Mac Theatre put on on its spring musical, “Anything Goes”, in late February. The musical is set in 1934 on a luxury ship sailing from New York to London and consists of several large dance numbers and golden age music. After finishing with their fall competition musical “Between the Lines”, the Theatre program has shifted its attention to “Anything Goes”. Preparation began in January, and with the cast only having a bit under two months to put on the musical, rehearsals are in full swing. 

“I would say we are doing great, actually,” Junior Berit Ellwanger said. “We are rehearsing every single day until 7 p.m. after school and putting in about eight hours on Saturdays, but it’s going to pay off, I think.”

The audition process began in the fall semester, and once the cast returned from winter break, they rushed into rehearsals.

“We had auditions last semester and started preparing at the beginning of January,” Junior Grace McCarty said. “The first thing we did was a readthrough, and then we started music rehearsals, and now we are doing choreography.”

McCarty, who plays the ship’s captain, enjoys the musical’s Golden Age style and unique set. 

“The show is set in the 1930s, and it’s very jazzy and bright and fun,” McCarty said. “It’s set on a boat and revolves around this main character, Reno, and she falls in love, and there are several love stories to follow.”

Ellwanger plays the role of Chastity, a dancing angel who follows Reno, played by Fiona Kirsch.

“As I am one of the dancers with Reno, it definitely gets a little exhausting at times; it’s just a constant go-go-go,” Ellwanger said. 

The entire musical consists of several long dance numbers, including tap dancing. 

“The most difficult thing has been the dancing because it takes a lot of endurance,” Ellwanger said. “So far, we have learned a ten-minute tap number and a few other numbers.”

Despite the difficulties of long periods of dancing, Ellwanger still enjoys them and the time-specific aspects of the show.

“Honestly, my favorite part is probably the dance,” Ellwanger said. “I really like the style of the Golden Age musical and the music. The costumes are going to be very fun, I’m sure.”

Senior and Music Director, Maggie Brown, has found a way to deal with the endurance issues of dancing by splitting the cast into dancing ensembles and vocal ensembles. 

“With the vocal ensemble, I’m making sure they really know their part because the other half of the cast will be dancing while they’re singing, which is really hard to do,” Brown said. “So we have designated singers who are just going to be carrying the music, which is just as important as the dancing.”

Along with complicated dance numbers, the show also has a very specific musical style.

“The music sounds very different from typical choir repertoire, just because it has a very specific musical theatre sound, which is another thing the music director does. I need to be informed about what kind of sound the musical is calling for.”

For “Anything Goes,” that musical sound relates to 1930s classical jazz, as opposed to a pop sound. 

“If you’re doing a more recent pop musical, you’re going to want a contemporary Taylor Swift-Ed Sheeran sound,” Brown said. “But this show is a Golden Age musical so it was written ages ago, and you want more of a classical sound.”

As Music Director, Brown has to teach the entire cast their music and make sure it sounds as it should.

“We have music rehearsals where I teach everyone what choral harmonies to sing and I also shape the sound so I tell people how I want them to sing it and clarify rhythms, that kind of thing,” Brown said. “I also go through the score and play piano tracks and record it so people can have accompaniment to practice with at home.”

Music Directors and Stage Managers alike have a lot on their hands with this musical, considering the large cast size. The spring musical typically has a larger number of people because it isn’t being used in competitions like the fall musical. Because it isn’t a competition piece, people of all grades and skill levels are able to audition. 

“I think there are even more freshmen than usual,” Brown said. “I was in the fall show and then decided I wanted to music direct the spring show. This is like a 60-person cast, it’s a huge ensemble, which makes music directing harder for sure.”

The big cast isn’t just composed of actors but also other fine arts academy majors who are contributing their expertise to the show.

“We have a lot of new people in this show, like freshmen,” Ellwanger said. “However, this musical has a giant cast. We have dance majors, theatre majors, choir majors, literally anything goes.”

Brown believes the musical wasn’t only a good match for the theatre program but is also an enjoyable show for people of all ages and musical theatre interests. 

“I’m super excited about it,” Brown said. “It’s a super good pick for our program, I think it’s also definitely got a broad appeal so even people who don’t have experience watching musical theatre should come and see it because it’s just a great show.”

“Anything Goes” had its first show on Feb. 19, and its final show was on March 1 in the MAC.