Billy smuggles himself onto a cruise ship to pursue his love, Hope. He disguises himself to avoid detection by the crew as Hope is engaged to another man. Moonface, an American gangster, helps Billy in his quest. The musical is set in the 1930s and would appeal to elderly audiences who may have seen it in their youth. For a school production, the main audience would be parents of the student cast. Marketing the school show would involve emails to parents and local radio ads, while a West End production would require nationwide TV, radio and poster campaigns months in advance.

1. ANYTHING GOES
BY F R E D D I E C

2. WHAT IS ANYTHING GOES
• Anything goes is a musical set on a cruise ship, the storyline follows the character of
“Billy” who smuggles himself onto the cruise ship in pursuit of his love “Hope”. He
takes the place of public enemy Number 1 “Snake eyes”, on board the ship “Billy”
disguises himself in various things to avoid being detecting by the ships crew and
captain. An American gangster “Moonface” joins “Billy on his quest to win Hope’s
heart. Although Hope reveals she is engaged to Billy’s old friend “Lord Evelyn Oakley” a
rich Englishmen. Reno Sweeney is also on board the ship and has a soft spot for Billy.
She spends the cruise trying to win him over and becomes irritated at Billy talking
about Hope at every possible moment.

3. TARGET AUDIENCE-ANYTHING GOES
• In big theatres, “Anything Goes” stereotypically would attract elderly women who enjoy
theatre and take pleasure from watching humorous performances. They enjoy dressing
smart and spending an evening at the theatre with family or friends. The first
performance of “Anything Goes” was in 1934 and ran for a while in big theatre, so it is
a possibility that elderly people are drawn this production due to it being in theatres
when they were young. Stereotypically, women are more suited to theatre and are
most likely to attend theatres regularly.

4. TARGET AUDIENCE-ANYTHING GOES
• In our school production of “Anything Goes” the most common group of people that
attend would be parents of the cast that feature in the show. They will tend to be
middle aged people that come to the performance to admire their child's efforts. They
will range from working class to middle class. This is because our school is not private
and offers free education. Parents of a higher class would most probably send their
child to a private school. They will also fall into the “Mainstream” category in the “4C’s”
scale, as they tend to follow the crowd and in this case other parents.

5. WEST END PERFORMANCE- WHAT
WOULD I DO
• If a performance of Anything Goes is going to be produced in a big theatre like “The
West End” the marketing will need to be adapted to create a wider audience. If I were
to market a West End production of “Anything goes” I would place advertisements
such as posters in the local area to hopefully attracting audience members. To attract I
wider audience in the London area I would place advertisements on radio channels.
• To attract audience members nationwide I would place adverts on national TV, as
London is prestigious for top quality productions, people will travel far to watch one.
• I believe advertisements should be placed 5 months in advance as they have to sell out
huge venues.

6. OUR SCHOOL PERFORMANCE-WHAT
WOULD I DO
• To advertise our school production, it needs to be done on a small scale. As most of
the target audience is parents, an email can be sent around when tickets go on sale.
This will indicate to them that they need to purchase tickets.
• To advertise to a wider local audience, advertisements could be placed on local radio
channels such as “Forest Fm” to attract people who are local and may want to watch
the production.
• Posters should also be placed around the Ringwood area to attract potential audience
members in the local area.
• I believe all advertisements should be placed two months in advance of show week to
allow plenty of time to attract audience members. But not too long that they begin to
lose interest.

7. UNIQUE SELLING POINTS OF
ANYTHING GOES
• The Musical was made in 1934 which means that elderly people will be attracted to it
as it would have been premiered when they were young and may be up there with one
of their favourite musicals. Also the fact that the musical will be performed by young
people means that parents and family will want to come and see their child perform.
Also many people will have seen previous shows, so they may want to see the new
one.