Anything Goes breaks Barbican’s box office records

Picture: Tristram Kenton

The hit UK re-working of the award-winning Broadway revival of the Cole Porter and P.G. Wodehouse musical Anything Goes smashed the Barbican Theatre’s box office record last week.

With takings of £717,000, the critic and crowd-pleasing production celebrated the highest-grossing week for a musical at the Barbican in its 39-year history.

Commenting on the response to the star-studded revival of the classic musical, producer Howard Panter said: “We are thrilled with the response to this glorious production of Anything Goes. To achieve a gross of £717,000 in one week is quite some feat. It just goes to show that as we come out of the pandemic, London theatre is very much alive and people cannot get enough of this energetic and uplifting classic musical which has been sold out night after night.

“From outstanding leading actors, to the spectacular supporting company, the glorious set design, the breath-taking choreography and stage direction, and of course the wonderful score – it really is ‘the show of the year’. I’d like to thank our friends at the Barbican for their huge support throughout – we will be back!”

The Barbican’s director of arts and learning Will Gompertz added: “Anything Goes was the perfect show to welcome back our much missed audiences to the Barbican after the lockdown. The joyous production played a significant part in one of our most successful autumns ever. We look forward to developing our ongoing collaboration with Trafalgar Entertainment after this incredibly successful start.”

Due to take its final bow at the Barbican on Saturday (6 November), the 50-strong company has been led by Broadway stars Sutton Foster (The Drowsy Chaperone, Thoroughly Modern Millie) and Rachel York (City of Angels, Victor/Victoria) and home-grown stars Tony, Olivier and BAFTA award winner Robert Lindsay (Dirty Rotten Scoundrels, Oliver!), Evening Standard Theatre Award winner Felicity Kendal (Much Ado About Nothing, Lettice and Lovage) in her West End musical debut, musical theatre favourite Gary Wilmot (Chicago, Dirty Rotten Scoundrels) and Tony and Olivier nominee Haydn Gwynne (Billy Elliot The Musical, Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown).

Marking the West End debut of triple Tony Award-winning director and choreographer Kathleen Marshall, the lavish new production boasts a company of over 50 including a full orchestra and 14 tap dancing sailors.

The madcap musical comedy set aboard an ocean liner bound for New York from Southampton boasts music and lyrics by Porter, an original book by Wodehouse and Guy Bolton with Howard Lindsay and Russel Crouse and a new book by Timothy Crouse and John Weidman.

Anything Goes debuted on Broadway in 1934 when it proved the perfect show to lift the spirits of American theatregoers during The Great Depression. The musical arrived in the West End a year later.

In 1962 the Off-Broadway revival of the show became the first to incorporate a number of songs from Porter’s other shows with ‘Take Me Back to Manhattan’ (from The New Yorkers), ‘It’s De-Lovely’ (from Red Hot and Blue) and ‘Let’s Misbehave’ (from Paris) joining Porter standards including ‘I Get A Kick Out of You’, ‘You’re the Top’ and the title song ‘Anything Goes’.

Marshall’s 2011 Broadway revival of Anything Goes was nominated for nine Tony Awards and 10 Drama Desk Awards, winning the gongs for Best Musical Revival and Best Choreography.

Angela Thomas