Guys and Dolls

This piece of theatre cries out to be given stylisation and Nancy had a vision, the score and libretto have a style all their own and the company approached this with a fresh set of eyes. A comic book feel to all the back drops gave homage to the writer Damon Runyon’s original newspaper serial ‘The Idyll of Sarah Brown’, the stark monochrome with pops of colour highlights created a good basis for the action. The Fugue for Tinhorns one of the most difficult pieces of music within the piece was approached cleanly and the gamblers made their opening mark on the audience. Nicely in his first full musical show with the company showed composure and sweetness in this comic role and worked well with Benny as they bumbled and fumbled through Nathans master plan for a crap game. Nathan Detroit was given a softer approach than the usual interpretation but it worked beautifully in this production, this is one of the best portrayals this actor has produced to date and showed a depth of understanding. Nathan was partnered by the lovely Miss Adelaide, again a less ostentatious interpretation and more cookie, she obviously adored her Nathan and one of cutest exits ever was made on a park bench. Sarah and Sky were well matched and both engaged with their characters quirks and foibles and sang with conviction. Choreography suited the players but the decision to cut the dance elements in Havana gave Sarah no experience of the crazy lifestyle of Sky as the scenes were rather prim, he saw more of her life as a tourist than the hot Latino passion and romance that would sweep her off her feet. Similar to the set the costumes had a bright bubble gum feel and the decision to move to the mid 50’s instead of late 1940’s worked for the majority but as the original production opened in 1950 when austerity was still effecting the fashion of the time (when hobble skirts were more the sexy attire than the circle skirt and flounce petticoats) possibly this is why Miss Adelaide was more of a cutie than a siren. The hat bands on the men’s fedoras and trilby hats paid lip service to the cartoon colours and on the whole gave uniformity. The Salvation army were all well turned out but maybe a little too much knee was on display for the time. On the whole this was a pleasing interpretation and the audience enjoyed the trip back to a classic musical, well done to all involved and it was nice to see a stylisation being tried and tested on the Wellesley stage.

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