In Olden Days, Musical Comedy Stars Were Bold ‘n’ Brassy

Such is the state of the Broadway musical that Sutton Foster
is considered one of today’s top leading ladies. A hard worker and accomplished
dancer and singer, Foster nevertheless lacks the sparkle that separates stars
from understudies; it’s telling that her best performance was in the
unfortunate Young Frankenstein, where
she played the supporting role of Inga. Every star turn she takes, however, is
technically impressive but emotionally lacking—and that includes her
performance in Kathleen Marshall’s oddly directed and choreographed revival of Anything
Goes.

The news of her casting as the brassy nightclub singer Reno
Sweeney (a role originated by Ethel Merman and played in the 1987 revival by
Patti LuPone, two performers with whom Foster has nothing in common) came as a
surprise. Reno is the dame at sea in Anything Goes, aboard a luxury ship that also numbers ministers,
gangsters, molls, randy sailors and debutantes among its passengers. But
Foster, despite her blonde wig and thigh-baring skirts, is an ingénue trying to
be a broad.

As the nightclub singer/evangelist, Foster wraps her voice
around Cole Porter’s standards-strewn score with all the intensity and color of
a solo album—which is to say, not appropriately for a live performance. Her
rendition of “I Get a Kick Out of You,” instead of establishing Reno as a bold
personality, instead reveals a softhearted lady pining for her friend, Billy
Crocker (Colin Donnell) instead of the good time gal the songs and book
indicate.

The strengths of Anything Goes (which has been written, revised and rewritten so frequently and by so
many collaborators that comparisons to the original production are pointless)
are such that the show can withstand even a misguided lead performance. And
certainly, the dashing and talented Donnell and the sweet-voiced Laura Osnes
(as the actual ingénue) make up for Foster’s miscasting.

But Marshall makes the fatal mistake of taking Porter’s
wordplay songs and sending them up. As Foster and Donnell work their way
through the multiple verses of “You’re the Top,” Marshall has staged the number
as if Reno and Billy are making the words up on the spot, grimacing slightly
after they deliver one of Porter’s less felicitous rhymes. That approach could
work once, but Marshall repeats it on Foster’s duet with Joel Grey, as gangster
Moonface Martin, on “Friendship,” and again during “It’s De-Lovely.” She also
suffers from Rob Ashford’s mania for inserting lavish production numbers into
several songs, threatening to sink the ship. Directly after the Ginger-and-Fred
ballroom routines of “It’s De-Lovely” comes the major tap dancing of “Anything
Goes,” ending the first act on an overload of dance.

As for Grey, let’s hope he does better work on the upcoming The
Normal Heart as a director than he does
here as a performer. Threatening to totally forget his lines and lyrics, Grey
nervously touches his mic every time he opens his mouth to sing, while forcing
Foster into an uncomfortable key on their duet and killing multiple punchlines
with his hesitant delivery.

The rest of the cast is comprised of tried-and-true Broadway
stalwarts, from Joyce Chittick to Linda Mugleston, with Adam Godley turning in
a fine supporting performance as the ingénue’s veddy British fiancé, blaring
out “The Gypsy in Me” with inspired seriousness. But with a void where the
leading lady should be and a director who keeps everyone just a little too
busy, the show’s title has been taken too much to heart.

Anything Goes

Through Jan. 8, 2012, Stephen Sondheim Theatre, 124 W. 43rd St. (betw.
6th & B’way), 212-239-6200; $87–$142.