In November 1996 the Bristol Light Opera Club, performing as BLOC, presented Cole Porter’s Anything Goes at the Bristol Hippodrome, billed on the cover as “All Aboard for Cole Porter’s Anything Goes”. Chairman John Ashton welcomed audiences to “BLOC’s 41st consecutive annual production at the Bristol Hippodrome”, noting that the company had been rehearsing since auditions in May. John Cousins directed, with John Atkin as musical director and conductor and Jacquie Bell as choreographer. The programme carried an “In Memoriam” tribute to John Heming, “a founder member of BLOC in 1933” who had served as Director/Producer from 1950 to 1959 and helped bring the club to the Hippodrome in 1956, and announced Barnum for November 1997.
Cast
- Reno Sweeney — Melanie Evans
- Billy Crocker — Simon Vardakis
- Elisha J Whitney — Brian Harding
- Hope Harcourt — Vicky Hayes
- Mrs Evangeline Harcourt — Sylvia Jordan-Shore
- Moonface Martin — Steven Woolley
- Erma — Carol Davies
- Lord Evelyn Oakleigh — Joe Chester
- Ships Captain — Christopher Greaves
- Ships Purser — Richard Boniface
- Rev’d Henry T Dobson — David Higson
- Luke (Chinaman) — Christopher Verinder
- John (Chinaman) — Steven Blackmore