Quaker Valley High School students gear up for 'Anything Goes' musical

Quaker Valley High School students and staff invite audiences to board the S.S. American and set sail on a laugh and dance-filled journey with their reproduction of “Anything Goes.”

Audiences at the land-locked school along Beaver Street will feel as through they are crossing the Atlantic with more than 40 performers of the multi Tony award-winning musical, according to director/set designer Austin Wolford.

“We wanted to do another classic show after doing ‘The Little Mermaid’ last year,” Wolford said. “‘Anything Goes’ is one of those shows that we all love. It’s really high energy. It’s a super fun score by Cole Porter.”

In the musical, the S.S. American is preparing to set sail from New York to England.

Billy Crocker, an assistant to Wall Street tycoon Elisha Whitney, a passenger on the ship, decides to stow away in hopes of gaining the affection of wealthy debutante Hope Harcourt, who is also on board.

Hope is engaged to stuffy Englishman Lord Evelyn Oakleigh, also onboard, and they are to be married in England.

Others on board the ship include Reno Sweeney, a nightclub signer and former evangelist, a bevy of showgirls, Moonface Martin, a gangster known as “Public Enemy 13” and his moll Erma, both disguised as a reverend and a missionary, respectively.

The show has been revised multiple times since its November 1934 Broadway premier, and the school selected the 2022 edition of the production.

“It’s a little bit more contemporary, and it was updated to be a little more sensible to where we’re at in 2023,” Wolford said. “A big portion of the second act played along the race of specific characters in a very derogatory manner, and we didn’t want to have that on our stage. In the revised edition, the race of the characters doesn’t play any role in the script. It was updated to be for a more modern audience and still with good humor, but not at the expense of a culture.”

Student stars

The cast is led by a veteran crop of seniors including Eric Weicht (Billy Crocker) and Miralhi Taylor-Martin (Reno Sweeney).

Both have been in at least seven Quaker Valley productions together.

“I love being on stage and performing because it tells stories, and there’s all different types of stories,” Taylor-Martin said. “They always have opportunities to affect people in different ways. You never know what you’re going to do on stage that’s going to hit someone differently, and I really like that.”

Taylor-Martin described Sweeney as very confident and someone who draws attention just by walking into a room.

“That is a very different character than what I usually play,” she said. “It has been so exciting to investigate her and move like her because she does dance a lot. Finding her character in the movement was really fun.”

Weicht described Crocker as a lady’s man trying to make it big and does not let crazy things faze him.

“I think that he’s sort of relaxed and he kind of goes with the flow,” Weicht said. “A lot of crazy things happen in the show and (he’s) just letting it happen around (him). I like to think that I’m able to do that (in real life). He’s a funny guy.

“It’s also really nice to be able to interact with my friends in the show. Miralhi, I’ve known her since preschool. We get to have a lot of back and forth on stage, which is really fun.”

The musical selection was announced in September. Auditions took place in November and rehearsals began in December.

“At the beginning, some of the harmonies were a little scary,” Taylor-Martin said of the music. “Now, they’ve grown and developed because of working hard. We really mesh together as a cast.”

Wolford, who also designed the set, is assisted by producer/stage manager Christine Forrest, pit coordinator Cory Neville, accompanist John Burgh, vocal coach/assitant director Carlie Keffer and choreographers Michael and Mara Greer.

The stage is transformed into the deck of the S.S. American with an 8-foot tall and 40-foot wide platform with two stair units that turn and serve as different locations on board the ship.

Wolford described the set as a life-sized doll house.

“It makes us be really efficient with our stage crew,” he said. “We can change all the scenery literally behind the scenes while there are scenes taking place. Whenever it opens up it’s a brand new location and the audience didn’t see anything happen. Whenever we’re doing all of the scene work, efficiency is key.”

There are more than 20 students in the stage crew. The high school construction technology students built a lot of pieces for the production.

“It gives the students ownership of the show,” Wolford said of having about one-third of the student body involved in some fashion. “We have our professional staff of seven people, but it’s all about the students and what they’re able to do and what they can put on the stage.

“We help them out here and there, but at the end of the day it is all about that student involvement and letting them have some ownership. The more ownership they have the more excited they get.”

Quaker Valley High School students put on their dancing shoes for “Anything Goes.” pic.twitter.com/M0gSrGaaKw

— Mike D. (@MikeJdiVittorio) March 1, 2023

Final curtain

Taylor-Martin and Weicht said they cherish every moment on stage and behind the scenes with the cast and crew in preparation for their final show at Quaker Valley.

“I am so thankful for the years that we’ve had here,” Taylor-Martin said. “I don’t think I would change a thing about any of these musicals. I’m really excited that ‘Anything Goes’ is the final one because it is very energetic, very funny and I’m just thankful for this. The cast loves each other and we love performing on stage together.”

Weicht said he plans to host a cast party after the final performance March 18.

“The Quaker Valley environment, it’s always so supportive,” he said. “I think we’ve made sure to make everyone in the cast feel like they’re part of something big no matter what your part is.

“You are a big part of the whole (production) and you get to see it all come together. I’ve always loved that.”

Weicht also commended Wolford’s leadership in this show and throughout his musical career.

“We had the covid pandemic our sophomore year,” Weicht said. “That was a bit of a different show, but he worked very hard to make sure that we had something happen. It ended up being still a really fun experience.

“Every single year you can see he’s learning a little bit more every year, and he’s been doing a fantastic job since my freshman year. You see him grow as a director as we’re growing as actors, and that’s been a really nice experience to have.”

This is Wolford’s fifth year as musical director and seventh year involved in Quaker Valley musicals.