“Guys and Dolls,” the musical about 1930s soul savers and crapshooters working their game on the seedy, seductive streets of New York, has a hallowed place in the hearts of many a theatergoer. Based on the characters of Damon Runyon, with a delicious score by Frank Loesser and a film version starring Frank Sinatra (Nathan Detroit) and Marlon Brando (Sky Masterson), the 61-year-old Broadway show feels like an unassailable musical-comedy property.
Abe Burrows and Jo Swerling’s play is a by-the-books story of eleventh-hour love and redemption with a side trip to old Havana made on a bet. The Theater of the Stars production at the Fox Theatre through Sunday scores very well on the song-and-dance gambit. But while the 14-year courtship of addicted gambler Nathan Detroit and his ever-faithful Adelaide is timeless and sweet, the narrative can feel stretched and convoluted at times, as if the show has one foot in vaudeville and another in the era of the modern book musical. I’ll take a revival of “She Loves Me,” perhaps even “The Music Man,” over this nonsensical clunker, which is exactly the kind of froth so giddily satirized in “The Drowsy Chaperone.”
But here it is. And despite my quibbling, I can’t deny that the old-fashioned “Guys and Dolls” remains a giddy crowd-pleaser. While director Gordon Greenberg does little to streamline the clutter and a good many lines get lost in the fast talk, choreographer Patti Colombo and costume chief Chad Jason conspire to deliver delightful Hot Box burlesque and steamy tropical heat at the cha-cha club.
The company is impressive, too. Steve Rosen makes for a delightful Nathan, and Megan Sikora’s Adelaide is the squeaky-voiced heart and soul of this production. Erin Davie plays the arch Salvation Army-style missionary Sarah Brown with a brittle countenance and an operatic soprano, but even when she starts to melt to the swagger of handsome Sky Masterson (Ben Crawford), it’s hard to feel much chemistry between these two. Crawford gives a polished performance and has a mighty baritone. But his charisma feels painted on somehow, and his “Luck Be a Lady” is flavorless.
Jan Neuberger’s General Cartwright is an old-school archetype of perfect diction and starchiness—a memorably comic character study. And then there’s Atlanta’s Glenn Rainey (Nicely-Nicely), who speaks the first lines of the evening and stops the show with his big song-and-dance number, “Sit Down, You’re Rockin’ the Boat.” Rainey came with his own opening night cheering section, and no one was disappointed. He’s top notch. Dancers Taurean Everett and Arian Keddell also deserve mention for creating fireworks in the Havana nightclub interlude.
Goofy premise and all, “Guys and Dolls” remains a likeable all-ages show — better than “Damn Yankees” but not as good as “Gypsy” or “Oklahoma!” Runyon’s archetypes of good and evil may not have weathered so well, but no matter how you roll the dice, Loesser’s music is always a winner.
Theater review
“Guys and Dolls”
Grade: B-
8 p.m. Wednesday-Saturday. 2 p.m. Saturday. 1:30 and 7 p.m. Sunday. Through Sunday. $25$-65. Theater of the Stars, Fox Theater, 660 Peachtree St. N.E., Atlanta. 800-982-2787; theaterofthestars.com
Verdict: Loesser’s classic gets a solid production.
About the Author
