Guys and Dolls

Guys and Dolls, a musical staged by Wigan Little Theatre at Wigan Little Theatre, Crompton Street, Wigan on Saturday 3rd June, 2023.

Guys and Dolls is a romantic comedy musical with music and lyrics by Frank Loesser and book by Jo Swerling and Abe Burrows and is based on Damon Runyon's tales about gangsters, gamblers and the characters of the New York underworld.  The story centres around Sarah Brown, an upright but uptight 'mission doll,' who sets out to reform the evildoers of New York's Time Square and Sky Masterson, a slick, high-rolling gambler who woos Sarah her on a bet... but ends up falling in love with her!  We then have Miss Adelaide, a chronically ill nightclub performer whose condition is brought on by the fact she's been engaged to the same man for fourteen years… Nathan Detroit, her devoted fiancé, always desperate to find a spot for his floating crap game. Guys and Dolls features some of Frank Loesser’s most memorable tunes, including the hilarious ‘Adelaide’s Lament’, the romantic ‘I’ve Never Been in Love Before’, the exuberant ‘If I Were a Bell’ and the classic ‘Luck Be a Lady’.

Production Team…  Maureen Schofield (Director) was the person tasked with putting this, possibly my favourite musical, on stage!  Maureen did a great job providing us with a solid, entertaining production which had evidence of careful planning throughout. As with many musicals, this one was littered with many scene changes, so to keep the audience interested and the action moving it was paramount, that the scene changes were done in an efficient manner which they were… well done, Maureen.  The experienced Louise Hawkes was overseeing the choreography which was simple, yet effective and played to the strengths of those involved. Rick Kershaw was in charge of Musical Direction and when you read Maureen’s programmes notes, she thanks them both for their hard work, assistance, and dedication throughout.  ‘Stronger Together’… congrats you three, job well done!  

The Cast… a cast of twenty-one (eleven males and ten females) took to the stage for this production. As most will know, I’m not one to sit on the fence and this is where I ‘stick the old neck out’ and start identifying MY ‘Showstealer’ and favourite characters etc., … well at the ‘top of my list’ for this production I didn’t have a ‘Showstealer’… I had ‘SHOWSTEALERS’ … ‘Miss Adelaide’ the loveable ‘show girl’ and ‘Nathan Detroit’ the ‘gambler’ who’ve been in long-term relationship for fourteen years… played respectively by Becky Brown and Si Foster. OMG these two were the perfect partnership creating two totally believable characters with great chemistry.  Becky has great stage presence and gave us a lovely, controlled performance filled with fun, comedy and understanding. Loved the interaction and the dance routines with the ‘Hot Box’ girls!  Si made the role his own…  another with great stage presence, great comedic timing, his facial expressions, and mannerisms were authentic. Loved the two scenes where they work together… firstly where Adelaide is telling Nathan about the letters to her mother, the marriage and the kids, hilarious… plus the scene where they sing ‘Sue Me’!  Well done you two be ever so proud!  There are two couples involved in this production… the second being ‘Sarah Brown’, played by Fiona Stewart, the kind-hearted ‘Mission Doll’ who is whisked away to Havana by ‘Sky Masterson’ the ’Highest Gambler of them All’ played by Jack Martin.  Both Fiona and Jack looked comfortable together in these roles with good stage presence, creating two good characters. Fiona is blessed with a wonderful singing voice and her rendition of ‘If I were a bell’ was memorable… be proud Fiona, good job!  Jack, worked well alongside Sarah… their rendition of ‘My Time of Day’ / ‘I've Never Been in Love Before’ and ‘I’ll know’ were highlights for me and appreciated by all those present. If I may… and I hope I don’t offend, but I would have liked ‘Sky’ to have been slightly more charismatic, more aloof, more sophisticated … although he’s a gambler, he’s not really one of the gang, he just joins them when he’s in town and they are all very much in awe and slightly/intimidated by him…hope I haven’t offended or overstepped, just me thinking out loud!  Darran Robertson gave us a notable performance as ‘Nicely- Nicely Johnson’.  Another with good stage presence, great comic timing… his rendition of ‘Sit Down You’re Rocking the Boat’ with the cast was worthy of note!  Darran, with John Dudley who played ‘Benny Southstreet’ and Stephen Carletti who played ‘Harry the Horse’ gave us a great rendition of the contra-puntal number ‘Fugue for Tinhorns’ a great ‘race-sheet’ song, bounced nicely (no pun intended) off each other, a show favourite of mine…be proud guys!  Making up our gang of ‘Gamblers’ we had John Clinton taking on the role of ‘Big Jule’, Craig Pinnington playing ‘Liverlips Louie’, Kevin Shirley playing ‘Angie the Ox’ and Alex Lafferty playing ‘Scraton Slim’ … some good individual characters created who worked really-well together, well done guys… some ‘evil looking sinners’ without doubt!   ‘Save the Soul Mission’… Colin Magenty played the caring ‘Arvide Abernathy’, Bass Drum Player and grandfather to Miss Sarah (‘More I Cannot Wish You’ sung with sincerity); Cath Finch took on the role of ‘General Matilda Cartwright’ the Regional Director of the Save-a-Soul Mission… plus we had ‘Agatha’, ‘Barbara’ and ‘Martha’ played ever so well by Sue Binns, Carol Smith and Jess Sinclair respectively… well done everyone… so many sinners saved that evening!  Last but certainly not least we had out ‘Hot Box Girls’ (or should that be GOILS) …  ‘Fifi’, ‘Mimi’, ‘Louis’, and ‘Bette’ played by Anna Beaumont, Stacey Vernon, Lucy Bache and Mel Saunders respectively.  Loved the choreography for ‘Bushel and a Peck’ and ‘Take Back your Mink’… danced and sung really well …. well done, Louise. Well done, ladies!

Staging/Set/Tech… as previously stated, this is a musical with a great number of scene changes with many different locations to create and identify… the use of backing clothes helped keep this fast-paced production moving. Slick, quiet effective scene changes were completed with effortless ease (may not have been effortless for those pushing and pulling) but you know what I mean!  So congrats to Sheila Cleary, John Naughton, Alicia Scally and Joey Wiswell (Stage Managers), Brian Heap, Gary Hill, John Gostelow, Phil Wood, Kevin Fairhurst and David Flanagan (Set Construction), Shelia Cleary and Maureen Schofield (Set Design), plus Christine Armstrong, Ellen Fitton, Maggie Hall, Maureen Schofield, Mary B Hill, Veronica Teasdale, Patricia Ashurst, Barbara Rimmer, Val Miller and Amanda Leamon (Set Painting); Elaine Delaney, Katie Davis, Anne Martin, Evie Fanning, Amanda Leamon, Anne Martin, Caitlin Delaney and Tony Donbavand (Props/Stage Crew) Lighting/Sound was under the watchful eye of Owen Rasburn, Colin Haynes, Becky Hampson, Neil Jackson… well done folks, good job!   Wardrobe… costumes were well sourced and enhanced the show… i/c Stacey Vernon.

As is the norm… I did spend a little time during the interval and at the end trying and hear what the loyal supporters saying and thinking about proceedings… it was all good positive remarks... and I think I’d be right in suggesting, a production enjoyed by everyone present!

Before I close, can I, on behalf of myself and of NODA, pay my respects to the family and friends of Bill Collins who ‘passed’ but a few days before this production opened.  Having read and seen so many messages of condolence on so many social media platforms during the past week, its only then do you realise how well-respected Bill was and how much he’s going to be missed… RIP BILL!

Finally, can I take this opportunity to say thanks for inviting my wife and I. We enjoyed the show. It’s one of my favourite musicals!  Can I also say congrats to Anne Woolley on her enrolment as Chair here at WLT, I’ve not known Anne that long, but what I already know is that she’s Wigan Little Theatre through and through!

Stay safe and keep well…

Jim Briscoe
NODA NW
District 6 Rep

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