Cole Porter’s musical comedy Anything Goes proved to be no problem for this very talented group of young people.

The story takes place on the SS American which is sailing from New York to England. It involves a young American heiress, Hope Harcourt, her English fiancé Sir Evelyn Oakleigh, Hope’s mother, and Billy Crocker, a young admirer of Hope who stows away on the ship and is determined to try and stop her marriage to Sir Evelyn. Reno Sweeney is an ex-evangelist turned night club singer whose intervention helps to avert all the disasters on board and also sorts out all the romances.

Add one or two unsavoury characters and ... Anything Goes.

Leading lady, Reno Sweeney, was played to perfection – sexy, raunchy with a fabulous singing voice – by Elizabeth Maclean. Her numbers included I get a kick out of you, Friendship and, of course, Anything Goes. But without a doubt the outstanding number of the whole show was Blow Gabriel Blow. Reno performed this with more than 60 members of the chorus at the beginning of the second act and it “blew” the audience away.

Hope Harcourt was played by Jessica Hardwick, a beautiful girl with a beautiful voice who stole Billy Crocker’s heart. Her duet with Billy Crocker – It’s De-Lovely was absolutely delightful.

An up-and-coming talent has to be Aimee Hislop who played the part of Erma – the not-so dumb blonde. Her acting ability for one so young was excellent as she sang, danced and flirted her way from New York to England. Rebekah Chapman who was the rather eccentric, money-grabbing mother of Hope Harcourt is another name to watch out for in future shows.

The whole show was hilarious with most of the comedy coming from Billy Crocker, played by Jack Louden. This young man leaves me lost for words. He totally commands the stage and makes everything look so easy. We’ll definitely be seeing him on the professional stage some day.

He was ably supported by Duncan Yellowlees, alias Moonface Martin and together they had the audience rolling in the aisles with their command of many different “languages”.

Lord Evelyne Oakleigh (Fraser Brien) and Elisha Whitney (Angus Yellowlees) added to the hilarity with their portrayals of rather dotty aristocrats.

There were on occasions more than 70 people on the stage and everyone was fantastic. They all looked as if they were enjoying themselves and gave 110 per cent.

The dancing was fabulous, the costumes were beautiful and the set was unbelievable – it was difficult to believe that I was in the school hall and many people worked very hard behind the scenes to make this show the success that it was.

The orchestra excelled, putting the icing on a very delicious cake.

Take an extra bow Jeff Thomson, musical director and producer. What a brilliant night’s entertainment and I can’t wait until next year to see The Sound of Music!