Anything Goes - History

History

The original idea for a musical set on board an ocean liner came from producer Vinton Freedley, who was living on a boat, having left the US to avoid his creditors. He selected the writing team, P.G. Wodehouse and Guy Bolton, and the star, Ethel Merman. The first draft of the show was called Crazy Week, which became Hard to Get, and finally Anything Goes. The original plot involved a bomb threat, a shipwreck, and hijinks on a desert island, but, just a few weeks before the show was due to open, a fire on board the passenger ship SS Morro Castle caused the deaths of 138 passengers and crew members. According to one version, Freedley judged that to proceed with a show on a similar subject would be in dubious taste, and he insisted on changes to the script. However, theatre historian Lee Davis maintains that Freedley wanted the script changing because it was "a hopeless mess." Bolton and Wodehouse were in England at the time and were thus no longer available, so Freedley turned to his director, Howard Lindsay, to write a new book. Lindsay recruited press agent Russel Crouse as his collaborator, beginning a lifelong writing partnership. The roles of Billy Crocker and Moonface Martin were written for the well-known comedy team, William Gaxton and Victor Moore, and Gaxton's talent for assuming various disguises was featured in the libretto.

According to theatre legend, the show's new title, along with the title number, was born from the haste with which the show was revamped: at a late-night production meeting, an exasperated and over-worked member of the production team cried out "And just how in the world are we going to end the first act?" "At this point," responded one of the producers, being more helpful than he realized, "anything goes!"

Porter wrote the majority of Anything Goes in the Rosecliff mansion in Newport, RI while staying as a houseguest there.