04/02/2025
From songs belted out by some of SUNY Cortland’s best, to some of the toughest dance routines on Broadway, it will truly be “Anything Goes” when the classic show comes to the Dowd Fine Arts Center Theatre.
The musical about hijinks on an ocean liner bound for London will have six performances on:
- Friday, April 4 — 7:30 p.m.
- Saturday, April 5 — 7:30 p.m.
- Sunday, April 6 — 2 p.m.
- Friday, April 11 —7:30 p.m.
- Saturday, April 12 — 7:30 p.m.
- Sunday, April 13 — 2 p.m.
Tickets are on sale at Cortland’s online Box Office. Discounts are available for students, faculty, staff, children and senior citizens.
Described by the Performing Arts Department as a “masterful mashup of musical comedy, gangster movie, screwball antics and social satire,” this musical has found success on Broadway since its debut in1934, and in film versions released in 1936, 1956 and 2021.
The play centers on nightclub singer Reno Sweeney and stockbroker and stowaway Billy Crocker. A core of classic songs by Porter has kept toes tapping to “Anything Goes” for 90 years, including “I Get a Kick Out of You,” which has been embraced as a standard by the likes of Frank Sinatra, Ella Fitzgerald and Lady Gaga. Porter himself is a member of the Great American Songbook Hall of Fame.
“Cole Porter, along with other early Tin Pan Alley composers such as (Jerome) Kern, (Irving) Berlin, and (George) Gershwin, helped pave the way for later musical theater, both musically and culturally,” said Ben Kapilow, music director for the show and assistant director in the Performing Arts Department.
“Classic musicals like ‘Anything Goes’ tend to emphasize acoustic instruments, making the focus all about the notes and rhythms, with no technology or effects to hide behind.”
That timeless quality has proven true in Cortland’s own revival, as “Anything Goes” returns after a first run in 2003. Longtime fans will notice a few updates to the script and differences in the sets and choreography, but SUNY Cortland professor Kevin Halpin, director and choreographer, said to not expect a change in fun.
“First and foremost, it’s an amazing score,” Halpin said. “Every song in it is a great song and Cole Porter was of course a genius — there’s power and energy in all of them. It’s light and it’s funny. It’s about the silliness of what we do in terms of finding our romantic partner.”
Halpin described it as an exceptionally demanding show with dance-heavy numbers that demand the best from its cast and crew, while also bringing out the best in the audience. It’s a formula that has led “Anything Goes” to win Best Revival of a Musical twice at the Tony Awards, in 1987 and 2011.
“It’s a fun way to get away for a couple of hours in the evening and just laugh and feel good about life,” Halpin said.
Heather Hayes, a junior from Glens Falls, N.Y., takes on the challenging lead role of Reno Sweeney, played on Broadway by the likes of stage icons Sutton Foster and Patti LuPone.
While Hayes said that she’s dreamed of doing this show half her life — and that Foster was her first idol and her inspiration to begin tap lessons — she most of all wants to make the character her own.
“This show is so funny and lighthearted, but at its core, it still has to be genuine, and I can’t do that if I’m trying to copy other people,” Hayes said.
Above all, she’s ready for the curtain to rise.
“I’m most excited to show everyone what the cast and crew have put together,” she said. “Everyone has put in so much work, and I can’t wait to see it all celebrated, with our friends, family and strangers. “