OF all Cole Porter's musical comedies, Anything Goes is certainly the funniest.

Its humour owes a lot to its original book by PG Wodehouse and Guy Bolton. Its fame - and her own - was secured by Ethel Merman as Reno Sweeney, an evangelist turned cabaret artiste on the make. So you need a terrific Reno to bring it off.

York Light Opera Company has one in spades, Julie-anne Smith. She wears a smile to launch a thousand ships, not merely the cruise-liner on which the show is set. Her singing is always subtle, but when it comes to sheer decibels - in Blow, Gabriel, Blow - she has plenty to spare. Along with her quartet of Angels, she dances fluently, too.

The production, choreography included, is the hands of Martyn Knight for the first time.

It moves fast, almost too fast for the clever dialogue to come across with absolute clarity, especially before the interval. His finest achievement is the finale to Act 1, where in Reno's title song the company tap dances its heart out with precision.

The permanent set accommodates the ten-piece band onstage throughout, strung across the quarterdeck and giving the chorus powerful backing.

Phil Redding conducts with panache, especially in the Latin undercurrents of All Through The Night and the bright rhythms of I Get a Kick Out of You. He could afford to dispense with the 'string' stop on his keyboards.

A cast of doubtful characters seems to suit the company well.

Martin Richardson's titled toff, Evelyn, is hilarious: The Gypsy In Me brought his excellent voice and deliberately stiff dancing into happy alignment.

Especially witty are Geoffrey Turner's myopic tycoon and Kathryn Addison's opportunist moll.

Darren Tong makes a spritely Billy, but might well address his audience more, while Rory Mulvihill drives his would-be gangster Moonface amusingly, if a shade hard.

Grace Bird is an alluring Hope, with a pretty soprano to match, while Charmaine Fenton is a delight as her snobbish mother.

The chorus of sailors and passengers radiates sunny bonhomie, singing and dancing crisply. Their discipline is admirable.

Just the ticket, in fact, for chasing those winter blues away.

Updated: 12:21 Thursday, February 10, 2005