Anything Goes Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		3.5
Video		4.0
Audio		4.5
Extras		0.0
Overall		3.5

Anything Goes Blu-ray Movie Review

The Love Boat.

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman April 19, 2023

Anything Goes first debuted on the Great White Way in 1934, giving Ethel Merman one of her biggest hits and a role which was "signature" enough that, unlike several later iconic Merman stage performances like Gypsy, she actually was allowed to repeat it in the 1936 film version of the property. Anything Goes has been rather drastically altered through the years, including in that very 1936 film adaptation, which rather incredibly seemed to think a score by Cole Porter wasn't quite good enough, and so interpolated a number of additional tunes by other notable (sorry) composers. Both the book and score have been so radically tweaked over the course of the ensuing decades that there are actually some kind of comical "flowcharts" available on line for those interested where differences are detailed in quasi-spreadsheets. This particular version of Anything Goes is based on the well received 2011 Broadway revival, which won a trio of Tony Awards, including Best Revival of a Musical and Best Actress in a Musical for Sutton Foster. That 2011 revival was itself revisited ten years later for a London production, again starring Sutton Foster (evidently a last minute replacement for an injured Megan Mullaly), and it was this 2021 staging that was filmed at London's Barbican Theatre, and which was later broadcast stateside as part of Great Performances on PBS.

Sutton Foster has been something of a critics' darling since she won her first Tony for the stage version of Thoroughly Modern Millie, though she perhaps unexpectedly found herself the subject of considerable controversy when she moved on from the London mounting of Anything Goes to return to Broadway in the Hugh Jackman starred The Music Man, where her singing range necessitated transposing Marian's songs downward, something that was met with considerable umbrage by those with either Barbara Cook or Shirley Jones implanted in their memories. Key changes aside, there's a certain vulnerability to the roles of both Millie and Marian which is pretty much diametrically opposed to the brash character of Reno Sweeney in Anything Goes. Sweeney is part lounge singer part ex-evangelist in this story, and the part seems rather obviously based at least in part on famous thirties figures like Aimee Semple McPherson.

Rather interestingly, at least in terms of how musicals of this general era tended to be plotted, Reno is not the main romantic focus, and instead kind of actually acts as a kind of wingman (wingwoman?) for Billy Crocker (Samuel Edwards), an assistant to a multimillionaire named Elisha J. Whitney (Gary Wilmot). Reno obviously has eyes for Billy, though Billy is firmly entranced with a woman named Hope Harcourt (Nicole-Lily Baisden), who herself is engaged to Lord Evelyn Oakleigh (Haydn Oakley). This veritable motley crew of characters all end up on an ocean liner bound for London, and also on board are a whole gaggle of other motley types, including wanted criminal Moonface Martin (Robert Lindsay), who actually ends up teaming up with Reno to help Billy snag Hope.

There's an undeniably farcical element to the libretto, with any number of mistaken identities, faked identities, and mismatched pairs who somehow manage to end up with the "right" partner, but anyone looking for anything "meaningful" in the way that more contemporary musicals often try to aim for will probably need to keep looking. Instead Anything Goes coasts on a considerable amount of energy generated by its now legendary Cole Porter score, as well as some great dance numbers choreographed by director Kathleen Marshall.

Anything Goes Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Anything Goes is presented on Blu-ray courtesy Liberator Film Studios and MVD Visual with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 1.78:1. This is another pleasing looking transfer of a high definition capture of a live stage performance, much in line with previous Liberator releases like Kinky Boots: The Musical, An American in Paris: The Musical and 42nd Street: The Musical. The palette is very nicely suffused throughout, and rather bold primaries of red and blue are especially vivid. The somewhat minimalistic scenic design can still have a bit of flourish in some of the supposed stateroom scenes, where detail levels on fabrics is typically very good. There are some very minor issues with banding, but nothing as problematic as what I noted in the review of Kinky Boots.

Anything Goes Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Anything Goes features DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 and LPCM 2.0 audio options. Both of these tracks offer beautifully rendered recreations of the rather well appointed pit band's instrumental accompaniments, and even better, prioritization of voices in the sung moments is typically very well done. There's not a ton of traditional "immersion" (despite the seaborne setting), but there is definitely a spacious accounting of the score in particular, and all dialogue is presented cleanly and clearly throughout. Optional English subtitles are available.

Anything Goes Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

As tends to be the case with these "filmed live on stage" offerings from Liberator Film Studios and MVD Visual, there is no supplementary content on the disc.

Anything Goes Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

This production has been generally highly acclaimed in both its 2011 and 2021 iterations, but I have to say it frankly left me a little cold at times, and some of the interpolations, like a patently odd moment with Reno and Moonface breaking the fourth wall and engaging both the audience and the conductor just struck me as, well, patently odd. The highlights here are the ebullient score which is jam packed with standards like "You're the Top", "I Get a Kick Out of You" and "You'd Be So Easy to Love", "Friendship" and of course the rollicking title tune, as well as some really energetic dance numbers, including a couple of knockout tap items. Technical merits are generally solid, and at least for musical fans and with a few niggling caveats noted, Anything Goes comes Recommended.