READY, steady, go... Malton and Norton Amateur Operatic Society's autumn production is in the starting blocks after four months of rehearsals.

Directed by Sheffield producer Lee Hammonds and York musical director John Parkes, Cole Porter's Anything Goes runs at the Milton Rooms, Malton, from October 7 to 11.

The Malton amateurs have done almost everything in 54 years - with the possible exception of Gilbert & Sullivan - but next week's production will be the first time they have performed this Porter musical.

A company of 50 performers and backstage personnel is involved in the show, and those on stage have been worked hard by Hammonds and Parkes and John, who have praised the group's diligence, competence and dedication. The only complaint being heard around the Malton rehearsal rooms is that more chorus backup would have been useful.

Anything Goes is the fifth show in a row new to the Malton repertoire, following on from Billy last year, Half A Sixpence in 2001, Oliver! in 2000 and Annie Get Your Gun in 1999. The cumulative effect has been to inject a fresh, youth-based look to the company, and the Anything Goes production consolidates that progress.

Porter's musical is set in the 1930s aboard a transatlantic liner and features such well-known numbers as Blow Gabriel Blow, I Get A Kick Out Of You, It's De-lovely and Friendship.

The two very different leading ladies will be played by Kirkbymoorside soprano Gail Nichol, in the demanding singing role of ex-evangelist Reno Sweeney, and Habton teenager Lauren Thackray, 16, in the romantic role of socialite Hope Harcourt.

Michael Oliver, from York, is stowaway Billy Crocker while Mark Bray, from Malton, is hapless gangster Moonface Martin and Marie-Louise Scott, from York, is gangster's moll Bonnie. They will be backed by Allen Hall, Ian Goring, Margaret Lukey, Barry Elener and Scott Garnham and dancers from the Kirkham Henry Performing Arts Centre in Malton.

Tickets for the 7.30pm performances are on sale at £7 at the Malton Tourist Information Office, tel 01653 600048.

Updated: 10:00 Friday, October 03, 2003