Travelling first class

What does a company do when it receives an unexpected sustained ovation at a first night? Well, the cast of Anything Goes tap-danced a little, kept on bowing - and musical director Gareth Valentine kept the orchestra playing.

You see, it wasn't the usual applause from a first-night crowd of producers, backers and the third understudy's mother.

There seemed to be a genuine, deeply felt response to this Cole Porter gem. The Drury Lane audience was cheering from the stalls all the way up to the gods - it was quite a sight.

There were many reasons for this elation. First, the show was a tribute to Denis Quilley, who was in it at the National Theatre and who died last weekend.Then there was the excitement of the staging by Trevor Nunn, Stephen Mear's electric choreography (what a star he is!) and the timeless magic of Porter's songs.

As Nunn himself observed: 'It wasn't for nothing that this was the show that they say ended the Depression.' Anything Goes was due to run till the end of January, but this has been extended till May.

It's been just delightful at the box office, with takings of more than £350,000 on Wednesday and Thursday. It's pretty delightful, too, for the National Theatre, which appears to be giving the public great entertainment on both sides of the Thames.