There are plenty of explanations for why the Broadway romp "Anything Goes" has managed to stay alive and kicklining since its debut over 80 years ago.

You could obviously credit Cole Porter’s timelessly articulate ditties – like "I Get a Kick Out of You," "It’s De-Lovely," "You’re the Top" and the titular tune – thoroughly embedded into popular culture then and now. Then there are the show’s leading ladies, featuring some of the boldest and brassiest voices to ever ring through Broadway’s rafters – starting with Ethel Merman before the equally formidable Patti LuPone and Sutton Foster gave their pipes to the role of evangelist-turned-nightclub singer Reno Sweeney.

However, the quiet MVPs of "Anything Goes" might be the people making some of the most noise, both with their feet and mouths: the cheery supporting cast of singing and tapping sailors, playing witness to the ship’s silly shenanigans and hoofing alongside the stars  

"At intermission, after seeing the first act finale, I remember telling myself, ‘I have to be in this show someday,’" said Bradley Allan Zarr, dance captain for the traveling Broadway production coming to the Marcus Center for the Performing Arts on Tuesday, Jan. 6. "So to be able to do it now is like a dream come true."

It may be a dream for Zarr to take on Kathleen Marshall’s Tony-winning choreography, but that first act finale is a verified monster: an extended 12-minute tap attack to the tune of "Anything Goes." Dance ensemble member Willie Dee’s advice on keeping up one’s stamina and getting through the number alive: "Prayer. To whatever higher source you believe in."

According to Willie Dee, the epic explosion of tenacious tap was unsurprisingly their first priority starting from day one of practice out in New York City. 

"When we got there, we had a meet and greet with the cast and crew and producers and everybody behind the scenes, and then literally they were like, ‘Alright, take a two minute break, and then we’re going to start tapping,’" Dee recalled. "Usually you just sing the first day and learn the music, but I was like, ‘Oh, we’re going to learn the tap before we even learn a single note.’"

The dancers spent two weeks in New York City, using most of the rehearsal time on blocking and learning all of the moves and formations. To help the learning process, the director didn’t start from the beginning of the number. Instead, they used a random piece of the big tap number selected and taught during the audition process and built off of it in both directions, learning a little chunk before what was already committed to memory and then some after.

"It was very smart because we were working so hard that we didn’t realize how much of the number we were learning or what part until we probably put it all together," Dee said. "It gets familiar faster."

Other than memorizing over 10 minutes worth of tight dance movies and formations, the other obvious difficulty with the "Anything Goes" tap number is the matter of endurance. You could, as Dee joked, ask for some kind of divine intervention, but there are other methods to making it through the dancing marathon without passing out.

"Breathing is the most important, focusing on steps where you’re going to go all out and steps where you have to take a second," Zarr said. "There’s very few changes for that to happen in Kathleen’s numbers, but when you get a chance, you have to remind yourself to breathe. It’s all about learning when, where and how to breathe, and I think dancers have been learning that since they started training. You learn that breath is probably the most important aspect of your dance."

In addition to the physical challenges of playing a dancing sailor, there are also the stylistic challenges. As a show with its roots firmly in a different era of art and entertainment, "Anything Goes" requires the dancers to adapt and tune their movements to a different time period.

Zarr noted that there’s a certain focus on tight, calm and controlled upper body movements, "hinting at movement as opposed to huge dancing." Even something as small as the dancers’ hands must be stylistically tuned to the norms of ’30s dance, as well as Marshall’s lauded choreography. For instance, the girls have to model their hands after a kind of relaxed but specific "manicure hand," one without splayed fingers and clenched fists.

"It’s an extremely difficult thing to do because the number is so intense and so long," Zarr said. "There’s so much choreography – and extremely athletic choreography as well – that you want to fling your arms around and open up wide and splay the hands. But you can’t do that. It almost takes more energy to keep everything under control, and that’s the challenge and the style."

The number is a lot of exhausting effort and intense detail, but it’s worth it for the sharp-footed sailors of "Anything Goes."

"Kathleen Marshall’s choreography won the Tony Award that year, so I think that kind of speaks for itself in how this show is to do every night," Zarr said. "It’s extremely dynamic. It doesn’t just start somewhere and hit the audience over the head with a sledgehammer. It builds to a frenzy, and it tells a story."

"I remember doing it for the first time and feeling the audience’s energy," Dee added. "They loved it. They lived for that moment. It’s something I think brings back old memories that people love to be a part of."

It’s not just "Anything Goes," the musical number, that aims to conjure up old memories. It’s also "Anything Goes," the production as a whole, that tries to send audiences back to a different time, a simpler entertainment.

"As much as ‘Les Miserables’ is popular and ‘Phantom of the Opera’ and all these dramatic, extremely important pieces of theater art that make you look at the world in a different way, our show comes along and helps you experience the world with rose-colored glasses. And that’s just as important."