Sally Jack

All aboard the SS American for a cruise back in time to art deco glamour, sublime Cole Porter songs and a steady supply of cocktails. Anything Goes has undergone several iterations since its first performance in 1934 on Broadway, the West End in 1935, a 1936 film version and several successful revivals from the 1980s onwards.

If you’re a fan of the Percy Jackson series of books by Rick Riordan, beginning with The Lightning Thief from 2005, the subsequent films, a Disney TV series, video games and graphic novels, then this stage musical should appeal. It’s now coming to the end of its first UK tour having originally achieved success in the US and following the première of this two-hour version in 2017.

“American Pie” is one of those songs where pretty much everyone knows the chorus, perhaps also the opening couple of verses, and the real afficionados know the whole thing. We think we know what the song is about, with lyrics such as “Drove my Chevvy to the levee but the levee was dry”. It seems self-explanatory, but is it? And what do lines like “When the jester sang for the king and queen in a coat he borrowed from James Dean”, and “Helter skelter in a summer swelter” mean?