Anything Goes

Music and Lyrics by Cole Porter

Original Book by P.G. Wodehouse & Guy Bolton and Howard Lindsay & Russell Crouse

New Book by Timothy Crouse & John Weidman

Originally Produced by Lincoln Center Theatre, New York City

Billy Crocker, a young Wall Street broker, stows away on the S.S. American, in hopes of winning the heart of his beloved Hope Harcourt; she is on her way to England to be married to Sir Evelyn Oakleigh, a stuffy, hapless British nobleman. Stowing away with Billy are "Moonface" Martin, a gangster labeled "Public Enemy 13," and his girlfriend Bonnie; the two have disguised themselves as a reverend and a missionary, respectively, after stranding the ship's real reverend back at the port. On board, Crocker runs into his friend, nightclub singer Reno Sweeney, who resolves to help Billy win over Hope. Billy simultaneously learns the true identities of Moonface and Bonnie, and in exchange for his silence, they join the plot to break up Hope and Evelyn; as the show progresses, Hope, Evelyn, Billy, Reno, Bonnie, and Moonface all end up in a variety of compromising positions.