Las Vegas Academy’s, “Anything Goes” musical was a great success. The comedic musical is based on a love story that took place aboard an ocean liner bound from New York to London in the 1930s. Throughout the musical, there was Jazz music being played by the Jazz department along with entertaining singing and dancing by the Theater department. We were able to interview Mr. Bowen, the director of the Jazz department, and get an inside look into the process of developing the Jazz music used in the musical.

When asked, “What kind of preparation goes into putting on such a big musical show?” Bowen responded saying, “We started working on it in November and adapted and listened to different versions of the original Cole Porter score.” Bowen was asked what it was like working alongside the theater department. He responded by saying that, “It’s been an extremely valuable and positive experience to collaborate with another department, especially with Ms. McCoy.”The music is stylistically appropriate towards the genre and timeframe that the musical is set in.” Bowen answered when asked, “How does the music relate to the musical?” After finding out what process went into making the music, I asked Bowen how he would describe the music, Bowen said, “Ragtime, roaring 20s, and developmental music that inspired the swing era of Jazz”.