'Anything Goes' at Southeast's Bedell Hall

"Anything Goes," winner of three 2011 Tony Awards, including best musical revival and choreography, will be performed at 7:30 p.m. Nov. 1 in the Bedell Performance Hall at Southeast Missouri State University's River Campus.

Earl and Margie Holland, for whom the Earl and Margie Holland School of Visual and Performing Arts at Southeast is named, have selected "Anything Goes" as their special choice event this season at the River Campus, according to a news release from the university.

The New York Times hails the Cole Porter creation as a "musical-comedy joy" and USA Today calls it "glorious and exuberant."

"What a great Broadway musical, featuring so many of Cole Porter's classic songs. The first time I saw this show I was on my high school's stage crew. I've seen it again and again on Broadway, in other cities, and even at Southeast. It's one of my all-time favorites and just keeps getting better and better," said Bob Cerchio, assistant director of the Holland School of Visual and Performing Arts, said in the release.

Peppering this timeless classic are some of musical theater's standards, including "I Get a Kick Out of You," "You're the Top" and, of course, "Anything Goes."

The comedy features dancing, singing, romancing, mistaken identities and mismatched lovers. It is brought to life on board the SS American, a 1930s luxury liner en route to London from New York. On board are a lovesick stowaway, a brassy nightclub evangelist, a beautiful young debutante and her doting mother, a boozy and lecherous old tycoon, a bumbling gangster disguised as a priest, an English Lord with a mysterious past and a ship full of dancing sailors and high-kicking chorus girls.

More information is at AnythingGoesTheMusical.com.

Tickets may be purchased at the River Campus box office in the Cultural Arts Center, 518 S. Fountain St., weekdays from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m., by calling 651-2265, or online at RiverCampusEvents.com.