“Anything Goes” in the world nowadays and the Columbus High School musical just goes to prove it. CHS is excited to perform the newest revision of the classic “Anything Goes” composed by Cole Porter. This show involves lots of singing, dancing, tap dancing and will be quite the spectacle for audiences.

A particularly unique piece to this year's show is tap dancing. The show includes two numbers of tap dancing. The songs that feature tap are  “Anything Goes”, “Blow, Gabriel, Blow.”

Another key part to make the musical happen is the orchestra in the pit right below the stage. Even though they can't be seen, they play a very important role to make sure the singers have live music by which to sing and dance. 

Leading the orchestra and choir for her third production will be Ms. Zaidya Hirschman. This will be her fifth year being part of the production as she played bassoon in the pit for both “State Fair” and “Fiddler on the Roof.”

New to the 2022 revision of “Anything Goes” is the option for “flexbo” orchestration. Hirschman states, “‘Flexbo’ is just a way of simplifying the orchestration for the pit. The original pit called for 20+ players and our pit does not have space for that. The ‘Flexbo’ choice allows us to use closer to 10 players. Instrumentation is fairly common for this show - no double reeds on this one. Trumpet and Clarinet are the leading instruments.”

Hirschman's favorite part of the musical is, “the helter-skelter chaos of the show. ‘Anything Goes' takes amusing antics to talk about something pretty heavy; falling in love with someone outside of ‘social norms.’”

Head director Chelsea Parker is back in the director’s chair after a two-year hiatus from the CHS musical.   “It is a lot of fun. I get to work with really great kids, and it is great to see students use their imagination and creativity to embody their characters. It can be stressful at times, but it is totally worth it.” 

The show features five soloists. Featured soloists include Liz Hoskovec as Reno Sweeney, Riley Gausman as  Billy Crocker, Kenneth Fuentes-Quelex as Moonface Martin, Jenna Taylor as Erma, Abby Wurdeman as Hope Harcourt and Aidan Ballentine as Lord Evelyn Oakleigh.  In addition to these fantastic singers, Anchor News’ own Raquel Bordy and Lexi Urckoski will grace the stage as two of the ship’s celebrity-obsessed passengers.

“Anything Goes” will play on November 4 at 7:00 and November 5 at 2:00 and 7:00. Tickets are $7 for adults, $4 for students and C-Stamps will get you in for free!  Be sure to clear these days on your calendars to witness all the surprises, jokes, songs, dances and everything that “goes” with this year’s musical.

For more information on the CHS musical follow CHS Anchor News on  Instagram, Fusfoo, and Twitter!

Thumbnail courtesy of Hal Leonard