20 November 2020
Newsdesk
One of the all-time greatest musicals ANYTHING GOES is making a welcome return to the London stage in spring and summer 2021 for a strictly limited 15 week engagement at the Barbican Theatre, starring Emmy & SAG Award Winner Megan Mullally (Will & Grace) who is making her West End musical debut as Reno Sweeney, and Tony, Olivier & BAFTA Award Winner Robert Lindsay as Moonface Martin.
This splendid production of Cole Porter & P.G. Wodehouse’s classic musical will be directed and choreographed by three time Tony Award Winner Kathleen Marshall. Marshall’s Broadway production of ANYTHING GOES was a major smash hit and received huge critical acclaim. The revival was nominated for nine Tony Awards and 10 Drama Desk Awards, winning Best Musical Revival and Best Choreography at both ceremonies. Now Marshall, in her West End directing debut, will reinvent this glorious musical for London audiences next year.
With music and lyrics by Cole Porter and the original book by P.G. Wodehouse & Guy Bolton and Howard Lindsay & Russel Crouse, ANYTHING GOES will premiere at the Barbican Theatre on 8 May 2021 (Press Night on 20 May 2021) until 22 August 2021, featuring a full supporting company including 14 tap dancing sailors! Further casting will be announced soon.
Megan Mullally said: “Anything really does go, is the thing, and I’m excited to be coming to London where Robert Lindsay and I will promptly unleash ourselves upon that wonderful town for 15 weeks of farce and frolic. Under the tutelage of the devilishly clever Kathleen Marshall we shall endeavour to do the memory of Cole Porter proud. Meanwhile, I will endeavour to get my a** to a tap class. A brand new rendering of a great old entertainment is on the horizon...something tells me I’ll get a kick out of spending my summer in London next year! Tally-ho!”
Robert Lindsay said: “I am so looking forward to returning to the stage in the medium I love - musical comedy. And what better than Kathleen Marshall’s revival of Anything Goes at the wonderful Barbican Theatre. The perfect remedy to shake off the blues of 2020.”
Kathleen Marshall said: “I'm so thrilled to have the opportunity to reimagine Anything Goes for the West End. I'm a huge fan of both Megan and Robert and I know we will have a blast working together on this iconic musical comedy. I adore London and can't wait to bring this joyous show to UK audiences!“
Howard Panter, producer of The King and I at the London Palladium said: “I’m delighted to be working with Kathleen to bring a wonderful new production of this classic, and very funny, golden-age musical to London next summer packed with Cole Porter’s fabulous songs. It’s an enormous pleasure to welcome Megan to London, as she makes her musical debut in the UK and to work once again with Robert. Originally created by the geniuses that were Cole Porter and P.G. Wodehouse, Anything Goes offers pure escapism and enjoyment for all the family and I really hope it will be the perfect tonic for London audiences next year.“
When the S.S. American heads out to sea, etiquette and convention head out the portholes as two unlikely pairs set off on the course to true love... proving that sometimes destiny needs a little help from a crew of singing sailors, a comical disguise and some good old-fashioned blackmail. This hilarious musical romp across the Atlantic featuring a collection of some of theatre’s most memorable songs - including ‘I Get A Kick Out of You’, ‘Anything Goes’, ‘You’re the Top’, ‘Blow, Gabriel, Blow’, ‘It’s De-Lovely’, ‘Friendship’ and ‘Buddie Beware’ - will take you back to the Golden Age of high society on the seas. ANYTHING GOES is set to sail away with audiences all over again.
BIOGRAPHIES
Megan Mullally – Reno Sweeney
Emmy Award-winning actor and musician Megan Mullally has appeared on Broadway in revivals of Grease, How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying (opposite Matthew Broderick), and Mel Brooks’ Young Frankenstein. Megan has appeared in Terrence McNally’s smash Broadway hit It's Only a Play and starred as the role of Adelaide opposite Nathan Lane in Carnegie Hall’s celebrated Guys and Dolls revival. In recent years, Mullally has toured the world as the bandleader, singer and choreographer of the beloved punk-vaudeville band, Nancy And Beth. The band will release its second album, Imaginary Friend in 2021.
Television credits includes seven seasons of the Emmy Award-winning Children’s Hospital, Parks and Recreation (as the Evil Tammy II), Lydia on acclaimed cult favourite Party Down, Aunt Gayle on the animated FOX series Bob’s Burgers, Alyson on The Great North (also animated by FOX), and as Karen Walker on NBC’s hit sitcom Will & Grace, for which she received two Emmys, four Screen Actors Guild awards and four Golden Globe nominations.
In film, Megan stars opposite Bryan Cranston and James Franco in the hit comedy Why Him? and appears in Oh Lucy!, LEMON, The Disaster Artist and Infinity Baby. Megan and her husband Nick Offerman have toured the US and UK with their comedy show Summer of 69: No Apostrophe and released The New York Times best-selling book, The Greatest Love Story Ever Told. Together, they host your favourite podcast, In Bed with Nick and Megan.
Robert Lindsay – Moonface Martin
Robert Lindsay trained at RADA. His television credits include: McDonald & Dodds (Mammoth Screen); Plebs (Rise Films); Bounty Hunters (Cave Bear Productions/Sky); Genius (Fox 21); The Marvellous World Of Roald Dahl, Brazen Hussies, Cymbeline, All’s Well That Ends Well, Twelfth Night, Give Us A Break, Citizen Smith, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Seconds Out, Genghis Cohn, Atlantis, Hawk (BBC); Galavant (ABC); Bull (John Stanley Productions/Gold); Falcon – ‘The Silent And The Damned’ (Mammoth Screen/Sky Atlantic); George And Bernard Shaw (Feelgood Fiction); Spy (Hat Trick Productions); My Family BAFTA Nomination For Best Comedy Performance, 2001 (DLT Entertainment/BBC); The Trial Of Tony Blair (Mentorn/Channel 4); Jericho (ITV); Friends And Crocodiles (Freemantle); Don’t Eat The Neighbours (Granada Children’s Media); Oliver Twist (United TV); Hornblower (ITV/A&E); The Office (Carlton); Goodbye My Love (Granada); Jake’s Progress BAFTA Nomination For Best Actor, 1995, Nightingales, G.B.H. BAFTA Best Actor Award, 1991, RTS Award Winner For Best Actor, 1991 (Channel 4); The Wimbledon Poisoner (ABTV); Confessional, King Lear (Granada) and Get Some In! (Thames).
Theatre credits include: In Praise Of Love (Theatre Royal Bath); A Christmas Carol: In Concert With The London Musical Theatre Orchestra (Lyceum Theatre); Dirty Rotten Scoundrels (West End); The Lion In Winter, Cyrano De Bergerac (Theatre Royal Haymarket); Onassis (Derby Playhouse/West End); Aristo (Minerva Theatre); The Entertainer (Old Vic Theatre); Power (National Theatre); Richard Iii (Savoy Theatre); Oliver! (Palladium Theatre); Becket Winner Of Variety Club Best Theatre Actor, Nominated For Laurence Olivier Award For Best Actor (Haymarket); Me And My Girl Winner Of Laurence Olivier Award For Outstanding Performance By An Actor In A Musical, Winner Of Tony Award For Best Actor In A Musical (Adelphi Theatre); Beaux Strategem, Philoctetes Winner Of Manchester Evening News Theatre Award For Best Actor, Leaping Ginger (Royal Exchange Theatre); Trelawny Of The Wells (Old Vic); Lower Depths, The Cherry Orchard (The Roundhouse); The Changeling (Riverside Studios) and Three Musketeers (Royal Court Theatre). Film credits include: Maleficent 2 (Disney); Grace of Monaco (Stone Angels); Wimbledon (Working Title); Divorcing Jack (Scala Productions); Remember Me? (Channel 4 Films); Fierce Creatures (Jersey Films/Warner Brothers); Strike It Rich (BBC Films/Miramax); Bert Rigby, You’re A Fool.
Kathleen Marshall – Director & Choreographer
Kathleen Marshall is an award-winning theatre, film and television director and choreographer. A nine-time Tony Award nominee, she has won the award three times for Best Choreography for the Broadway revivals of Wonderful Town, The Pajama Game and Anything Goes. She has worked on more than 20 Broadway shows and she is the first and only woman who has directed a play, directed a musical and choreographed a musical on Broadway.
Her Broadway credits include Nice Work If You Can Get It, Anything Goes, The Pajama Game, Wonderful Town, In Transit, Living on Love, Grease, Little Shop of Horrors, Follies, Seussical, Kiss Me, Kate, 1776 and Swinging on a Star. Off-Broadway and regional credits include The Unsinkable Molly Brown (Transport Group), Two Gentlemen of Verona (New York Shakespeare Festival), Saturday Night (Second Stage), Mamma Mia! (Hollywood Bowl), Much Ado About Nothing and Love’s Labor’s Lost (Old Globe), On the Town (Boston Pops), My Paris (Long Wharf), Ever After (Paper Mill) and Diner (Signature Theatre).
Her film and television credits include My Week with Marilyn (choreographer), “Once Upon a Mattress” starring Carol Burnett and Tracey Ullman, “The Music Man” starring Matthew Broderick (choreographer) and “2 Broke Girls”.
Kathleen served as the Artistic Director for City Center Encores! for four seasons, during which time Encores! received a special Tony Award for Excellence in Theatre. Her credits for Encores! include The Band Wagon, I’m Getting My Act Together…, Bells Are Ringing, Carnival and Babes in Arms, among many others.
She has received three Drama Desk Awards, three Outer Critics Circle Awards, an Emmy nomination, an Olivier nomination, the Astaire Award, the George Abbott Award, the Smith College Medal (her alma mater), the Pennsylvania Governor’s Award for the Arts and she has been named a Distinguished Daughter of Pennsylvania. She is a member of the Executive Board of the Stage Directors and Choreographers Society.
CREATIVE TEAM
Derek McLane - Set Designer
Neil Austin - Lighting Designer
Simon Baker - Sound Designer
Stephen Ridley - Musical Supervisor
LISTINGS INFORMATION
Barbican Theatre, Silk Street, London EC2Y 8DS
First Performance: From 8 May 2021
Press Night: 20 May 2021 at 7.00pm
Final performance: 22 August 2021
Performances: Tuesday – Saturday at 7.30pm, Thursday, Saturday and Sunday at 2.30pm
Running time: approximately 2 hours 30 minutes, including interval
Tickets: £25 - £150, plus booking fee
Barbican Box Office: barbican.org.uk/whats-on/2021/event/anything-goes
Website: AnythingGoesMusical.co.uk
