Riding aboard an expensive luxury liner complete with exotic foods, tropical drinks and relaxing music, encompassed by rays of warm, bright sunlight is a holiday for the chosen few.

Those who aren’t able to experience such a getaway can only dream about the experience — or watch a show about it.

Since the beginning of entertainment, the industry has drawn many audiences by creating plays and movies about events that embody pleasurable experiences.

The success of movies such as “Titanic,” “Under Siege” and television shows such as “The Love Boat” is partially due to the fact that the plots took place on board glamorous cruise ships.

Which is why in 1934, when four writers from the East Coast had the idea to create a comedic musical about a disaster on board a luxury liner, they felt the play would be a huge success.

However, a few weeks before the show was to premiere at the prestigious Lincoln Center in New York, a luxury liner called the “Morro Casple” shipwrecked off the shore of the New Jersey coast, killing 134 people.

Though the shipwreck had nothing to do with the play, the four writers decided to alter the script to take out the part about the disaster.

“Because of this disaster at sea, it would be hard to sell this show,” Marge Folger, assistant professor of theatre, said.

After “Anything Goes” was rewritten a few weeks later without the disaster element, it finally premiered at Lincoln Center. Since its first adaptation, the show was rewritten again in 1987 with an updated script.

The 1987 revision that won a Tony for “Best Revival” will be performed by the 1999 Stars Over Veishea (SOV) cast this weekend at Stephens Auditorium.

Folger, director of “Anything Goes,” said the show’s revision has made the 1934 production easier for younger audiences to relate to.

“[The script] was made more accessible to a modern-day audience,” Folger said. “The plot line moves more quickly and the one-liners are funnier.”

Though the script has been updated from its original form, Folger said one of the reasons the theatre faculty decided to present “Anything Goes” is because it is set in the time period of the early 1900s.

Folger said past SOV productions such as “Bye Bye Birdie” and “Music Man” are set in the mid to late 1900s.

“We hadn’t done a period show,” Folger said. “This was a chance to expose students to a different time period.”

Another reason Folger said the faculty decided on this particular production is because it calls for a “unit” set, which means the entire plot takes place on a ship.

With a unit set, Folger said the crew doesn’t have to move lots of things on and off stage because the entire set stays on for the whole performance.

“It lends itself to a smoother performance,” Folger said. “When the structure is there, it’s ready to be used.”

Though the lines in the script and the interpretation of the scenery may change from show to show, during every performance of “Anything Goes,” the one thing that always stays the same is the main storyline.

The famous musical features a quadrangular love story set aboard a ship called the S.S. American.

The boat’s nighttime performer, Reno Sweeny, has fallen in love with a poor but honest man named Billy Crocker. Unfortunately for Sweeny, Crocker has stowed away aboard the “S.S. American” because he’s in love with a girl named Hope Harcourt, who is higher in the class status than he is.

“[Billy] knows what he wants,” Joel Hagen, who plays Crocker, said. “He pulls a lot of shenanigans and tricks to get [Harcourt]. He really does love her.”

Unfortunately for Crocker, Harcourt is engaged to a wealthy man named Lord Evelyn Oakleigh, who has eyes for the cunning Sweeny. The plot is thickened even more by a gangster who is wanted by the FBI named Moon-face Martin.

Joe Spina, who plays Moon-face Martin, said, “Billy helps me out so I help him out — to break up the wedding.”

The plot takes hilarious twists, eventually making for a show packed full of interesting scenes.

But the plot itself isn’t the only thing that makes the show interesting. There are certain issues that are bound to surface with a cast of 39.

Despite the large group, Folger said things have been under control during rehearsals. There are just a few things the group has had to learn about working in a big production.

“It’s difficult to keep that many people on task,” Folger said. “The cast has to learn what’s acceptable in terms of noise level.”

Because the SOV tryouts are open to the entire student body, another potential obstacle bound to arise is the differing levels of experience among cast members.

The signature song, “Anything Goes,” involves lots of tap dancing and a few of the cast members had never been on stage, let alone performed a tap number.

“A lot of the people have never had tap shoes on their feet,” student director Kristy Henry said.

In order to alleviate the tap dancing learning process, Folger asked student “tap dancing expert” Kelly Bartlett to come in and teach the cast some steps.

“We had to teach non-tappers how to tap and make them look good,” Folger said.

Learning these new things may be a struggle at first, but many of the “untrained” and trained student performers have learned a lot from the process. Spina, junior in political science and performing arts, said his involvement in the cast has built his self-confidence.

“At the beginning, I was really self-conscious about singing in front of a cast, let along 2,000 people,” Spina said. “The cast has helped me out a lot, and I’ve gotten a lot more confidence in singing. At first, I was quiet and not wanting to project. Now I’m just loud.”

Hagen agreed that preparing for a performance in such a large venue has helped his theater skills. After playing stereotypical roles in high school plays, such as Burt Healey in “Annie” and Seymour Krelborn in “Little Shop of Horrors,” Hagen said playing the part of Crocker has further developed his acting skills.

“Billy Crocker shows a different range of emotions — he’s hurt and he’s in love,” Hagen said. “I’ve learned more about acting in general and how to play my character better.”

Some of these things the students can learn on their own through the rehearsal process, but Folger teaches the actors new skills as well.

As the director, Folger has had to play the part of the teacher. During rehearsals, she often has to teach basic theater skills because the different levels of experience.

Despite her extra duties, Folger said she enjoys having such a diverse cast because of the interesting show that is bound to pan out.

“It’s a nice, healthy combination of people from all over the university,” Folger said. “They all have their specialties they do, but they all have a love for music.”

“Anything Goes” will be performed in Stephens Auditorium Friday and Saturday at 7:30 p.m. and Sunday at 2 p.m. Tickets are $7 or $9 for students and $13 or $15 general admission.