The North Fork Community Theatre’s upcoming production of Cole Porter’s “Anything Goes” aims to transport audiences back to the glamour and chaos of a 1930s cruise ship, complete with tap-heavy dance numbers, immersive staging and a cast that director Dina Mondello says has spent months building both the show and a sense of family behind the scenes.
Last week, Mondello described the Mattituck production as an ambitious collaboration involving early dance workshops, extensive character development and creative staging designed to make audiences feel as though they are stepping aboard the fictional S.S. American.
“We really wanted people to feel like they stepped into the show before the show has even begun,” Mondello said.
For Mondello, the NFCT’s latest staging of the beloved 1934 musical is about transforming the Mattituck theater into a fully realized 1930s cruise ship experience, complete with in-character ushers and period comedy acts.
Productions are being staged May 14 through May 31, and tickets for the shows can be here.
‘Hopefully no one gets seasick’
Mondello, a classical pianist who has worked in theater for more than two decades, has approached the production with an immersive sensibility.
The theater’s ushers will remain in character as sailors, pursers and ship officers. A 1930s-style comedy act greets audiences before curtain. A captain addresses passengers live instead of through a recorded announcement. Outside, a boat positioned on the lawn during opening weekend is meant to invite photographs and deepen the illusion that audiences are embarking on a transatlantic voyage.
Inside the theater, Mondello has worked to reimagine the play.
Rather than presenting the audience with the side of a ship — the conventional approach in many productions of “Anything Goes” — the set places viewers at the stern, looking out over the water. Using NFCT’s video wall, moving ocean imagery heightens the sensation of being at sea.
“So when you’re watching it, hopefully no one gets seasick,” Mondello said, and laughed.
The effect, she hopes, helps compensate for the limitations of a smaller community theater stage while simultaneously making audiences feel physically involved in the production.
“We tried to make the set design fit the vibe that the audience is a part of the show,” she said. “They’re on the ship with you.”
‘A full circle moment’
“Anything Goes” has been staged at the theater before. Old production photographs now sit near the concessions area, and cast members have brought in vintage programs from previous stagings.
“I like going back and looking at what matched with the history of the theater, and then how can we reimagine that now,” she said, “just to sort of have a full circle moment.”
But the challenge was substantial.
“Anything Goes” is famously dance-heavy, particularly its tap choreography, and mounting such a physically demanding show within the space of a small community theater required months of planning, flexibility and improvisation.
Mondello began choreography workshops in February, before formal rehearsals even started. Because another production occupied the theater through March, cast members rehearsed music in borrowed community spaces while dance captains drilled choreography elsewhere.
“It was really a big undertaking,” she said.
‘Learning new skills’
The production faced the same pressures familiar to most community theaters: shifting schedules, actors leaving because of work or family obligations, and performers learning unfamiliar skills on the fly. Some dancers had never tap danced before joining the cast.
“We had people that maybe were dancers, but weren’t tap dancers specifically,” Mondello said. “So they’re learning new skills.”
For the role of Reno Sweeney, Mondello ultimately cast the show’s choreographer, a longtime dancer who had never previously carried a lead role.
“She said, ‘This is a dream role for me,’” Mondello recalled. “And I thought community theaters should be opening doors for people to have more experience.”
Meanwhile, music director Andrew Lenahan was persuaded to take on Billy Crocker after having worked on the show multiple times elsewhere without ever playing that role himself.
“It was the one role that he hadn’t done,” Mondello said.
‘Where the magic happens’
Throughout rehearsals, Mondello said, she emphasized character development alongside choreography. That collaborative ethos seems central to Mondello’s directing philosophy.
Rather than imposing rigid interpretations, she invites actors to shape characters through their own instincts and experiences.
“I’m the kind of person to come in and say, ‘Here’s my idea — who has something better?’” she said. “Because I feel like that’s where magic happens.”
In many ways, the production’s most impressive aspect is its devotion to the 1930s itself.
While the script uses a revised edition that removes outdated and offensive terminology, Mondello resisted any attempt to modernize the material stylistically. Instead, she said, she “leaned in” to the period. “We wanted people to feel like they stepped back into that era,” she said.
Costumes remain lavishly period-specific. Every woman wears a wig to reflect 1930s hair styles. The whole production attempts to preserve the escapist glamour of the Depression-era original.
“It’s all geared to make you feel like you stepped back into that era,” she said.
Mother/daughter act
And somehow, amid the choreography, production meetings and technical rehearsals, Mondello has been juggling another reality: she is pregnant with her second child.
Her nearly five-year-old daughter has attended rehearsals alongside her for weeks and already knows much of the show’s choreography.
“We joke that if anybody’s missing from a performance, we’ll just throw my daughter in,” Mondello said.
By now, the cast has grown close. They carpool together, hang out after rehearsals and have evolved into the kind of temporary theatrical family that community theater, at its best, generates.
“That’s the environment that I’m happy we were able to create,” Mondello said. “I think that will really show through in the performances.”
In addition to Lenahan, the play stars Alyssa Kelly, Dylan Finder, Christine Martinez, Aleki Lui, Rozzy Bliss, Josh Beiling, Chris DeReeder, Erin Plitt, Marie Sellers, Mike Hipp, Nora Andersen, Sean McAllister, Alissa Dabrowski, Jocelyn Podlas, Kevin Magee, Anderson Hipp, Meredith Kennedy, Lily Ferguson, Meghan Duffy, Esmeralda Cabrera, Michael Drozd, Tom Rosante, Reagan Blydenburgh, Adler McGough and Amanda Sena.
Picking the shows
The North Fork Community Theatre has been staging productions on the East End for nearly seven decades.
Founded in 1958, NFCT is believed to be the longest continuously operating community theater on the East End of Long Island, according to producer Mary Kalich. The theater has occupied its current Mattituck building since 1962 and purchased the property outright in 2012, launching years of renovations funded largely through community donations.
The theater’s productions are selected through a process that reflects NFCT’s deeply collaborative structure. A five-member play reading committee, itself elected annually by theater members, reviews as many as 80 show submissions each year before choosing the company’s five-show season. The process, Mary said, is highly competitive because members are eager to help shape the theater’s artistic direction.
“People run to be on a play reading committee,” she said. “It’s actually a highly contested election every year because they want to help pick the shows.”