Guys & Dulls on Broadway

No, it’s not a misspell. Guys & Dolls is once more back on Broadway. I guess they figure that a sure winner will survive the economy. Broadway dot com quotes a ticket price of $126.50 for an orchestra seat with a fee of $38.00. Can you imagine? That’s almost as bad as when they quote a price and then charge almost the price of what you’re buying as “shipping and handling”. But let’s get back to this well-known Broadway musical.

If you happen to be of the very few that have never actually seen either the play or the movie version, you may think it’s just great. In the case of Guys & Dolls, just about every theatre group, professional or amateur, performs this classic.

Guys & Dolls, for those who wish to know the origin, is based upon stories by author Damon Runyon and with that, the show opens to see the author typing away with his back to the audience. The orchestra, rather than being in a pit, is seated three tiers high at the back of the stage. A curtain drops and is then used for video effects for the rest of the show. Scenery changes…literally. Street to street movement, that’s both positive and negative (at times deterring). It did add to the later crap game watching the descent into the sewer and visibility of the pipes.

Just about every musical opens with an orchestra playing the overture while you sit and stare at a curtain. Here we have the characters choreographed miming across the stage while you listen to bits of the numbers. Good opening, so far. This goes into “Fugue For Tinhorn” with Nicely, Nicely Johnson (Tituss Burgess) and Benny Southstreet (Steve Rosen)…”I got the horse right here, his name is Paul Revere…” That song. I will get to Burgess later.

We will then get to meet the rest of the poorly casted cast, beginning with Kate Jennings Grant portraying Sarah Brown who runs the Mission Band. She will later meet Sky Masterson, played by Craig Bierko. At first the characters are at odds with each other, but when they sing, “I’ll Know” and later, “I’ve Never Been in Love Before”, the chemistry makes it appear that they still aren’t.

Oliver Platt stars as Nathan Detroit. I wouldn’t say that he’s weak, but if I had a feather boa I could have knocked him over with it. The worst was Lauren Graham’s portrayal of Detroit’s extremely long time fiancée, Adelaide. For some odd reason, the director (Des McAnuff) decided to steer clear of her having a nasal voice with a Brooklyn accent. Not only were the “goil” and “woids” omitted, but also when she sang her famous Adelaide’s Lament, she did not sound as if she had a cold. It loses both the comedy and the point of the song.

The sets (Robert Brill) were excellent and kudos to the choreography (Sergio Trujillo). Best scene on choreography was “The Crapshooter Dance”. Best all round was “Sit Down, You’re Rockin’ the Boat”. This is where Burgess really got to shine. Adding to this scene was when General Cartwright (Mary Testa) was allowed to let loose in her singing and personality. Lot’s of applause for this one. There was much applause upon the end but I could see that the cast was disappointed in having no standing ovation.

One thing that is great about the Nederlander Theatre is that it is small, but with a large enough stage and side areas for more lighted sets. What appears to have been an orchestra pit is utilized for actors going about the scenes. So when it boils down to it, you can probably enjoy the show from the cheapest seats. Guys & Dolls novices…enjoy!!!