Theater Review: Beef and Boards Dinner Theatre: Anything Goes

There may not be a more appropriate title on stage or screen than Anything Goes, playing now at Beef and Boards Dinner Theatre, Indianapolis. The live and filmed productions, considered a Cole Porter classic, have been revamped, altered and rewritten beyond all recognition at some points. It has been made into a film twice with Bing Crosby (1936 and 1956) and is originally (and loosely) based on the book by P.G.Wodehouse and Guy Bolton.

Set in the golden days of glamour, this comedy takes place on a luxury ship. Timothy Ford steps into the lead role of Billy Crocker, the lovelorn broker following his ideal woman Hope Harcourt, played by Whitney Meyer.

Timothy Ford.... well, I couldn't quite place my finger on it, to be honest. He has a smooth charm that draws the audience in, perfect vocals and an air about him that seems as if you are watching an entertainer from a bygone era. Where had I had that sense before? Then, it hit me. Right here in this theater a few years back. Ford is the lead performer that swept up everyone's adoration with his umbrella while dancing in "Singing in the Rain." He also played one half of the lovable singing/dancing duo (with Curt Dale Clark) in "White Christmas."

Best pairing in vocals are Meyer and Ford in All Through the Night. Jeff Stockberger brings down the house with his comical rendition of "The Gypsy in Me." Portraying the affable Lord Evelyn Oakleigh Stockberger brings his popular brand of funny to the uptight fiance' with an inner wild side.

Deb Wims portrays the sassy, tough Reno Sweeney. Wims pairs up nicely with on-the-run Moonface Martin, played by Jack Milo. Milo's hang-dog expression brings the ahhh factor into play with his comic style.

The show is filled with dancing and familiar songs, such as "Anything Goes," "You're the Tops" and "I Get a Kick out of You."
Costumes (Jill Kelly), stage (Michael Layton) and choreography (Ron Morgan) all deserve extra applause this production to equal the amount of attention given when creating the show.

Bottom Line: Beef and Boards' Anything Goes brings a family friendly and colorful world of dancing, singing and comedy to the stage.

Images: JulieCurryPhotography.com

Elizabeth J. Musgrave is a syndicated fine-living, travel, food, wine and spirits columnist, freelance writer and photographer, and performing arts and restaurant critic for Gotta Go. Catch her as Indy’s Personal Lifestyle Adviser on Indy Style, WISH8 (CBS) and as Travel & Leisure Expert on FOX59 Morning News Show. Read Infused, her spirits, wine & beer lifestyle column, at www.GottaGo.us and www.FoodDigital.com Gotta Go is published on www.Gottago.us, and in magazines. Follow her on Twitter @GottaGo, LinkedIn and Facebook.

Beef and Boards Dinner Theatre 2014 Season Lineup Features a Flying Nanny, Fiddlers, Farmers, Fortresses & Felines

One of the things I like best about Beef & Boards Dinner Theatre is its desire to include a well-balanced selection in its annual offerings. Its 2014 season includes classics, comedies and current favorites. Every year theatergoers look forward to the season lineups throughout the city, hoping they will be refreshing and well considered. The disappointment of a tired, just-like-every-other lineup is as real as opening a birthday or holiday gift to find not the gift you'd dreamed of, but a generic one.

Although "Cats" is certainly familiar to B&B visitors, it has actually not played there since 2009. Opening the season with a comedy, as is their tradition, the Ken Ludwig Tony-Award winning, "Lend Me a Tenor" stands out as different than their normal fare, as does "Anything Goes" a Cole Porter musical.

I am not the only one, I'm certain, to compare versions of the same production ~ whether a film or stage performance. Mary Poppins played in Indy in 2009 with Broadway Across America Indianapolis (read my review here), and I intend to catch B&B's version to review, compare and (hopefully) enjoy as it truly is one of my favorite stories.

2014 Season

Lend Me a Tenor

Dec. 28, 2013-Feb. 2, 2014

A world-famous singer is set to perform with the Cleveland Grand Opera Company, but all doesn't go according to plan in this madcap comedy set during the 1930s. Winner of three Tony Awards ~ celebrating its 25th Anniversary in 2014.

Cats

Feb. 6-March 30

Andrew Lloyd Webber’s seven-time Tony Award winning story celebrates the annual gathering of the Jellicle cats at which one is selected to ascend to the Heaviside layer. Based on the universally popular poetry of T.S. Eliot and also marking its 25th Anniversary in 2014, Cats remains the second-longest running Broadway musical in history.

Anything Goes

April 3-May 11

Two unlikely pairs set off on a course to true love on the S.S. American in this classic boy-meets-girl tale. But they’re going to need the help of a crew of singing sailors, exotic disguises and good old-fashioned blackmail to reach their destination. Celebrating its 80^th Anniversary in 2014, this musical comedy features music and lyrics by Cole Porter.

Mary Poppins

May 15-June 29

With a little magic and a lot of common sense, Mary Poppins is a nanny like the troubled Banks family has never seen before, and she teaches them to value each other again. Based on the books by P.L. Travers and the classic Walt Disney film.

Church Basement Ladies:
A Mighty Fortress is Our Basement

July 5-Aug. 17

The new installment in the "Church Basement Ladies" series, which includes the original CBL, and A Second Helping. It's 960 and that means new high heels for confirmation, a food booth at the county fair and driving lessons. This musical comedy was inspired by the books “Growing Up Lutheran” and “Those Lutheran Ladies” by Janet Letness Martin and Suzann Nelson.

Oklahoma!

Aug. 21-Oct. 5

The first collaboration of Rodgers & Hammerstein is set in Indian Territory at the turn of the 20th century where farmers and cowboys collide and love doesn't come easy for one particularly headstrong pair. Based on the play “Green Grow the Lilacs” by Lynn Riggs, Oklahoma! originally opened on Broadway in 1943 and has spurred four revivals.

Fiddler on the Roof

Oct. 9-Nov. 23

Marking its 50^th Anniversary in 2014, the nine-time Tony Award winning musical embraces tradition in a changing world. Even in the tight-knit Jewish community of Anatevka, social mores are changing and anti-Semitism is growing in Czarist Russia.

 A Beef and Boards Christmas

Nov. 28-Dec. 23

The season is beautifully celebrated through song and story in this original production (read reviews for 2009, 2010, 2011, here), that has become a tradition for many families for more than 20 years.

  

A Christmas Carol

Dec. 6-22

The one-hour adaptation of Charles Dickens' classic, A Christmas Carol, is onstage for select performances. Enhanced with holiday carols, this iconic tale portrays miserly Ebenezer Scrooge, who is given a second chance.

CHILDREN’S THEATRE 2014

The Pyramid Players is designed to entertain children of any age. Youngsters also have the opportunity to meet the cast after the show for pictures and autographs. Performances take place on select Fridays at 10 a.m. and Saturdays at 10 a.m. and 1 p.m. Performances last one hour, are presented without intermission, and include juice and a snack.

How I Became a Pirate

Feb. 14-March 15

 Based on Melinda Long’s popular children’s book of the same name, this musical brings to the stage the tale of young Jeremy Jacob’s high seas adventure.

Sleeping Beauty

Oct. 17-Nov. 15 

This classic fairy tale made popular by the Brothers Grimm centers around a beautiful princess, who is destined to fall into a deep sleep for 100 years until being awakened by a prince’s kiss.

MEMBERSHIP & TICKET AVAILABILITY

 VIP Memberships for the 2014 season go on sale to the public starting Sept. 3. Individual show tickets to the general public start Oct. 1.

Tickets, directions and showtimes are available at BeefandBoards.com.

Images: Beef and Boards

Elizabeth J. Musgrave is a syndicated fine-living, travel columnist, freelance writer and photographer, and performing arts and restaurant critic for Gotta Go. Read Infused, her spirits, wine & beer lifestyle column, at www.GottaGo.us and www.FoodDigital.com and catch her as Indy’s Entertainment Adviser on 93 WIBC. Gotta Go is published on www.Gottago.us, www.BroadwayWorld.com, an in print. Follow her on Twitter @GottaGo, LinkedIn and Facebook.

Actors Theatre of Indiana Announces 2011-12 Season

Actors Theatre of Indiana Announces its 2011-12 Season

COLE-A revue based on the life of Cole Porter.

September 9-25, 2011

FORBIDDEN BROADWAY-Includes new spoof material, including "Wicked."

October 28-Noveber 20, 2011


FROG AND TOAD-Based on the Arnold Lobel stories. (Pike Performing Arts Center)
December 16-18, 2011


GODSPELL-Based on "The Gospel According to Matthew."

February 10-26, 2012

I LOVE YOU, YOU'RE PERFECT, NOW CHANGE

April 27-May 20, 2012

Elizabeth J. Musgrave is a syndicated columnist, travel writer, music, restaurant and performing arts critic. Catch her as Indy’s Arts & Entertainment Adviser on 93 WIBC and follow her on Twitter @ejmusgrave1 and Facebook, or write to her at elizabeth@gottago.us.

Gotta Go is published in the following newspapers: South Sider Voice, Indiana Weekender, New Palestine Reporter, Pendleton Times Reporter and Fortville-McCordsville Reporter.

Dance Kaleidoscope Announces 2011-12 Season Happy 40th Birthday DK!

Dance Kaleidoscope Announces 40^th Season

Indianapolis: Press release

With its 2011-12 season, Dance Kaleidoscope will turn 40.  Founded in 1972 as part of the Young Audiences program, DK is Indianapolis’ professional contemporary dance company.  Reflecting on the number of years DK has been in Indy, artistic director David Hochoy says with a smile, “Life begins at 40!”

The first concert of the season will be The Four Elements (Redux) in October on the IRT Main Stage.    This piece premiered in 2005 and quickly became an audience favorite.  The powerful section, Earth, will remain in tact.   Water, Air and Fire will be reworked by David Hochoy.  

Just before the Super Bowl comes to town, DK will offer an energetic party of a concert called Super Soul.  Featuring the music of Motown, Super Soul will run for the first two weekends of January on IRT’s Upper Stage.

In March, DK will return to IRT’s Main Stage to present its tribute to William Shakespeare called All the World’s a Stage.  The program will include a world premiere of Romeo and Juliet, using Tchaikovsky ‘s soaring music. 

Celebrating Indiana’s own Cole Porter, DK will present the full evening audience favorite, COLE! On IRT’s Main Stage. 

Tickets and season subscriptions are available at 317.940-6555. 

Summer Staycation

For light fun this summer, see DK’s concert, Summer Musicals/Elvis Sizzle.  The first act will be sections from Mad for Musicals, followed by sections from The Elvis Project.  The show will run July 7-10 on IRT’s Main Stage. 

Elizabeth J. Musgrave is a syndicated columnist, travel writer, music, restaurant and theater critic. Catch her as Indy’s Arts & Entertainment Adviser on 93 WIBC and follow her on Twitter @ejmusgrave1 and Facebook.


Gotta Go is published in the following newspapers: South Sider Voice, Indiana Weekender, New Palestine Reporter, Pendleton Times Reporter and Fortville-McCordsville Reporter.

The Cabaret at The Columbia Club: Tierney Sutton Band

Swanky, as defined by the Merriam-Webster dictionary, is fashionably elegant. Swanky, as defined by Indianapolis, is The Cabaret at The Columbia Club.

The international-headlining Tierney Sutton Band starts the new year validating the club's signature style. Sutton and company have created Tierney-style scat jazz together for 15 years and eight CDs including the latest Desire.

Many groups focus completely on the lead singer while leaving the others...somewhere in the back.

Sutton, a practicing Baha'i for 25 years, believes in equality and respect for all members. Giving the other members of the band time in the light allows Christian Jacobs (piano), Kevin Axt (bass), and Ray Brinker (drummer), to enhance the performance, flourishing in the admiration of the audience as well.

Sutton shares songs from previous works including 2002's Something Cool with Route 66, Wouldn't it be Loverly, I've Grown Accustomed to His Face, and 2005's I'm With the Band with I Get a Kick and S'Wonderful. The group also draws from current release Desire with My Heart Belongs to Daddy and Skylark.
                                                                                         
Often the studio version of an artist is almost unrecognizable as the same artist you witnessed live. Not so with The Tierney Sutton Band. Listening to Desire, it is simple to imagine you are once again enjoying the intimate setting of The Cabaret at The Columbia.

Bottom Line: With a feather-light touch, Tierney and her trio begin quietly and... somewhat sensually. As the music and vocals slip across your skin like ribbons of silk, you initially resist the temptation to close your eyes, revisiting the loveliest of memories. Eventually, you forgo all pretense and simply succumb to the ethereal experience.

Photo credit: greatexposures.net 

thecabaret.org

tierneysutton.com
bahai.org/

Elizabeth J. Musgrave is a syndicated columnist, travel writer and theater critic. Catch her as Indy’s Arts & Entertainment Adviser on 93 WIBC and follow her on Twitter @ejmusgrave1 and Facebook.

Gotta Go is published in the following newspapers: South Sider Voice, Indiana Weekender, West Side Community News, New Palestine Reporter, West Indianapolis Community News, Pendleton Times Reporter and Fortville-McCordsville Reporter.