Guys and Dolls

The opening number of this show, Fugue for Tinhorns, is one of my favourite show songs and the three performers, Sean Hynes (Nicely-Nicely Johnson) Josh Handley (Benny Southstreet) and Drew Bell (Rusty Charlie) did it proud. 

Newcomer to BasOP, Samantha Coles playing the leading lady Sarah Brown.   She has a beautiful singing voice and gave the part just the right amount of feistiness.  Another new face, Mathew Purton (Sky Masterson) produced an excellent characterisation, holding the stage well throughout his performance.  Ian Benson (Nathan Detroit) was excellent, truly a loveable rogue.   Angela Phillips played the long suffering Miss Adelaide beautifully, this is a character part to die for and Angela created just the right mix.

The other Principals all produced excellent characters with lovely singing from Fred Woodrow (Arvide Abernathy) and good characterisation from both Steve Wilding (Harry the Horse) and David Reeve (Lieutenant Brannigan).

The ensemble worked extremely hard, with lots of individual characters, and it was lovely to see Luck Be A Lady done with just the male chorus.  The choreography was simple but extremely effective.   Too many societies use girls to dance the opening sequence and it just doesn’t create the right atmosphere, so well done to all the men in the cast for this particular number.  The other set piece in this show is Sit Down You’re Rocking The Boat and Sean Hynes led the ensemble with great style.  Overall the singing was to an excellent standard, well done to MD Clare Penfold for producing the harmonies and overall vocal sound.

Costumes were fine, although I am still not convinced about the use of Capri pants for ladies in this period, especially in the city, they were, at that time considered quite racy and confined to beachwear.

The scenery in this show is quite cumbersome and scene changes, of necessity, had to be done in blackouts.  This did affect the pace of the show, slowing down to accommodate the scene changes and quickening up in between.  As a ‘traditional’ style musical these changes are necessary, however, these days, audiences expect to see changes being done on stage in view.  Providing they are managed well as part of the action, that can be beneficial to the pace of the show.

The band, under the direction of MD Clare Penfold, produced a good sound which supported the singers without drowning them out.

May I express my thanks for the hospitality shown to me, I had an entertaining and enjoyable evening.  Thank you.

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