The Jag

By Laci Winship

Reporter

“Anything Goes”, a golden age musical, is making its way to South. The show can be seen at 7:00pm this Thursday through Saturday, and again at 1:00pm on the Saturday.

This complex love story takes place during the Great Depression and on a cruise ship.

“So, it has basically three different storylines that converge at the end,” said Timothy Haynes, South’s theater teacher. “All of them are based off couples.”

Haynes, along with other members of the theater department, take great pride in the musicals they show each year. This year, he is happy with their choice of “Anything Goes”.

“It’s a golden age musical, and golden age musicals tend to be a little bit more popular,” said Haynes. “They’re coming back and they usually come back [every] 20 years. So right now is a really great time to put on ‘Anything Goes’.”

Although show week is typically filled with energy and excitement, it can also be bittersweet. Senior Sydney Dilks, the female lead, is feeling sentimental about leaving South’s theater department, but ready for her next chapter.

“It sucks because I love it here, and I love the environment of our theater department,” said Dilks. “But I feel like this show is a really good way to end my chapter here, and it’s not my last show ever. It’s just my last show here.”

Something that makes South’s theater program superior is their ability to try new things and learn from challenges. They work to think outside the box to put on the best show possible.

“Anything that we are afraid of, we kind of lean into,” Haynes said. “I think any time that we can incorporate difficulty and teach students how to do something new, I think we always want to do that.”

One of the main worries of this show in particular is the extensive amount of tap dancing. To better prepare for this challenge, South hosted tap workshops over the summer.

“We learned how to tap a little bit better. And now we have some tapping in the show and it’s pretty good,” Haynes said.

Not only is the show engaging for the audience, but it’s also fun for the cast. They are proud of their hard work and are excited to showcase their talents.

“Come see Anything Goes! It’s great and it’s awesome and it’s amazing,” Dilks said.

As the years go on, one of the main takeaways from putting on such intricate productions is that adaptation is key. The concept might be a little rocky at the start, but the finished product is what yields positive results.

“Having one cohesive idea of what things look like oftentimes just changes as things go on, and we just are flexible towards that,” Haynes said.