History Theatre / AnythingGoes

* RuleOfFunny: The entire show runs on this

%% * GettingCrapPastThe Radar: Due to overwhelming and persistent misuse, GCPTR is on-page examples only until 01 June 2021. If you are reading this in the future, please check the trope page to make sure your example fits the current definition.

* BreakingTheFourthWall: in this [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cZjGUtqiCyg YouTube video of the 2021 West End version of the show]], around 52 minutes in, the actors start bickering about what's going on, notice the audience, get awkward....

* ChickMagnet: Hope and Reno are both in love with Billy (though the latter gets over him), and he’s shown to have a few other ladies interested as well. He gets even more women fawning over him once they believe he’s [[AllGirlsWantBadBoys Public Enemy #1.]]

* CovertPervert: While he’s tasteful about it, Evelyn shows some signs of this, with all examples involving Reno. Once he realizes her plan was to get caught sleeping with him, he declares the idea exciting, he cheerfully tells everyone at her service about his [[UnusualEuphemism “Romp in the rice”]] in China, he cheers when she starts disrobes into a revealing outfit, and he woos her through a song and dance.
** Applies to Hope as well. It’s suggestively mentioned that [[NoodleIncident she and Billy spent five hours together in the back of a taxi]], and she [[ShutUpKiss impatiently cuts off his singing during “It’s Delovely” for a quick make out session.]]
* CrowdSong: "Anything Goes" and "Public Enemy Number One"

* DidTheyOrDidntThey: The show never makes it quite clear what happens after “Gypsy in Me”. Evelyn reveals himself to be in love with Reno who then falls for him as well, and there’s often disrobing (of both characters) and a kiss that occurs during the dancing. Given the sexual nature of the scene, it’s not a stretch to assume that Reno and Evelyn spent the night together. Productions can definitely imply this as Reno may show up in the next scene in a different state of dress compared to before. One thing that is clear though is that “Gypsy in Me” takes place at night while the following scene takes place early in the morning, which would definitely give Reno and Evelyn enough time to have a [[UnusualEuphemism “RompInTheRice”.]]

** After Billy’s thrown in the brig and seemingly lost Hope for good, he seems to be considering this. [[EveryoneHasStandards Moonface is not amused]].

** Billy is fine [[PaperThinDisguise shaving Cheeky to make a fake beard]] but he calls out Moonface for dunking him in the pool.

* TheFamilyForTheWholeFamily: Moonface is a luckless and perfectly harmless gangster who decides to help Billy out with his romantic troubles

* FinishDialogueinUnison: "What was [Mrs. Harcourt's dog] doing in the swimming pool?" The entire cast, (in some cases, including the band) responds: '''THE DOG PADDLE!!!'''

* GirlFriday: Subverted by Bonnie/Erma who does nothing but cause trouble for Moonface.

** Hope herself acts as one, as she’s only engaged to Evelyn cause he’s rich. This is downplayed however, as Hope is forced into this role by her mother.
* GoSeduceMyArchnemesis: Reno is sent to lure Evelyn away so Billy can woo Hope. [[spoiler: It...doesn't work.]]
* GospelRevivalNumber: "Blow Gabriel Blow"

* HappilyMarried: [[spoiler: Reno and Evelyn]] come across as the happiest couple, as they hit it off with each other very quickly, have more in common than it initially seems, and are never shown to have the same relationship issues as the other two couples.
** [[spoiler: Billy and Hope]] are still a legitimate example of this. While they do argue quite a bit throughout the show, it’s still made clear that they’re nuts about each other, and their prior problems are solved by the end, implying that their relationship drama started and ended on the boat.
** {{Subverted}} with [[spoiler: Eli and Evangeline.]] Both of them come across as genuinely happy together, but the only reason they’re even getting married is because she’s a GoldDigger.
* HarmlessVillain: Moonface

* HeroAntagonist: The Captain and Purser repeatedly get in the way of our main characters’ happiness, but given the our heroes our causing all kinds of drama and riling people up, can you really blame them?

* {{Jerkass}}: Evangeline is a RichBitch with an ItsAllAboutMe attitude. She forces her daughter to marry a man she doesn’t love, and when that doesn’t work, she marries Eli, [[GoldDigger purely because he’s rich]].
** Erma’s not as bad, but she’s [[ItsAllAboutMe self absorbed]], rude, blatantly uses men for sex, and unlike her partner in crime Moonface, she’s fairly disloyal, being quick to dump Snake Eyes and leaving Billy and Moon to rot in the brig.

* IdiotHoudini: [[UpperClassTwit Evelyn’s not the sharpest tool in the shed]], but despite more than half of the main characters either plotting against him or using him, he ends the show unscathed and [[ThePollyanna as happy as ever.]]
** This also applies to the similarly gullible [[TheAlcoholic Eli]]. He may be a ButtMonkey, but he still pulls this trope off near the end. At the beginning of the show he tells Billy to sell all of his shares of Amalgamated Prestoleum, something Billy neglects to do when he boards the ship. At the end, when Billy tells him that he didn’t sell the shares, Whitney laments that he’s financially ruined, right before hearing that Amalgamated went through the roof making him even richer than before. If it wasn’t for Billy screwing up, Eli would’ve gone broke.
* TheIngenue: Hope

** Moonface despite being a gangster and a criminal (albeit of the HarmlessVillain variety) gets away completely scot-free of his crimes (although [[RunningGag he's only Public Enemy number thirteen]]). Which is cleaned up even nicer at the end when he gets a telegram saying [[spoiler: they've dropped him off the list entirely]].
* KickTheDog: A few examples, all PlayedForLaughs

** Billy, Mooonface, and Reno’s plots against Evelyn are rather mean-spirited, given they try framing, blackmailing, and threatening a NiceGuy just because he’s engaged to Hope, who he appears to be decent to. After realizing he’s harmless and dorky, [[EveryoneHasStandards Reno even apologizes.]] Fortunately for Evelyn, he’s unaware and unbothered by these schemes, and winds up benefiting from them.
** There’s also Evangeline moving up the date of Hope and Evelyn’s wedding as soon as she realizes Billy and Hope are an item. When Hope tries to intervene, [[EvilIsPetty Evangeline moves it up even closer by half an hour]]

** Evelyn can easily come across as this due to his CloudCuckooLander personality. It’s pretty much a necessity that he [[ChewingTheScenery chews a bit of scenery]] during “Gypsy in Me”.
** Evangeline is also open to this interpretation given she’s a RichBitch who suffers from several fits of hysteria.

** Reno’s sexy, and she knows it. Anything Goes just isn’t Anything Goes if the leading lady isn’t dressed in an assortment of jaw dropping outfits.
** Erma is also usually played by a stunner, as to be expected when [[ReallyGetsAround her promiscuity is her defining trait.]]
** Hope may be be more reserved when it comes to her sexuality, but you’ll be hard pressed to find a production where she’s not played by a beautiful actress wearing beautiful dresses.

* NoCelebritiesWereHarmed: Reno is a parody of Aimee Semple [=McPherson=]

** Despite the rest of the cast either insulting him, taking advantage of him, or scheming against him, Evelyn is impeccably friendly and good natured towards everyone he meets. It helps that he’s almost entirely oblivious to their actions against him. This is best represented when Moonface tries to {{Blackmail}} him and threatens him with a gun. Believing that Moonface was doing so to protect Reno, Evelyn responds by telling Moonface how much he admires him, and tells him [[UnusualEuphemism “I’ve got hot pants for you”]].
* TheNotLoveInterest: Reno for Billy, Moonface for Reno. Subverted with Moonface and Erma as they're stuck together but can't stand one another

** Originally, the actress playing Reno could get away with leaving the heavy dancing to the ensemble, but after Sutton Foster’s Tony winning turn in the role where she led the dance breaks, it’s now expected for the actress playing Reno be a dancer.

* OriginalCastPrecedent: Moonface was originally played by the 5’7 tall Victor Moore. Since then, he’s been played by many similarly short men such as Joel Grey and Bill McCutcheon.

-->'''Moonface:''' [[DeadpanSnarker What do you do now, use a funnel?]]

* SuperfluousSolo: “Buddie Beware” doesn’t really add anything to the plot. It seems to exist just to give Erma a solo. This makes it placement as the second to last song somewhat odd.

* BillingDisplacement In the 2011 revival. The show is marketed as "''Anything Goes'' with Sutton Foster and Joel Grey". While Foster, as Reno, is the leading lady, Joel Gray plays Moonface, when the main man is Billy Crocker (played by Colin Donnell).

* GettingCrapPastTheRadar: The entire song "[[SugarWiki/FunnyMoments Anything]] [[TitleDrop Goes]]".

* HeroAntagonist: The Captain and Purser repeatedly get in the way of our main characters’ happiness, but given the our heroes our causing all kinds of drama and ruling people up, can you really blame them?

** Erma’s not as bad, but she’s [[ItsAllAboutMe self absorbed]],rude, blatantly uses men for sex, and unlike her partner in crime Moonface, she’s fairly disloyal, being quick to dump Snake Eyes and leaving Billy and Moon to rot in the brig.

** Moonface is gangster and believes MurderIsTheBestSolution, but he also stays loyal to Reno and Billy and helps them get their happy endings, even though he personally has nothing to gain from doing so.

** Quite literal when it comes the treatment of Evangeline’s dog Cheeky, with Billy and Moonface shaving him to create a PaperThinDisguise, and Moonface throwing him into the pool as revenge for the pooch’s biting of him. [[EveryoneHasStandards Something that Billy call him out on.]]
** Billy, Mooonface, and Reno’s plots against Evelyn are rather mean spirited, given they try framing, blackmailing, and threatening a NiceGuy just because he’s engaged to Hope, who he appears to be decent to. After realizing he’s harmless and dorky, [[EveryoneHasStandards Reno even apologizes.]] Fortunately for Evelyn, he’s unaware and unbothered by these schemes, and winds up benefiting from them.

* TheNapolean: There’s nothing in the script that indicates Moonface’s height, but he’s often played by an actor on the short side. Combine that with his temper, and you have this trope.

--> '''Moonface:''' You know your problem, kid? You ain't got no philosophy! ''There's an old Australian-''

** When Billy and Hope are reminiscing about the night they met, Hope mentions they spent 4 hours driving around town in the back of a taxi. Billy replies, "Five. You fell asleep after-" to which Hope cuts him off, "I remember." What happened in the taxi, stayed in the taxi.

** Originally, the actress playing Reno could get away with leaving the heavy dancing to the ensemble, but after Sutton Foster’s Tony winning turn in the role where he lead the dance breaks, it’s now expected for the actress playing Reno be a dancer.

** Billy acts like quite {{Jerkass}} to [[NiceGuy Evelyn]], but he helps him get together with Reno in the end.

** Erma is perfectly fine sleeping around with everyone sailor she can get her hands on, but when they start proposing to her, she warns them that she’s not the kind of girl they’d want to settle down with.

* ChickMagnet: Hope and Reno are both in love with Billy (though the latter gets over him), and he’s shown to a few other ladies interested as well. He gets even more women fawning over him once they believe he’s [[AllGirlsWantBadBoys Public Enemy #1.]]

** Applies to Hope as well. It’s suggestively mentioned that [[NoodleIncident her and Billy spent five hours together in the back of a taxi]], and she [[ShutUpKiss impatiently cuts off his singing during “It’s Delovely” for a quick make out session.]]

** Bon Voyage is the number which is entirely lead by the ensemble with solos.

* AdaptationalBadass: Of a sort with Reno. In prior productions, she would often let the ensemble do the heavy dancing, but once Sutton Foster played her, she not only lead the dancing, but she did so with greatly expanded dance breaks. It’s now uncommon to cast a Reno who can’t dance after Foster’s performance.

-->'''Moonface:''' [[DeadpanSnarker What do you do know, use a funnel?]]

* {{Adorkable}}: Evelyn, primarily when he's trying to use American idioms, like telling Moonface, "I have hot pants for you!" He asks if he needs a glass of water.

** Billy, Mooonface, and Reno’s plots against Evelyn are rather mean spirited, given they try framing, blackmailing, and threatening a NiceGuy just because he’s engaged to Hope, who he appears to be decent to. After realizing he’s harmless and {{Adorkable}}, [[EveryoneHasStandards Reno even apologizes.]] Fortunately for Evelyn, he’s unaware and unbothered by these schemes, and winds up benefiting from them.

** After spending the whole show as a [[{{Adorkable}} dorky]] UpperClassTwit, Evelyn shows off his seductive, wild side. [[LoveEpiphany Reno approves.]]

* Erma’s not as bad, but she’s [[ItsAllAboutMe self absorbed]],rude, blatantly uses men for sex, and unlike her partner in crime Moonface, she’s fairly disloyal, being quick to dump Snake Eyes and leaving Billy and Moon to rot in the brig.