T he ever-popular musical Anything Goes comes to The Stag this month, thanks to the Sevenoaks Players.

First staged in New York in 1934, PG Wodehouse provided the libretto and Cole Porter produced his usual swinging music.

Since then it has been revised several times. In 1987, at the Beaumont Theatre, the orchestra was re-scored for a sixteen-piece swing band in the style of early Benny Goodman – and it's this version which the Players have chosen to stage.

Set in the early 1930s the action takes place on board the SS American as she sails from America to England. On board are an American debutante, Hope Harcourt, with her mother and her English fiancé Sir Evelyn Oakleigh. Just to confuse matters, there is also the stow-away Billy Crocker, who has fallen in love with Hope.

Meanwhile Public Enemy number 13, Moonface Martin, has disguised himself as a minister on the liner to escape the FBI.

And to add a touch of glamour, an old friend of Billy's, the sexy evangelist turned nightclub singer, Reno Sweeny, is on board to perform in the nightclub.

As the stories of the varied characters intermingle, everything becomes entangled and it really becomes a case of Anything Goes.

With much-loved tunes including Anything Goes, I Get A Kick Out Of You and Blow Gabriel Blow, the show requires an all-singing, all-dancing cast of more than 40 people. Go! spoke to director Pat Smith about the mammoth task of organising the musical.

Who chooses which plays you're going to perform?

"We have a committee – an operatic committee for the musicals and a dramatic committee for the plays. We choose the musical and then you have to get onto the people who own the rights straight away. If a group in Tunbridge Wells had also asked for the play at the same, they wouldn't let us do it – another company has to be a certain number of miles away to do it."

Anything Goes seems to be quite a popular choice for amateur groups.

"It is. I think because it had a West End revival in about 2003, I think, at the National and it was very popular there. And I think these 1930s musicals have come back with a vengeance. 42nd Street is another one."

Is it a tough one for the cast? They must have to learn lines, songs and dance routines.

"Oh yes. The script is very wordy – like a play with music really. And then there's all the singing, especially for our leading man. He's got most of the singing to do."

Does everyone in the cast have to be able to dance?

"Actually, we've got a whole cast tap dance at the end of act one. It's quite a feat.

"We actually did tap dancing lessons before we started for anybody who wanted to tap dance but had never done it. All but two of the cast, so that's about forty people, decided they wanted to join in."

Have you been with the Players for a long time?

"I joined in 1971. I started on stage so I've sung an awful lot of leading parts with them but most leading parts are for eighteen-year-olds so once you get to middle forties..."

What are the main challenges for a director?

"Picking a cast, for a start. Then making sure that you keep them right to the end. If one of the leading people fell under a train next week or something awful, we'd be in real trouble!

"We do have people who could sing in if a principal loses their singing voice but is able to speak the dialogue. Then you have to set up a microphone in the wings for somebody to sing for them.

"I've had to do that several times. I'm just hoping that they all fit!

"Apart from that, you do an awful lot of work ahead of time. A director spends hours working out a scene before you actually get to rehearsal. You need to be organised."

Are you enjoying working on Anything Goes?

"Yes, it's a fun musical and it's full of laughter and wonderful songs. Everybody will come out singing the music!"

March 24 to 27 Performances at 7.30pm plus Saturday matinee at 2.30pm Tickets £15 (£13.50 Wednesday evening and Saturday matinee). 10 tickets booked gets an extra ticket free. Available from 01732 450175