Cole Porter’s Tony Award-winning musical Anything Goes debuted on Broadway in 1934, one year after the end of Prohibition and in the middle of the Great Depression. A top-tier ticket cost $3.30. Movie tickets were around 25 cents. If you were lucky enough to have work, the average wage was about $20 a week.

Anything Goes was the definitive ’30s musical. Porter’s witty, sophisticated, carefree lyrics poked fun at high society, offered escapism from the Depression, and his frank attitude toward sex delighted many.

His best songs have become part of the Great American Songbook and have been recorded by hundreds of artists, including Artie Shaw, Ella Fitzgerald, Louis Armstrong, Frank Sinatra, Tony Bennett, Lady Gaga, Tom Waits, k. d. Lang, Miles Davis, Oscar Peterson, Van Morrison, Art Tatum, and many more.

In 1943, Rodgers and Hammerstein’s Oklahoma! changed the nature of musical theater forever, requiring that composers and lyricists become not just songwriters but dramatists who use the score to develop characters and propel the story.

Anything Goes has had many revisions and rewrites to help it keep up with the times. The most successful has been the 2022 version that debuted at Lincoln Center. Just the same, the plot is so negligible it barely needs to be addressed.

That’s the version Warren High School’s Emerson Theatre is presenting through its final performances April 30, May 1, and May 2 at 7:30 p.m.

Set aboard a luxury ocean liner in the 1930s, the story follows a madcap group of passengers traveling from New York to London.

Billy Crocker, a young Wall Street broker, sneaks onto the ship to pursue his love, Hope Harcourt, who is unhappily engaged to the wealthy but stuffy British aristocrat, Lord Evelyn Oakleigh. Billy is aided by Reno Sweeney, a brassy evangelist-turned-nightclub singer, and Moonface Martin, a second-rate gangster known as “Public Enemy No. 13.” After a series of elaborate disguises, farcical antics, and blackmail, the romantic entanglements are resolved with a triple wedding.

Layla Santoyo returns to the stage after her outstanding performance as Velma Kelly in Chicago. Santoyo is a knockout as Reno Sweeney, the confident, clever nightclub singer. She is the show’s powerhouse performer. She knows how to move, sing, and sell a song. Her timing, reactions, and expressions are priceless. Her song highlights include “I Get a Kick Out of You,” “You’re the Top,” “Friendship,” and the showstoppers “Anything Goes” and “Blow, Gabriel, Blow.”

Equally captivating is Ryan Chalhoub as Moonface Martin, the lovable gangster disguised as a priest. His accent, comic timing, and antics had the audience howling. His song highlight with Billy and Reno is “Friendship.”

Robert Sanchez as Billy Crocker is charming as the young businessman who stows away to win Hope. Sanchez continues to demonstrate tremendous potential. Song highlights include “You’re the Top” with Reno, “Friendship” with Reno and Moonface, and “You’re the Top” with Hope Harcourt. There is also a special chemistry with Reno and Moonface in “Friendship.”

Nathalia Ovando comes to life as Lord Evelyn Oakleigh, complete with a tango in collaboration with Reno in “The Gypsy in Me,” an audience favorite.

Camille Boateng fully embraces the sassy role of Erma Latour, Moonface’s sidekick in crime. She’s terrific. Her song highlight is “Buddie, Beware.”

Liana Padilla plays Hope Harcourt, whose highlight with Billy Crocker is “It’s De-Lovely,” another audience favorite.

Reno’s Angels (Leah Walker, Maibeth Ariza, Camila Prado Rodriguez, Landis Martin, Alessia Ramirez) bring high energy and traditional musical theater style to the production with plenty of movement and flair.

Drama teacher Kyle Diechman is the director and production designer. Diechman once again transforms this converted classroom into a magic box of a theater, shifting seamlessly from deck scenes to staterooms, the brig, and back again.

Kudos to the entire cast of 33 and the crew. Diechman creates a community theater vibe, with students responsible for all aspects of the production, from script to strike. That’s an experience.

It has been a joy to watch many of these young performers continue to grow and develop over the last four years.

Musical Director and Conductor Sean O’Kelly skillfully leads a fine orchestra, comfortably situated above the set.

Vocal Director Briana Estrada works especially well with both strong singers and those still developing, bringing out the best in all of them.

Choreographer Teresa Flores Segura uses every inch of the stage in this intimate space of 85 seats. “Blow, Gabriel, Blow,” “Anything Goes,” and “It’s De-Lovely” are absolute showstoppers.

One of the treats in the closing number of “Anything Goes” is Alexa Gardea, who emerges as quite an accomplished tap dancer, much to the audience’s delight.

Next up in May, the always venturesome Warren High Drama Department gets even more ambitious with Romeo and Juliet, to be performed outdoors on the grass in front of the school. That’s both a challenge and an opportunity.

Warren High stages energetic take on 'Anything Goes'