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Cole Porter’s “Anything Goes” is the last show of the 2026 summer season at the Wagon Wheel Center for the Arts, but a musical that actor Riley Broshears first had a role in when he was about 7 years old.
Broshears, who is going into his senior year at Shenandoah University in Winchester, Va., this fall, plays Moonface Martin in the Wagon Wheel production.
“This is the second time that I’ve done ‘Anything Goes.’ The first time I did ‘Anything Goes’ I think I was like 7 years old, and I was just in the youth ensemble of the show. ‘Anything Goes’ was the first show I ever did where I actually did the choreography,” he said. “So I remember wracking my little 7-year-old brain at night trying to figure out how to do a jazz square because I was doing ‘Blow, Gabriel, Blow’ with all the other cast and stuff, so it was actually the first show I ever did the choreo to. So that was my intro to Cole Porter.”
Sophie Lindwall, who plays Reno Sweeney in the show, doesn’t remember a distinct introduction to the music of Cole Porter.
“I feel like his music has always been playing in my house almost,” she said. “I grew up a big MGM musical girl. My grandparents would send me musicals. That’s kind of how I fell in love with theater, so I feel like Cole Porter was kind of always in the background of my childhood a little bit.”
“Anything Goes” debuted Nov. 21, 1934, on Broadway as the United States was moving out of the Great Depression and the Prohibition Era. The comedic musical is set aboard an ocean liner and follows a cast of characters
“Some people are ready to party,” said Lindwall.
Broshears said Moonface Martin is “lovingly” referred to as Public Enemy #13.
“So he’s kind of a gangster, like typical of that era, but the idea is that he’s really bad at being a gangster, and so he is kind of just stowed away on this ship to kind of get away. He always thinks he’s going to get arrested, but no one’s actually looking for him because he’s not very good at committing crimes. So, that’s just kind of his thing and he gets into some mischief along the way,” Broshears said.
Having been in the show at 7, he doesn’t think he would have ever chosen the role of Moonface for himself.
“I think I would have looked probably at like a Billy or an Evelyn (Oakleigh), but it’s been so fun to kind of explore and I feel like the most unexpected roles are sometimes the most fun. At least, in my experience, that’s what I’ve found,” Broshears said.
Describing her character, Lindwall said, “Reno Sweeney is an evangelist turned nightclub singer and she’s performing on the ship. And, she’s good pals with all of the boys, and I feel like a lot of the stuff happens around her and she gets thrown into some of it, but she’s there to entertain. And then she finds some love along the way, too, unexpectedly.”
It’s one of a few love stories in the Broadway musical.
“Emphasis on a few,” Broshears said.
“Ends in a lot of happy marriages. A lot of mistaken identities. There’s a lot of mischief and mayhem that happens along the way of all the couples ending up together,” Lindwall said.
Broshears said pretty much every time “Anything Goes” has been done at the Broadway level, it’s been “very rewritten, very revamped. A lot of the songs have been placed in a different order. The people who sing the songs have changed over time. There’s been a couple storylines that have been updated for like political correctness as well. So this version actually is as new as 2022 that we’re doing, but it still has all the same songs that you know, like ‘De-lovely’ and ‘You’re the Top,’ all the Cole Porter songs, but it’s definitely been changed quite a bit since 1934.”
Lindwall said it’s still set in 1934.
“We have all of the classic wig styles and fashion styles and dance and song styles of that time period, and Cole Porter songs are timeless,” she said.
Broshears said the sense of humor in the show also hasn’t changed.
“It’s still like the 1930s sense of humor, so the jokes will land the same as they ever did as well,” he said.
Lindwall said it’s been great to be able to sing Porter’s songs and learn all of the lyrics, “so many lyrics!”
“The sense of humor is kind of right up my alley. And it’s iconic. ‘Anything Goes’ is iconic and a lot of iconic women have played Reno Sweeney, which is also really exciting to get a shot at that material,” she said.
She and Broshears agreed that their favorite song in the show is “Friendship,” which just also happens to be their duet.
“It’s typical Cole Porter. A bunch of verses, not a bridge. Just verse, chorus, verse, chorus, but it just gets more chaotic as it goes, so it’s almost like one-upping each other, but it’s really like the biggest moment that they get to share together on stage, and just kind of like old friends just going at it. It’s really fun,” Broshears said.
Both Broshears and Lindwall have been in four Wagon Wheel productions this summer. Broshears was not in “Cats,” but has been in every show since then. Lindwall has done all the musicals, but wasn’t in “Dial M for Murder.”
“It’s been a great summer,” Lindwall said. “Starting off with ‘Cats’ was really fun. I think we all bonded as a company because we were all crawling around on top of each other, and it was just a physical show to start out with. And then when we had other cast members join us later in the summer, I feel like everyone just gets along really well and we had a really nice dynamic established.”
Broshears said it’s been like a marathon.
“Like show after show. They called this summer the dancer’s dream, so there’s lots of numbers in every show. Lots of choreo, and it’s kind of ruthless and relentless. It’s going to keep going and going, but at the end of the day it’s so rewarding. And it’s so much fun. And once you get to finally open a show and kind of live in it, it just kind of comes to life and it’s super fun to see it evolve over the week and a half that we run the shows, and then go on to the next one,” he stated.
He’s also learned a pretty big skill.
“That is, this summer my track has kind of been the bad guy, and that’s not something I’ve ever done before,” Broshears said. “So one thing that I’ve learned is kind of how to approach a character like that, because you can’t judge your character. You can’t know that you’re the bad guy, so just kind of justifying those things and making them seem believable to an audience perspective, even when that’s not the kind of person you are. It’s been something that I’ve been grappling with, but it’s been a nice challenge and fun to figure that out.”
This has been Lindwall’s second season at the Wagon Wheel, with “Anything Goes” being her 10th show.
“I do think I’m kind of like used to now the 10-day rehearsal process and how quickly we can put up a show here,” she said. “And I think it’s all a lesson in stamina and having personal routines so you can feel your best and be the best performer you can every day, even with a relentless schedule.”
Lindwall said she decided to audition and return to the Wagon Wheel this summer because of how fabulous the community is.
“It’s been such a blessing in my early professional career to get to land here and make these connections, and the people who run this theater - Scott and Jen and Thomas and Kira Lace Hawkins - are just the best of the best and they know how to bring the best of the best from around the country, and by that I just mean really good people to work with. It’s good people here and I love it. I’ve been very, very grateful,” she stated.
Cole Porter’s “Anything Goes” is at the Wagon Wheel from Thursday, July 30 to Saturday, Aug. 8.
Tickets may be purchased online at wagonwheelcenter.org, by calling the box office at 574-267-8041, or by visiting Wagon Wheel Center for the Arts at 2515 E. Center St., Warsaw.
