Anything Goes
Last night I took my children on board the S.S. American for two hours of music and laughter with stowaways and gangsters. Mrs. Zed, meanwhile, stayed home listening to our commentary of Scotland's three nil defeat by Holland. Judging by the number of times David Begg described Scotland's performance as "pathetic", I think I made the better choice.
The S.S. American, for those of you unfamiliar with musical theatre, is the setting for Cole Porter's Anything Goes. About a month ago I had booked three tickets for the production at Eden Court . At that point it hadn't dawned on me that I would be racing home from Wales in time to make curtain-up. It had dawned on me that I would only ever need three tickets because Mrs. Zed is not a fan of the genre. She simply cannot suspend her disbelief long enough to understand how passengers and crew on a steamship could all know the words to the same song and, furthermore, perform the dance steps as well. She prefers to delude herself with the notion that a team of eleven Scotland players might all play with shared tactics and towards the same goal.
No matter, I was keen to give my son and daughter a taste of showbusiness and this was their first visit to the Eden Court Theatre. I had booked seats in a box and, on the car journey across town I tried to explain the etiquette of theatre audiences and how this might differ from the cinema.
"If you drop something and it rolls down the aisle then the actors might stop what they're doing and give you a row."
I have never seen that happen but I thought it best to warn them of the possibility.
Zed-son asked how long the performance might last and I estimated it at about ninety minutes with a twenty minute interval. To his mind this sounded like a football match and he enquired if extra time might be added if there was no result. This seemed like a great idea.
Imagine each member of the cast having to take turns with additional songs until the audience finally agreed they'd had their money's worth and allowed the curtain to fall.
Anyway, it was a great show and here, to conclude, are the five things my children thought were "cool" about the experience.
1. The smoke machine simulating steam from the ship's funnel.
2. The ability to pre-order interval drinks and have fizzy cola waiting for you at "half-time".
3. The lady selling tubs of ice cream from an illuminated tray.
4. The actor whose voice kept changing from Scottish to American
5. Oh yes...the singing and dancing. Really cool.
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