covered a lot of the main points, sort of like the original plot of the show, which is very interesting.
Speaker: I don't know how they would have got human trafficking and bomb threats into the Anything Goes we see today.
Speaker: but kind of interesting.
Speaker: I just can't believe that was even on like, like a thought.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: Why was that even like considered?
Speaker: It's just so rad.
Speaker: It's so inappropriate.
Speaker: Was it still going to be a comedy?
Speaker: Very strange.
Speaker: I really hope not.
Speaker: And then obviously all the little innuendos and nods to sort of gay culture that we have from Cole Porter.
Speaker: But one of my favourite little tidbits of information, and this is only because I went through a very big phase where I discovered Madeleine Kahn, who is an insanely talented actress, singer, dancer.
Speaker: She's done it all, sort of film, theatre, TV shows, everything.
Speaker: And Cole Porter sort of followed her around her career in everything that she's done, which is why I feel like I've been so familiar with Anything Goes without actually having seen it.
Speaker: Because a brilliant film called What's Up Doc starring Madeleine Kahn and Barbra Streisand, which if you know anything about me, just absolutely perfect for my taste.
Speaker: But in that, they open up the movie with You're the Top, which is a lovely little version, but it's just kind of slipped into the film just randomly.
Speaker: And
Speaker: in which Madeleine Kahn stars in that.
Speaker: Then also she was a guest on the Carol Burnett show, which if you don't know anything about that, Carol Burnett was like a brilliant, well, she is still, but the show at the time, she was a brilliant, like comedic, they don't really do them anymore.
Speaker: It was sort of like a variety show.
Speaker: A variety show.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: Where it's just basically like,
Speaker: sketches show yeah yeah like sketches songs talking to the audience Judy Garland had a show I think which can we can we please bring those back because they are absolutely brilliant why don't we have anything because they're like part talk show I mean I suppose like what is what
Speaker: then later evolved, I think, into, like, Saturday Night Live and stuff.
Speaker: But I personally don't really like, like, the American late-night talk show.
Speaker: I just don't find it that funny.
Speaker: But I think that's kind of what it's evolved into now, whereas, like, those ones had quite a unique charm, I think.
Speaker: Yeah, because it was just everything, like, and it was one specific actor or actress that would kind of take over the show.
Speaker: They'd have on guest performers, like, singing, singing,
Speaker: They'd do little skits.
Speaker: They'd do sketches where they dressed up as different characters.
Speaker: And it was just really nice.
Speaker: And Carol Burnett had Madeleine Kahn on for an episode in which they sang Friendship together.
Speaker: And it's a really lovely little duet.
Speaker: And then, which I didn't know until doing all my little studying for this, I had seen the clips of it before because I have watched parts of the film, but it's very hard to find.
Speaker: There's a film called At Long Last Love.
Speaker: in which it stars Burt Reynolds and Madeleine Kahn as the two main characters.
Speaker: Now, I knew that they sang You're the Top and Friendship in this movie, but what I actually found out is that this whole movie is sort of a jukebox musical of all of Cole Porter's songs.
Speaker: So, Peter Bogdanovich, the director...
Speaker: he wrote it as well and it's kind of like a love letter to Cole Porter and all of his favourites from his musicals so he sort of wrote this brand new screenplay starring who else is in it?
Speaker: Sybil Shepard's also in it Eileen Brennan
Speaker: and obviously Bert and Madeline and it's just a very random story about like these little I think it's like a you see the two couples or sort of like a love square situation but all of the songs have come from Cole Porter's musicals which I just think is really cute and I also just think it's very random that it's felt like all of these little Cole Porter things have followed Madeline Kahn around her career
Speaker: Yeah, that's really sweet, that kind of connection.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: And I'm sure there's many others out there, little things I'll have to keep digging.
Speaker: But I just thought that w as a cute bit of information.
Speaker: And also, a very random jukebox musical based on Cole Porter.
Speaker: Yeah, that's so funny.
Speaker: Quite a lot of celebrities did, like, I think... God, who was it?
Speaker: I think Ella Fitzgerald.
Speaker: I think, don't quote me if I'm wrong...
Speaker: did a whole album that was just covering Cole Porter's songs.
Speaker: Oh, really?
Speaker: Yeah, and I think quite a few artists have done that.
Speaker: Well, she definitely did It's a Lovely.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: It's a great one.
Speaker: So Ella Fitzgerald did an entire album, basically.
Speaker: I think it was a Cole Porter songbook thing.
Speaker: Yeah, because her version of The Lovely is quite big, isn't it?
Speaker: I think.
Speaker: I think.
Speaker: Well, my interesting fact is that when I, so I wrote a musical about Jack Kerouac and his first wife, Edie Parker, a couple of years ago that Flo was in.
Speaker: Never heard of it.
Speaker: Never heard of it.
Speaker: And in my research for that, Edie Parker and her host biography talks about one of the kind of first times that she remembers seeing Jack Kerouac.
Speaker: This is like way before he's famous.
Speaker: They're both at Columbia University and he is just coming.
Speaker: She's walking back from work basically towards her apartment.
Speaker: She's walking through the park, Riverside Park.
Speaker: She sees Jack Kerouac pushing a man in a wheelchair and that man's called Porter.
Speaker: Oh my God.
Speaker: And there's like, I've tried to find so much on it, but I can't find any connection between the two of them.
Speaker: And she's insistent that it was Cole Porter.
Speaker: Rosa, that's your sign to finish your musical.
Speaker: I know, I know.
Speaker: Actually, when's it happening?
Speaker: So another interesting fact is that Heinz actually used You're the Top, very popular song, as their jingle in 1985.
Speaker: Which I just think is super cute.
Speaker: Super fun.
Speaker: Alright guys, so we clearly all love Anything Goes, but we have come to that time where we're going to talk about our favourite lyrics, which we've kind of been peppering throughout, but also our most skippable song.
Speaker: So on the Anything Goes album, Casey, what are some of your favourite lyrics and what song would you skip?
Speaker: I really love It's friendship, friendship, such the perfect blendship.
Speaker: I just think that's so cute.
Speaker: I just think what a cute little diddy.
Speaker: Love that.
Speaker: Yeah, that song is just, and again, it has no reason for really being in there apart from to be like, these guys are friends.
Speaker: I know.
Speaker: But it's just so sweet.
Speaker: Just the word blendship, I think, is really cute and it just makes sense and I get it.
Speaker: I feel like
Speaker: Is it an actual word or is he just stuck in?
Speaker: It's de Wunderbar.
Speaker: No, literally.
Speaker: It's de Wunderbar.
Speaker: But what a brilliant way to sort of explain friendship as a blendship like that.
Speaker: Skippable song.
Speaker: I'm going between two here.
Speaker: I'm probably going to go with Don't Hate Me, Easy to Love.
Speaker: I'm shocked.
Speaker: I know, yeah.
Speaker: I'm slightly shook at that one.
Speaker: You know what?
Speaker: I get where you're coming from because sometimes I'm like, oh, I'm really not in the mood for this.
Speaker: But then sometimes when you're like, no, I'm going to listen to it, then you're like, oh, it's actually quite a nice song.
Speaker: You have to sometimes just be like, okay, I'm just going to have to listen to it.
Speaker: I think the melody's nicer than the lyrics.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: I think.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: I like that.
Speaker: I quite like that little soaring.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: I'm just not a, I don't know.
Speaker: If it was,
Speaker: reaching for the anything goes album and probably i'm gonna go for like you're the top anything goes to lovely sort of like the big hitters because it's not something that i'm massively i'm massively familiar with i just kind of listen to the like the songs are just kind of in my playlist so listening through didn't really grab my attention what about you flo what is favorite lyric skippable song
Speaker: Well, I feel like I've got lots of favorite lyrics.
Speaker: I think, I mean, I've already kind of given away the Frightened Frog lyric, so I'll give my number two.
Speaker: And I really like, actually we haven't talked about the song, the song I Get a Kick Out of You, which is such a famous song.
Speaker: I really like her lyric, some they may go for cocaine.
Speaker: I'm sure that I've took even one sniff, it would bore me terrifically too.
Speaker: Yet I Get a Kick Out of You.
Speaker: I really like that one.
Speaker: Yeah, that is good.
Speaker: I love the references to go, Kale.
Speaker: I know, that's why I love it.
Speaker: No, no, no.
Speaker: I just think it's... No, I just think it's... I don't know.
Speaker: I just thought it was... Even one sniff, it would bore me terrifically too.
Speaker: There's just a cute... And that's got a lovely melody as well.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: It's really nice.
Speaker: And Skippable's song...
Speaker: Okay, so when I saw it on stage, there was no song that I was like, oh, skip.
Speaker: But you know when you're listening to a cast album and it's not in context, and you're just like, you know, you're on the number 27, you're on your way home, you're just listening to some tunes.
Speaker: I would always skip Be Like the Bluebird.
Speaker: And I think it's just like, I know.
Speaker: And I think it's just, it's one of those songs that I'm like, it's funny when you're watching it.
Speaker: Well, like, it's good when you're watching it, but I feel like to listen to it out of context, it wouldn't be the one that I'm like, oh, play that banger one more time, you know?
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: That's what I think about Taylor.
Speaker: I love her from You're in Town.
Speaker: I think it's so funny to watch, but I would never be listening to, like...
Speaker: that it just by itself, I think.
Speaker: It's really hard though with this musical to actually pick a song because they are all really, really good.
Speaker: They're all bad.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: I particularly love the crew song.
Speaker: I think it's just, it's so musical theatre.
Speaker: Like we're all sailors and it's just, it's so brilliant because they all come out in the little sailor costumes running on, running on.
Speaker: And it's just like, I just think it's so funny.
Speaker: I find it so funny watching chorus members.
Speaker: Is that Bon Voyage?
Speaker: Oh yes, that's right.
Speaker: That's what I'm thinking of.
Speaker: It's just like, it's just so silly.
Speaker: And it's like, I think, I think it's also, it's one of my favorite things in theater is when you see like chorus members almost like pretending to be like military or like pretending to be sailors.
Speaker: And it's like, you're so like, you're too elegant to be a sailor.
Speaker: Like that jazz run was just too effortless.
Speaker: Like you can't, you can't be in the military.
Speaker: It's just, it's funny.
Speaker: That is like when they're singing that little, um,
Speaker: there'll always be a lady fair song.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: Where they're like, and when you're a sailor, you don't know you work like a son of a gun.
Speaker: I don't think so.
Speaker: You're not working like a son of a gun, are you?
Speaker: You're backstage having a quality street.
Speaker: Now this next bit I am extremely excited about.
Speaker: As always, we have the chance to do our own fantasy casting, but this is extra special because, if you didn't already know, we have a magic generator.
Speaker: And it's so magic that with a touch of a button, Rosa will produce a number of random names that we have to cast.
Speaker: Now, these names could be well-known musical theatre performers.
Speaker: They could be actors, actresses, TV personalities, as well as a few wild cards.
Speaker: So, without further ado, who do we have auditioning today, Rosa?
Speaker: Okay, I'm hitting it.
Speaker: The first one is Ben Stiller.
Speaker: Ooh.
Speaker: That's an interesting one.
Speaker: That is.
Speaker: That's hard.
Speaker: I feel like if he was a little bit older, he'd be a good moon face.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: Like if it was Jerry Stiller.
Speaker: I could see Jerry Stiller doing it.
Speaker: And I feel like he's very much like his dad.
Speaker: So I could see that sort of happening.
Speaker: He's too funny to be a Billy.
Speaker: Okay, I'll go next.
Speaker: A bit of a random.
Speaker: Kourtney Kardashian.
Speaker: Which I could see her doing.
Speaker: I think I could see her doing a bit of an Irma.
Speaker: I was going to say, but I mean, if you've seen the recent episode of the Kardashians, you will.
Speaker: Oh, is that the singing one?
Speaker: The singing one.
Speaker: Oh my God.
Speaker: Not one of those women can sing, but God bless.
Speaker: Yeah, Kourtney is especially bad though.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: Really bad.
Speaker: Wasn't there an episode where someone sang all that jazz or are making that up?
Speaker: I think it was Chris.
Speaker: Chris did like, she was like preparing for like a show where she was gonna sing all that jazz.
Speaker: And it was so, it was so bad.
Speaker: And she was like in this dance, but it was like, it was to the point where like, even the choreographer was like watching her like, this is bad and all that jazz.
Speaker: Like it was just so flat.
Speaker: But love her.
Speaker: Right, give us one more.
Speaker: Okay.
Speaker: Lin-Manuel Miranda.
Speaker: I'd cast him as Moonface.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: Oh, yeah.
Speaker: He would be good, actually.
Speaker: He'd be very funny, I think.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: Okay, so we've come to one of the best parts of the show, I think, which is our amazing guest performer slot.
Speaker: Every week, we have a guest performer join us and they've covered a song from the show that we've been talking about this week.
Speaker: And we do a little interview, learning a bit more about them and a bit more about their thoughts on the show.
Speaker: It is a fantastic opportunity.
Speaker: We have such talented people here.
Speaker: covering all of these amazing songs with their gorgeous voices and we get to feature them on our social media it's just been a really really great time so if you are interested we do have an application form in our link tree which is just below so definitely check it out and this week we are incredibly lucky because we have she's my best friend in the world she's also supremely talented wickedly talented another accent
Speaker: And she happens to be a bit of a Reno Sweeney.
Speaker: It's Annie Tabiner.
Speaker: So my friend Annie, Casey and I trained with Annie.
Speaker: She is absolutely fantastic.
Speaker: Biased, but I think she's the very best singer I've ever heard.
Speaker: And she has, for the last two years, been a resident band singer on P&O.
Speaker: And she's now on Arcadia.
Speaker: So she's living the crew's life.
Speaker: She is Reno Sweeney entertaining the masses.
Speaker: She is blow Gabriel blowing her way around the world.
Speaker: And we're just so excited to have her here.
Speaker: Unfortunately, what happens with the sea is that you don't get internet until you're in port.
Speaker: So as a kind of workaround for her interview, we have recorded our questions and Annie's answering them in a voice note.
Speaker: So if it seems a little bit odd and stilted, that is why.
Speaker: But hopefully through the magic of my editing,
Speaker: You won't notice a thing.
Speaker: So without further ado, Annie Tavener.
Speaker: Hi, I'm Annie.
Speaker: I'm a cruise ship singer.
Speaker: I graduated in musical theatre and fell into the music scene, ended up on cruise ships and I absolutely love it.
Speaker: I would like to consider myself as a bit of a Reno Sweeney, but instead of singing the nice jazzy musical theatre stuff that she does, you will hear me doing ACDC and country music a lot of the time.
Speaker: But yeah, really excited to be here.
Speaker: Thank you for having me.
Speaker: Annie,
Speaker: Which song did you choose to cover and what did you enjoy most about covering it?
Speaker: So I decided to do I Get a Kick Out of You and I did consider doing the title song of Anything Goes or even one of the big ensemble numbers of Blow Gabriel Blow.
Speaker: But my lovely pianist on board, Dave A.D., has played for me when recording this.
Speaker: And it was really lovely to just strip it back and sing something that was a bit more relaxed, a bit more on the jazzy side, rather than belting constantly.
Speaker: And just showing that side of my voice, which is why I enjoy doing it.
Speaker: I don't get the opportunity to strip it back a lot at work.
Speaker: So I really enjoyed being able to do that.
Speaker: Oh, that's really interesting, Annie.
Speaker: So tell us, what do you like or dislike about Anything Goes?
Speaker: So I love this musical because it was the first show that we got to put on at college when I was 16 and I just started training in musical theatre.
Speaker: I'll be honest with you, my musical theatre knowledge at this point was not very good.
Speaker: If it wasn't Wicked, I probably hadn't heard of it.
Speaker: It was the most fun.
Speaker: It was such a fun show to put on.
Speaker: I was one of Reno's Little Angels.
Speaker: And then Rosa took me to see it in Barbican in London a couple of years ago.
Speaker: And I just walked out smiling.
Speaker: It was such a lovely evening.
Speaker: The show was obviously incredible.
Speaker: So I think for me the one thing I love about it is the sentimental value of I got to share an amazing night in the West End with one of my best friends.
Speaker: But also it was the kickstart of the passion that I discovered and ended up making a career out of.
Speaker: And Annie, what is your favourite number from Anything Goes?
Speaker: My favourite song in the show has got to be Friendship.
Speaker: I do really, really love Blow Gabriel Blow because I love visually watching it with all the dancing.
Speaker: But Friendship is just so snappy and funny and it's been done so well every time I've seen it.
Speaker: So definitely Friendship.
Speaker: Quickfire question time.
Speaker: What's your favourite musical and why?
Speaker: Company, company, company.
Speaker: I love Company.
Speaker: Rosa knows how much I love Company.
Speaker: From sitting upstairs in Rosa's living room watching the Neil Patrick Harris version, I absolutely love it.
Speaker: I didn't know about it again, not showing my musical knowledge to be any good when I was younger, am I here?
Speaker: Until Casey's year did it at university and then I watched the gender bent version on the West End and I just haven't ever found anything I've loved as much as that show.
Speaker: What do you have coming up that the audience should look out for?
Speaker: So I'm gonna stay within the cruise shipping industry for the foreseeable future.
Speaker: I just think I have the coolest job in the world being paid to sing and get to go to some of these places.
Speaker: I'll be doing my second world cruise in January.
Speaker: And yeah, I just think I'm the luckiest person on the planet.
Speaker: So I don't want to give up anytime soon.
Speaker: And just before you go, Annie, please tell us any burning unpopular opinions you have on musical theatre.
Speaker: I don't know how unpopular this opinion is regarding people in the industry, regarding, I feel like it's probably more unpopular with my mum's generation.
Speaker: She loves this show I'm about to mention.
Speaker: But,
Speaker: I personally believe that Miss Igan is drastically better than Les Mis and I wish that Miss Igan had the hype that Les Mis has and it was the longest running show on the West End because, well musical on the West End, because I just love Miss Igan and I am sick of watching Les Mis.
Speaker: I don't know, I feel like maybe, I'm one of the only people that think this, but I just love Miss Igan massively.
Speaker: I hope I haven't muffled on too much.
Speaker: Thank you so much for having me.
Speaker: Bye!
Speaker: Don't forget that you can listen to Annie's cover, which is linked below over on our YouTube cast album, and the applications for our guest performer slot are also linked in our link tree.
Speaker: We've been Sunday on the Pod with... Delightful... Delicious... Delovely!
Speaker: Bye!
![Sondheim! The Birthday Concert [Casey and Rosa's Version] - Part 2](https://media.zencastr.com/cdn-cgi/image/width=320,quality=85/image-files/6328b4d65e0394314b97508d/7fece278-2cd0-43b5-b5e4-ef0f1b02b9cf.png)
![Sondheim! The Birthday Concert [Casey and Rosa's Version] - Part 1](https://media.zencastr.com/cdn-cgi/image/width=320,quality=85/image-files/6328b4d65e0394314b97508d/ccefc715-dfe5-4604-907d-b5aa43ee4c2c.png)
