GUYS AND DOLLS

GUYS AND DOLLS

at the Phoenix Theatre

26.04.16

A national tour on the road, and at the Phoenix on Charing Cross Road another change of cast.
No disappointments here, though; the show seems just as fresh as it did in Chichester. The drunken brawl, Luck Be A Lady, and a brilliant transition from hanging noose to Havanah and Carlos Acosta's showy choreography.
An excellently pairing of Samantha Spiro, consistently entertaining as Miss Adelaide, a priceless Dietrich-inspired débutante, and Broadway veteran Richard Kind as good old reliable Nathan. A fine Nicely Nicely from Gavin Spokes, a Savoy cast survivor. The lovers are Siubhan Harrison's severely pious Miss Sarah and Oliver Tompsett's superbly sung Sky.
Good to see the splendid Jason Pennycooke as Benny Southstreet – his title number with Spokes eliciting a well-deserved Bravo! from the back of the stalls.

GUYS AND DOLLS

GUYS AND DOLLS

CAODS at the Civic Theatre

24.02.15

The low-lifes steal the show in Ray Jeffery's hugely enjoyable, perfectly paced Guys and Dolls.

The set is a faded Picture Post New York, with the Hot Box Tardis shoe-horned between the fire-hydrants and the news-stands. But the Damon Runyon denizens of the devil's own city are wonderfully colourful: Harry the Horse [Tony Catchpole] in a splendid check suit, hyperactive Benny Southstreet [David Gillett] spivvy Nathan Detroit [Kevin Richards in a terrible toupée] and a florid Nicely Nicely from the excellent David Slater, who also gets to gatecrash the Havana party as a stylish roué.

The male chorus from Blossom Time have the lion's share of the hoofing, with some challenging choreography impressively executed – those two-tone crap-game shoes.

The love interest is provided by Cassie Estall's Sarah with the 100% eyes and Ian Gilbert, cast against type as Sky, but bringing an engaging innocence and a quizzical, compelling stage presence to the role.

Nathan has dame trouble of his own, in the exemplary Adelaide of Robyn Gowers – a flawless performance from the nasal tones to the strategically placed kitchen shower.

A stylish show, with Bette Davis centre stage, cigarette holders, and silver lamé for the wedding. Musically polished, too, with Patrick Tucker's band on fine period form in, for instance, the backing for If I Were A Bell.

And the death throes of vaudeville are neatly captured, in the gorgeous Hot Box Girls, and in the delicious double act of Benny and Nicely for the title number.

production photograph by Christopher Yorke-Edwards

GUYS AND DOLLS

GUYS AND DOLLS

LADS at the Tractor Shed, Latchindon

15.11.2014

Mary Redman was there at the final performance:

Guys And Dolls is one of the 20^th Century's greatest musicals, up alongside Oklahoma, Carousel and West Side Story in the sense that they were game changers which altered how audiences perceived and enjoyed, not only the excellent music, but also the very different stories of American life in varied settings. And if you don't believe me, Bob Fosse the top banana of Broadway choreographers thought so too.

In taking journalist Damon Runyon's hilarious tales of Broadway gamblers and sharpsters plus their dolls and molls, musician and lyricist Frank Loesser created one of the most difficult sings in musical theatre yet they were melodies that are unforgettable and catchy.

LADS had a full house for their last night performance which fortunately also included Peter Jones the inspirational original director and designer of the group. With a track record stretching back to the Fifties, Peter has been unwell, but was looking so much better and lively in his rockabilly outfit of checked shirt and braces.

I've referred to the difficulty of singing this music but whenever the chorus was involved this was heartfelt and strong under the direction of MD James Tovey and his spirited band. For show stopper Sit Down You're Rocking The Boat by Nicely Nicely Johnson (Gavin Rouse) any vocal deficiency was covered by the chorus. He was joined by Alan Elkins as Benny Southstreet, Josh Oxley as Rusty Charlie, David Hudson's Harry the Horse and Daniel Tunbridge as Angie the Ox as the rest of the gang. David Bateman made a good Nathan Detroit, highlighting his naughty boy character. Unfortunately, I have to say that Ben Braden wasn't an ideal Sky Masterson since his singing was often off-key and his acting a bit diffident and lacking power.

The women's cast was much more assured with Aimee Hart as a delightful Sarah Brown the Mission Gal and Jamie-Leigh Royan as a highly glamorous Miss Adelaide. Both of them could sing and really did justice to numbers such as If I Were A Bell and Adelaide's Lament.

Simply staged - cutting out some of the Cuban scenes - by director Gavin Rouse with choreography by Vicky Bird and costumes by Kath Lang's team, this was an entertaining evening of musical theatre.

GUYS AND DOLLS

GUYS AND DOLLS

Chichester Festival Theatre

14.08.14

What to do with Guys and Dolls ? Gritty or glitzy ? Back to Runyon's Broadway ?

Chichester have flown in the legendary Gordon Greenberg, mender of broken musicals, here directing his first Guys and Dolls.

He's gone for a simple but striking design [Peter McKintosh] and a Fifties film noir feel, established with sax, smoke and spotlight in the opening seconds.

The staging is unfussy: a stunning sunburst of broken Broadway billboards – liquor and tobacco, PanAm and peanuts, Wrigley's and Levi's, plus, less familiar in Sussex, Hire's Root Beer. And then a simple truck for the Save A Soul Mission, a news-stand and a shoe-shine for the mean streets of the devil's own city. The manhole covers become tables, Havana's palms grow up from the black shiny sidewalks.

A fine quartet of principals: Chichester favourite Peter Polycarpou an excellent Nathan Detroit, with Sophie Thompson as his Miss Adelaide. 

Clare Foster gives a wonderful Sarah, melting marvellously under the influence of dulce de leche; Jamie Parker is Sky, rat-packing his way through the numbers and bringing his distinctive charisma and charm to the “sinner heavy with sin”.

Among the energetic company, a lovely vaudeville duo from Ian Hughes as Benny, and Harry Morrison [far too slim] as Nicely Nicely, and an imposing General from Melanie La Barrie. The other big name here is Carlos Acosta,[working on the choreography with Andrew Wright] whose hand is felt in the lifts and athleticism of the crap game and the Cuban bar.

A stylish, lively production. But not, perhaps, as definitive, or breath-taking, or life-enhancing as the very best of Chichester's tributes to the American musical theatre.

GUYS AND DOLLS

GUYS AND DOLLS

S.O.D.S. at the Cliffs Pavilion

16.11.13

for Sardines magazine

The style is set by the busy Runyonland prologue: gauze, Broadway neon, and the complex choreography of the devil's own street, peopled by tourists, showgirls, gangsters, molls, matrons and of course the marching band of the Save A Soul Mission.

All moving to Frank Loesser's classic score, played by a pit band of a dozen giving the John Wilson sound a run for its money – the conductor is Stuart Woolner, and the show's Musical Director Rachael Plunkett.

In the vast arena of the Cliffs Pavilion, Suzanne Walters' production takes a broad brush approach: lines are pointed, gags are semaphored, numbers are belted, lest the back of the gallery should miss out.

But it's a slick, professional-looking show, helped by great costumes [though I've seen better kitchen showers] and a wonderful set [by Proscenium] which flies and glides into place with well-oiled precision. The streetscene, the mission hall, the sewers, the Hot Box night-club, even Havana, are all effortlessly and stylishly magicked into existence.

Most successful at bringing charm and subtlety to his character is local lad Mike Cater as Sky Masterson; he has a glorious singing voice too [I'll Know, My Time of Day], and bags of charisma.

Heather Cooper is his Sarah Brown, the mission doll who tastes forbidden fruit and Bacardi as the result of a bet, and eventually brings her Obadiah into the fold. She puts over her numbers with panache: If I Were A Bell, and Marry the Man, duetting with Miss Adelaide, Laura Hurrell outstanding in the much more rewarding role of cabaret artiste, hypochondriac and perpetual fiancée.

Her man, Nathan Detroit is played by Les Cannon, and his fellow low-lifes – evil-looking sinners to a man - are all excellently done, from Ian Benson's Nicely Nicely to Ian Scoging's Harry the Horse with his trade-mark neigh.

Plenty of opportunities seized in the cameo department too; Liz Green's myopic Agatha, for instance, or Ian Gilbert's strong, silent [and powerfully still] Big Jule. And Dick Davies makes the most of old man Arvide's moment in the spotlight, with a beautifully sung More I Cannot Wish You.

The ensembles are spectacularly choreographed by Adam Gaskin, who also plays Rusty Charlie. Luck Be A Lady, the impressive boat to heaven, the bar-room brawl and the cheesy chorines from the Hot Box in their Cabaret bustiers.

Plenty of clever touches, too, like the blink-and-you-miss-them dreams of domestic bliss.

SODS have an enviable reputation for West-End quality musicals, witness the coach-loads turning up for this well-attended matinée.

Next time out, we swap the Hot Boxers for the Cagelles, with a rare amateur outing for Jerry Herman's La Cage Aux Folles.

GUYS AND DOLLS

GUYS AND DOLLS

WAOS at the Public Hall Witham

24.04.12

We begin with a Runyonesque street scene, the stage crammed with all human life, low life especially. Dolls, cops, gamblers, gawpers and the token drunk, Jeff Babbs a constant inebriated presence throughout the show.

The scene changes were difficult on this small stage, but we had a nice Hot Box [with audience profiles] as well as both sides of the Save-a-Soul Mission.

Many lovely performances: Corrina Wilson's coy, vulnerable but steel-willed Sarah, very impressive vocally. An old-fashioned "light opera" voice – a tradition under threat now that actors have taken over in musicals – an approach appropriately shared by her Arvide, Nicholas Clough, with a touchingly beautiful rendition of More I Cannot Wish You, and by her Masterson, Gareth Gwyn-Jones, their tones blending splendidly in duet. The MD for the show was Geoff Osborne.

Delicious comedy leavening from Deborah Anderson as Miss Adelaide, with her nasal tones and her huge box of Kleenex, and from Stewart Adkins as Nicely-Nicely – a little lithe, despite his addiction to Mindy's nosh, but lighting up the stage with his confident, larger-than-life presence.

Jacqui Tear's production was confident too, from that busy opening through to the spectacular title song finale. I loved the retro burlesque routines from the excellent Hot Box Girls [Lindsay Bonsor the choreographer], and the famous Rocking The Boat managed to be static and dynamic at the same time – very clever.

It's 90 years since WAOS first ventured onto the hallowed boards of the Public Hall, and this is their third production of this Broadway Classic. On this showing they can move towards their century safe in the knowledge that good old-fashioned entertainment, done with this kind of skill and style, will always find an appreciative audience.

GUYS AND DOLLS

Brentwood Operatic Society at the Brentwood Theatre

21.06.11

The Devil's own city, squeezed onto a Brentwood stage made even tinier by extra seating and an upper level over the Mission.

So a pocket-size Loesser, losing most of the hoofing but thankfully preserving the music, well served by an experienced cast and a lively band under MD Ian Southgate.

Miss Adelaide is a peach of a part, and Louise Byrne more than did it justice, resisting the temptation to over-sell the comedy; her Nathan was seasoned musical comedy actor Justin Cartledge, very much at home in this role. Her Hot Box Girls didn't really warm up till the second half [and Havana looked very tame], but his “evil-looking sinners” made an effective character ensemble, given some clever choreography for Luck Be A Lady and Sit Down. The title song featured just two of the gang, Martin Harris's lovely Nicely-Nicely, and Gary Ball's Benny.

Bob Southgate was an impressive Big Jule, and William Wells, though hardly a native New Yorker, brought out the comic frustration of Lt Brannigan.

Ben Martins was a suave Sky, wooing Amy Clayton's demure Miss Sarah: she handled her songs with superb style, though her distinctive voice was not always enhanced by the sound system.

Guys and Dolls was directed by Margaret Kiel, with additional choreography by Sarah O'Sullivan.

GUYS AND DOLLS

The New Wolsey Theatre, Clwyd Theatr Cymru and Salisbury Playhouse

26.03.11
for The Public Reviews

until April 16^th

^{then at the Playhouse, Salisbury, 28th April - 21st May}

A score of the best actor-musicians, three of the best regional producing houses, and one of the best musicals ever to come out of Broadway.

Guys and Dolls, on its way from Wales to Salisbury, is at the New Wolsey Ipswich till April 16.

It's a stunningly successful production, with due respect given to Runyon's story and Loesser's songs.

We start on a New York thoroughfare - neon signs in steep perspective to a skyscraper vanishing point – with eight hoods bearing menacing instrument cases. Six brass, two reeds, and we're into the overture, which has more incident, more characters than many shows can boast in the whole of their First Act.

What amazing characters they are, the “evil-looking sinners” especially: lovely, lived-in faces marked by careers in big-time crime. Harry the Horse, of course [Kraig Thornber], and his portly partner in crime Nicely Nicely Johnson [Gavin Spokes], never without a handy snack. Their duet in the title number was immaculately done.

Terrific versatility further down the billing: Susannah Van Den Berg, to name but one [last in Ipswich with the Spend, Spend, Spend tour, I think]. She was a General in the Salvation Army, a hoofer in The Hot Box, a hooker on the street, and did two hilarious turns as an air hostess to cover the Cuban scene change.

Oh, and she played clarinet and sax in her spare time. Many of the lesser characters made up the free-flowing band, beating the drum for Jesus or standing around like so many subway buskers.

I'd also pick out Nick Lashbrook's Brannigan, Paul Kissaun as an imposing gangster on vacation from Chicago, and Johnson Willis as the gentle Abernathy - “More I Cannot Wish You” movingly done.

The two central couples were nicely contrasted. Brilliant character comedy work from Ben Fox and Rosie Jenkins as Nathan Detroit and his Miss Adelaide, and star-crossed Sky Masterson [Robbie Scotcher, comparatively lacking in charisma] and his Sally Army Sergeant Sarah [Laura Pitt-Pulford, whose vocal style was impressive].

The big show-stoppers were delivered with style, energy and imagination. The Crap-Shooters' Ballet in the sewer, Sit Down You're Rocking The Boat, with its shipwreck simply suggested [and a wind quartet of Mission girls], and the finest Havana sequence I've ever seen, when Miss Sarah gets her first taste of paradise, and takes her first faltering steps down the primrose path …

This enterprising co-production of the much-loved Musical Fable, directed by Wolsey regular Peter Rowe, has been attracting packed houses and glowing notices as it visits each venue. See it, and you'll soon understand why.

this piece first appeared on The Public Reviews