IT was to have been Anything Goes but it became Anything Went when York Musical Theatre Company decided to change their October show at the Joseph Rowntree Theatre ever so slightly.

"To mark the 50th anniversary of Cole Porter’s death, it’s now going to be It’s De-Lovely: An Evening OF Cole Porter, celebrating lots of the great American composer's best loved songs and music from various different hit shows, rather than just Anything Goes," says company press officer Anna Mitchelson. "We'll have a full company on stage performing numbers from Kiss Me Kate, High Society, Can-Can, Nymph Errant, Out Of This World...and Anything Goes!

"Anything Goes, in its full production form, was originally planned as our autumn show, but with several company members having to drop out for unavoidable circumstances and such a wealth of Cole Porter music and shows to choose from, in this anniversary year, we felt that this new production would be a more fitting show to perform, especially as the 50th anniversary of his death, October 15 1964, falls nearly to the day of the run of the show."

Looking back on Cole Porter's career, Anna says: "He had huge success with hit musicals throughout the 1930s and 40s. Kiss Me Kate, one of his later musicals in 1948, was a massive Broadway success when it opened and won the first ever Tony Award for Best Musical. Along with great comedy numbers from that show. like Brush Up Your Shakespeare, It’s De-Lovely will also feature songs such as Well, Did You Evah?, Night And Day, Who Wants To Be A Millionaire? and some of the spectacular dance numbers from Anything Goes, such as Blow, Gabriel, Blow and the title song."

Director and musical director Paul Laidlaw has compiled next month's show. “Cole Porter has been such a huge influence on musical theatre and musical comedies, we couldn’t think of a better way of marking the 50th anniversary of his death than with a whole evening dedicated to his music," he says. "There will be some much loved songs in there that people will know and love, and some of his lesser-known work that might attract some people to his music for the first time.”

It's De-Lovely: An Evening Of Cole Porter will run from October 22 to 25 at the Rowntree Theatre with evening performances at 7.30pmplus a Saturday matinee at 2.30pm. Tickets are on sale at £10 on 01904 623568, online at yorkmusicaltheatrecompany.org.uk and in person at the York Theatre Royal box office.