The Hills' 'Anything Goes' Aims for the Top

If you love classic Broadway musicals, you'll surely find the Parsippany Hills Players' newest production de-limit, de-luxe, de-lovely.

Parsippany Hills High School is staging Cole Porter's "Anything Goes," a story in two acts about an evangelist-turned-nightclub singer, a lovelorn stockbroker wooing a debutante (with a British lord for a fiancé), and a gangster disguised as a minister who sing, dance and find love on a luxury cruise liner sailing from New York to England.

The original production of Anything Goes, which starred the bombastic Ethel Merman as singer Reno Sweeney, opened on Broadway in 1934 and ran for 420 performances with Ethel Merman. The Hills Players are performing the staging from the 1987 revival.

Par Hills math teacher Allison Ramsden is the production's choreographer.

"I am actually not too sure where I get my inspiration for the choreography," Ramsden told Patch. "I start with asking the students to write down the dancing backgrounds that they have and if they have any special talents. Then I plan who I am going to put into the dances and I start listening.  I often have to listen to the song multiple times and then the ideas start coming."

She said the show will feature two dance-heavy production numbers. And because the jazz-era musical is famous for its tap dancing, it presented Ramsden with the choreographer's nightmare: teaching teens to tap. But the veteran educator said the experience was no sweat.

"The tap is going great," she exclaimed. "For our big number, 'Anything Goes,' the entire cast is tapping! I started with that dance number in January, so the students are doing great."

Ramsden said her secret was teaching the dancers the combinations in small bits, and added that everyone was doing a "great job."

"I am so proud of the entire cast," she said. "I have such a great group of dancers and they always give 100 percent."

How could they not, with a score that includes Cole Porter classics including "Anything Goes," "It's De-Lovely," "You're the Top," "All Through the Night" and "Let's Misbehave"? Word around the Hills is that even audience toes will be tapping.

The Parsippany Hills Players present "Anything Goes", at Parsippany Hills High School, 20 Rita Drive. Performances are Wednesday at 6 p.m. (senior citizen performance) and Thursday, Friday and Saturday at 7 p.m. Tickets are $10 for adults, $5 for seniors and non-Parsippany students and free for all Parsippany students with identification.