Anything Goes
City Springs Theatre Company Byers Theatre Sandy Springs, GA
Lighting design for the 2022 production of Anything Goes at City Springs Theatre Company, directed by Sara Edwards.
About the Lighting Design
The end of act one closed in late afternoon on the deck of the ship. The top of act two opened at night in the ship’s nightclub. The transition between those two states was a slow sunset that ran across the full intermission, the sky and the practical sources on the boat shifting through the colors of dusk while most of the audience was in the lobby.
The point was that nobody would consciously notice. Most of the audience left during intermission and missed the sun setting. When they came back to their seats, they’d register a different room without being able to name what changed. The natural world shifts that way too. The day cools, the season turns, the weather drifts, and we feel something different without consciously naming it.
The rest of the design ran in two parts. The book scenes stayed naturalistic; when the songs hit, the design opened into theatrical territory: saturated color, dynamic shifts, the sort of musical theater language Anything Goes asks for.
Anything Goes was the first show City Springs built fully in-house, a departure from their earlier rental scenic packages. Steve Mitchell designed the boat, which was ever-present onstage throughout.
This was during my dual run as Resident Lighting Designer and Director of Production at City Springs.
- Music and Lyrics
- Cole Porter
- Original Book
- P.G. WodehouseGuy BoltonHoward LindsayRussel Crouse
- New Book
- Timothy CrouseJohn Weidman
- Director
- Sara Edwards
- Choreographer
- Sara Edwards
- Music Director
- Miles Plant
- Scenic Designer
- Steve Mitchell
- Costume Designer
- Martin Pakledinaz
- Lighting Designer
- Mike Wood
- Sound Designer
- Justin Schmitz
- Associate Lighting Designer
- Dalton Hamilton
- Assistant Lighting Designer
- Truly Cates
- Production Electrician
- Maddi Peddie
- Apprentice
- Dionte Mercado
- Lighting Shop
- 4Wall (Rep: Tyler Bevel )
- Company Manager
- Jalise Wilson
- Production Stage Manager
- Gina Cirillo
About the Show
Anything Goes is set on a gangplank in New York City in 1933, where glamorous passengers board the S.S. American, a luxury liner bound for England. Wall Street executive Elisha J. Whitney, English gentleman Sir Evelyn Oakleigh and his fiancée debutante Hope Harcourt, Bishop Henry Dobson, and American evangelist-turned-nightclub singer Reno Sweeney are aboard. Billy Crocker, Whitney's personal assistant, has secretly stowed away to pursue Hope Harcourt, who is engaged to Lord Evelyn Oakleigh. Public Enemy Number 13 Moonface Martin and his accomplice Erma are also hiding on the ship, adding to the chaos.
Source: Concord
Cast
Mamie Parris as Reno SweeneyBilly Harrigan Tighe as Billy CrockerJamie LaVerdiere as Lord Evelyn OakleighMeadow Nguy as Hope HarcourtMeg Gillentine as Erma LatourTerry Burrell as Mrs. HarcourtGoogie Uterhardt as Moonface MartinKevin Harry as Elisha J. WhitneyEric D'Angelo Moore as Ship's CaptainKyle Robert Carter as Ship's PurserDanny Iktomi Bevins as JohnStephan JoQuan Wilson as LukeD. J. Grooms as Henry T. DobsonSarah GoldZoë GrolnickLeigh Ellen JonesMallory NoltingRyley PerryColleen RobertsPatrick ColemanAvery GillhamMichael PerssonEthan Zeph as ensemble
Production Photos
Press
Mike Wood's lighting ranges from atmospheric to celebratory, and Justin Schmitz gives the vocals and orchestrations a full-bodied sound that adds to the immersion.
The lighting design by Mike Wood and sound design by Justin Schmitz add the appropriate colors, textures, and emotions to each scene.