Entr'acte Lyrics — Anything Goes

Song Overview

Review and Highlights

Quick summary

1. Work: Anything Goes (opened November 21, 1934) - Act II opener for orchestra.
2. What it is: A brief intermission bridge, built from the show sound world rather than a standalone "number."
3. What it does: Clears the palette after intermission, then hands the stage to "Public Enemy Number One."
4. Why it matters: It keeps the ship moving even when nobody sings - rhythm, color, and comic readiness in two minutes.

Anything Goes (1934) - stage musical - non-diegetic. A good entr'acte is half hospitality, half sleight of hand. It welcomes latecomers back, settles the room, and quietly reminds you what kind of show you are in: fast, brassy, and allergic to melodrama. In Anything Goes, the orchestra does not wallow. It glides, flashes, and then gets out of the way. That restraint is part of the joke. The show is about chaos on a ship, and the music never pretends the ship stops just because the audience went to the lobby.

Key takeaways: (1) Think of it as a tone reset, not a theme park overture. (2) It often borrows familiar melodic fingerprints from the score, so the audience re-enters the world instantly. (3) The best performances keep it crisp and unsentimental, like the band is tapping its watch and grinning.

Creation History

The original Broadway production opened in 1934, and the intermission bridge belongs to that classic Broadway practice: give Act II a clean runway before dialogue and singing return. Modern cast albums and reconstruction-minded recordings preserve the cue as its own track, which is helpful for listeners because it shows how much of the show lives in orchestral pacing. According to the Internet Broadway Database song list summaries and later cataloged track listings, the entr'acte is consistently placed at the start of Act II as an orchestra-only piece.

Song Meaning and Annotations

Plot

Anything Goes follows madcap romantic pursuit and social disguise aboard the SS American. By the end of Act I, the ship is already a pressure cooker. The entr'acte sits outside the plot, but it supports the plot: it pulls the audience back into the same tempo and wit so Act II can start running immediately.

Song Meaning

This is not a lyric-driven message. The meaning lives in function and color. The cue says: we are back, the ship is still underway, and the comedy will not slow down for sentiment. It also sets up contrast. An entr'acte can hint at romance, danger, or glamour, then let the next scene confirm what the music teased.

Annotations

Act II begins with an orchestra-only entr'acte.

That is the structural point: it is the hinge that closes intermission and opens story time. Done right, the audience stops thinking about snacks and starts thinking about the ship.

The cue is typically tracked separately on modern recordings.

That makes listening more educational than you might expect. You can hear how the pit band acts like a narrator, not just accompaniment.

In many editions, the next titled number is "Public Enemy Number One."

This is why the entr'acte stays bright and brisk. It does not need to resolve anything. It needs to throw you into Act II with momentum intact.

Sound and pacing

Most arrangements keep the texture light and mobile - brass and reeds for sparkle, rhythm for forward motion, and just enough melodic familiarity to make the world feel continuous. The cue should sound confident, not grand. It is a stage manager in musical form.

Technical Information (Quick Facts)

1. Song: Entr'acte
2. Artist: Anything Goes Orchestra
3. Featured: N/A
4. Composer: Cole Porter
5. Producer: Recording-dependent
6. Release Date: November 21, 1934 (musical premiere context)
7. Genre: Musical theatre; orchestral interlude
8. Instruments: Orchestra (Broadway pit forces vary by edition)
9. Label: Recording-dependent
10. Mood: Bright, brisk, transitional
11. Length: About 2 minutes 23 seconds on a well-known 1989 cast recording listing
12. Track #: Often placed at the start of Act II on cast albums
13. Language: Instrumental
14. Album (if any): Appears on multiple cast and studio recordings of Anything Goes
15. Music style: Swing-era Broadway orchestration
16. Poetic meter: N/A (instrumental)

Frequently Asked Questions

What is an entr'acte in musical theatre?

It is an instrumental bridge at the start of Act II, used to bring the audience back into the show world after intermission.

Is this a full song with verses and chorus?

No. It is an orchestra cue designed for transition and mood, not a standalone vocal number.

Where does it sit in Anything Goes?

It begins Act II, leading into the next titled scene and musical sequence.

Is it part of the 1934 original structure?

Yes, it is listed as the Act II opening cue in commonly circulated musical-number summaries for the 1934 version.

Why do recordings include it as a separate track?

Because it is a distinct cue with a specific job, and tracking it separately preserves the stage pacing on an album.

Does it quote other themes from the score?

Many entr'actes echo the score sound world, and some arrangements hint at familiar melodic shapes, but the exact content depends on edition and orchestration.

Who should be credited as the performer?

Typically the orchestra or the named ensemble on the recording, since it is an instrumental cue.

Additional Info

One underrated pleasure of classic Broadway is how much storytelling happens without dialogue. This cue is a good example. It does not argue for attention, it just starts working, like a stagehand who knows the room will follow. And because Anything Goes is so rhythm-driven, the entr'acte also acts like a tuning fork. It brings back that swing-era posture, so when Act II starts, the jokes land on the first try.

As stated in the Internet Broadway Database production documentation and echoed by widely used musical-number summaries, the cue is the orchestra-led front door to Act II. If you listen to a reconstruction-minded recording, you can also hear why collectors care: the orchestration style is part of the show identity, not decoration.

Key Contributors

Sources

Sources: IBDB production record, Anything Goes musical numbers reference summary, Spotify track listings for the 1989 cast and 1989 studio recording, Discogs track lists for the 2011 cast album, YouTube upload of the entr'acte track