The Lyric Performing Arts Company is preparing for a luxury cruise across the Atlantic, and tickets for the voyage are now available.  The cast and crew aboard the S.S. American will set sail Thursday evening, December 11th, the first of a 10-performance schedule of Cole Porter’s “Anything Goes” at the historic Lyric Theatre in downtown Brownwood.

Tickets to any of the performances may be purchased, and reserved seats selected, online at www.brownwoodlyrictheatre.com.  Anyone needing assistance buying tickets, or who doesn’t have access to the Internet, may visit the Brownwood Area Chamber of Commerce during regular hours.

Opening night of the musical will be preceded by a gala featuring food, drink, presentations, live music, search lights, commemorative souvenirs, a ribbon-cutting and other surprises.  The gala, headquartered under a large tent on Anderson Street, will begin at 5:45 p.m.  Those attending are encouraged to dress in formal attire if they wish.

Tickets for the opening gala, which include the first-night showing of “Anything Goes” beginning at 7:30 p.m., cost $100 each.  The once-in-a-lifetime event will celebrate the reopening of the Lyric Theatre in its centennial year.  The facility initially opened in 1914 as an opera house and soon began to also show silent movies.  It was remodeled in 1938, prior to the boom of the area, and was among the city’s largest theaters open downtown during World War II.

Tickets for the other nine “Anything Goes” performances, which are scheduled Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday for two weeks ending December 21st, cost $20 for adults, and $10 for students.  All shows on Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays will open at 7:30 p.m.  Matinees will begin at 2:30 p.m. on Fridays and Sundays.

Set in the mid-1930s,“Anything Goes” has been described as a shining example of classic musical theater, complete with amazing tap numbers, campy jokes, unlikely happy endings and eminently hummable songs like “De-Lovely,” “I Get a Kick Out Of You,” “Friendship” and “Anything Goes,” courtesy of an unforgettable score by Cole Porter.  The show has enjoyed successful Broadway revivals in 1962, 1987 and 2011, is currently being staged in major cities by a national touring company.

This is the annual musical offered by LPAC, but the first to be performed in the renovated Lyric Theatre.