"ANYTHING GOES"

Otago Daily Times, Issue 22905, 12 June 1936, Page 7

"ANYTHING GOES"

The Paramount production. "Anything Goes." will have its New Zealand premiere at the Regent Theatre to-day. As a stage show "Anything Goes" played on Broadway for over a year, and followed up its phenomenal success there with London theatregoers. Charlie Ruggles, Bing Crosby, Ida Lupino, and Ethel Merman are the featured players, while all the Cole Porter songs which created such a furore in the stage play are included in the screen version, together with other numbers by famous music composers. Outstanding in the lyric line ore the parodies on "You're the Top," which Bing Crosby and Ethel Merman sing. The bright dance routines by Le Roy Priuz bring the play high on the spectacular side. Bing Crosby finds himself aboard a liner with nothing but a borrowed passport and ticket, both of which land him into endless trouble, which Charlie Ruggles adds to in his well-meant efforts to help him. Tumbling out of various disguises while he eludes the shin's officers, the whole ship becomes a madhouse of fun. Charlie Ruggles is a host in himself, and in his role _as a would-be bad man, public enemy No. 13. he gets every ounce of comedy out of a part which on the stage was a riot. Ethel Merman plays the same role that she played on Broadway and which earned her the name of the Broadway rhythm girl. Ida Lupino is cast as one of the leading players, and as a representative of our young moderns she is delightful. In support of the main feature is the Regent news service, " Finer Points," a Granttand Rico sportlight ("No Other One ). screen song, and the Regent Orchestra in a well-selected programme of popular music. Box plans are at the D.I.C. and theatre.