Along with Kiss Me, Kate, 1934's Anything Goes is usually thought to be Cole Porter's finest show. Even without a young belter named Ethel Merman as the lead, the show's parade of hits ("I Get a Kick Out of You," "All Through the Night," "You're the Top," and "Blow, Gabriel, Blow") would have secured it a place in Broadway's pantheon. This recording is the first one to use the original 1934 arrangements, painstakingly reconstructed with the help of one of the original arrangers, Hans Spialek, and it also includes three songs cut from the original production. And the excellent cast does the London Symphony Orchestra and conductor John McGlinn proud: Kim Craswell is her usual powerhouse as Reno Sweeney (if only a little brittle around the edges sometimes), while mezzo Frederica von Stade smoothly adapts to musical theater as Hope Harcourt. All musical-theater lovers should have Anything Goes in their collection, and this recording is quite a worthy one. --Elisabeth Vincentelli