Guys and Dolls

Guys and Dolls, based on the stories of Damon Runyan, with book by Jo Swerling and Abe Burrows, and the eternally memorable music and lyrics of Frank Loesser, is right up there with the very best of the ‘older’ musicals, which, sadly aren’t performed so often these days. We are transported to the New York of gambling and underground dice games, glitzy showgirls and despairing missionaries. When high rolling gambler Sky Masterson persuades mission girl Sarah Brown to accompany him to Havana to win a bet, he doesn’t count on falling for her and discovering that love is the biggest gamble of all.

New to CAOS, Director Chloe Gibson has created a stylish production that positively fizzed with energy right from the start. She cleverly incorporated the bar and tables at front of the auditorium, bringing the action right into the audience and making us all feel part of it. The simple set on stage just had a door for each location with signs above, but an ingenious cutout New York skyline along the top. The scene changes were easily accomplished by the cast and crew, allowing the action to flow through smoothly.

Bee Anderson’s choreography was absolutely stunning – all the big chorus numbers being full of interest and movement, and the dance moves were executed expertly, most notably the Hot Box numbers, the scene in Havana and the Crapshooters Dance. Costumes (Sarah Melville) were beautiful throughout, adding greatly to the atmosphere. Chris Pratt’s lighting also deserves special praise, always just right for the scene, and creating some spectacular effects.

Musical Director James Thomas, also new to CAOS, has drilled the cast well. Singing, both solo and chorus, was top quality with some beautiful harmonies. Sadly, the music was recorded, but it sounded really good. The sound system (Bryan Mercer) was clear, and the vocal vs orchestra balance was pretty good most of the time with only some underscored dialogue being a little overshadowed.

And now to the cast – well, what a cast! Adam Fox made a great Nathan Detroit, the big-hearted gambler who can’t quite bring himself to marry his fiancée. He was every bit the chancer who obviously loves Adelaide but can’t be trusted, and their duet “Sue Me” was a magnificent back and forth. Megan Banks as Miss Adelaide was a sheer delight. She put such feeling and expression into each of her songs we couldn’t help but love her. She had a beautifully melodic voice, but maybe she should tone down the “squeak” a little? The other love story of course is between Sky Masterson and Sarah Brown, most ably played by Kyle Major and Victoria Hutton. Kyle gave Sky a nicely sardonic style, very cool and confident, while Victoria made Sarah a little less innocent than she is usually portrayed, and I felt this worked well – she knew what she was doing when she fell for this sinner! Her beautiful soprano voice blended perfectly with Kyle’s rich, mellifluous tones, and their numbers together were simply sublime.

Ryan Moss, a natural comic, was perfect as nice-but-dim Benny Southstreet and worked well with Matt Gibbins as Nicely-Nicely Johnson. Matt’s performance of “Sit Down You’re Rocking the Boat” was a real showstopper and another masterpiece of choreography. Alexander Roberts as Arvide Abernathy, gave such a touching performance of “More I Cannot Wish You” and Nigel Holloway really showed Lieutenant Brannagan’s frustration at constantly being pipped to the post.

The programme deserves a special mention cleverly laid out in newspaper format, with lots of information about the show and the cast and creatives.

At the risk of making myself feel really old, I checked my archives and found it is seven years since I last saw this show performed, and fourteen since I took part in it, but as soon as the overture began, all the wonderful melodies came flooding back as the music swept over us and the story unfolded. What a wonderful evening it was: a great show, stylish direction and fabulous performances – what more could I ask?

 © NODA CIO. All rights reserved.

© NODA CIO. All rights reserved.