By Carol Davis
CORONADO, California—If you ever wondered why Guys & Dolls is my all-time-favorite musical, take a trip to Coronado and catch Lamb’s Players Theatre production of it now. With the wonderful music of Frank Loesser and book by Jo Swerling and Abe Burrows based on a story of Damon Runyon characters, it has to be one of the more clever and colorful of the Broadway musicals of the time. In other words, it’s a classic.
Oft called a ‘Musical Fable of Broadway’ the characters, and I mean characters have been permanently etched in my minds eye from the first time I saw it. “Harry The Horse”? “Big Julie”? Nat’n Detroit”? “Liverlip Louie”? “Nicely, Nicely”? “Jimmy The Greek”? “Benny Southstreet”? “Sky Masterson”? Try those on for size. They are the ‘Guys’. And Nathan Detroit and Sky Masterson are the ‘guys’ at the center of gravity in this gangsta, small time gambler gig. The ‘dolls’ and others orbit around them. It all happens on and around the streets of Broadway in the 40’s.
The two most important ‘dolls’ are Adelaide and Sarah Brown. Adelaide and Nathan have been ‘engaged’ for fourteen years. She is, among other things, the lead singer with the other ‘dolls’ from the Hotbox Club. (“Bushel and a Peck” and “Take Back Your Mink”). Sarah Brown or Sergeant Brown is one of the Missionaries from the ‘Save-a-Soul Mission’. She and her group canvass the streets looking for souls in need of saving. They march and pound to the drumbeat of ‘Follow the fold and stray no more” in their red Salvation Army looking outfits (Jeanne Reith).
She will end up with the coveted prize, Sky Masterson (“My Time of Day”) but doesn’t know it until after her fortuitous trip to Havana for a dinner date with Sky. Sarah is goodie two shoes and very naïve. It’s kind of like when an irresistible force meets the old immovable object …something’s gotta give”. (Jonny Mercer) She and Sky (Kelsey Venter and Brent Schindele) and Nathan and Adelaide (Spencer Rowe and Eileen Bowman) are the big love interests in the story.
The original production premiered on Broadway in 1950 and was directed by George S, Kaufman and starred the inimitable Vivian Blaine as Adelaide, the gal who suffered with a fourteen year cold (“Adelaide’s Lament”) while waiting for her man, Nathan Detroit to show up at the church to get married and give up gambling. The show ran for 1200 performances and won the Tony for Best Musical. John Chapman of the Daily News said then of the show, “The big trouble with Guys and Dolls is that a performance of it lasts only one evening, when it ought to last about a week”.
The show starts off nicely with the catchy “Fugue for Tinhorns” or better yet: “I got the horse right here, the name is Paul Revere…” and were off to the races! Nicely, Nicely Johnson (a terrific Tim Roberts), Benny Southstreet (Danny Bowman is another great character) and Rusty Charley (multitalented Victor Morris) are arguing over which horse will win at the races the following day. They crisscross with the Save-a-Soul missionaries and before we know it, Nicely and Benny meet up with Harry the Horse (Andy Collins is great here) who wants to know where the floating crap game is. (“The Oldest Established”) Juxtaposed, Lt. Brannigan (Jim Chovick), the local cop on the beat can’t wait to nail one of these petty hoodlums for playing craps. He has everyone scattering in different directions.
The next day Harry brings high roller Big Julie (John Rosen, a great looking thug, he is) in from Chicago to play craps if they can find a place. All the while Adelaide is sniffling and sneezing (“Adelaide’s Lament” -Reprise) looking for Nathan while he’s out challenging Sky to a $1000.00 bet. They need it as a security deposit on a place to have the crap game. These guys are terminally addicted to gambling and Adelaide is terminally addicted to Nathan and between the two there is some good chemistry going on. Spencer Row is convincing as the distracted Nathan forever looking for a place to have’ the game’. Bowman is a natural as the ditsy Adelaide but I still miss Blaine’s exaggeration and mutilation of the English language.
Lamb’s Players Theatre has taken a big gamble with this production. It requires a large cast and the stage at Lamb’s can barely accommodate all the actors but it does so to the tune of twenty or so performers coming, going, dancing and singing. The characters are able stay true to the spirit of the Runyonesque, shifty underworld types.
With Jon Lorenz’s musical direction and supervision along with Patrick Duffy’s sound design none of Loesser’s music suffers. Both lyrics and music are jewels and can be appreciated throughout. My only complaint is that the six-piece band on the stage, with Tom Pecham as assistant musical director, is a distraction and takes precious space away from Mike Buckley’s functional and eye pleasing set.
Colleen Kollar Smith does a fine job as choreographer especially when Sky and Sarah show up (since that $1000.00 bet with Nathan Detroit that he could get any doll to go to dinner with him) at the Havana nightclub. Sarah really lets loose after she has two or three ‘Cuban milkshakes’ or “Dulce de Leche” and things get a bit out of hand. That in turn brings the dancers on en masse doing some high-spirited mambo/ cha-cha looking numbers. (“Havana”) It also becomes the turning point in the romance between Sarah and Sky. (“I’ll Know”, “I’ve Never Been in Love Before”)
Ms. Venter’s talents never cease to amaze. Last year she was on target as the Joanna Glass character in Lamb’s excellent production of Trying . She’s a much different Sarah than usually seen, but beautifully cast with a voice to match (“If I Were a Bell”). On opening night the chemistry between Venter and Schindele was short on convincing but by now, all should be fine.
Brent Schindele is handsome enough to knock the socks off anyone, but is he gangsta material? He’s got a great voice and they make a good-looking couple. He also manages to rein in the unruly guys to pay on his marker to Sarah to fill the Mission (“Sit Down, You’re Rockin’ the Boat” is one of my all time favorites) so it can remain open by General Cartwright (Rhona Gold is priceless in this role) regardless of he low turnout. All this is true, but a gangsta? The jury is still out on that one.
One little but often left out number is the one that tugs at the heart strings, “More I Cannot Wish You” sung with absolute sincerity by Ralph Johnson as Arvide Abernathy, Sarah’s uncle and chief Drum Major representing the Save-a-Soul Missionary. When he sees her struggling with her feelings about the small time sinner, Sky he offers he some sage advise in this heartfelt number.
All in all Guys & Dolls will forever be a favorite. Lamb’s gamble paid off and the show is being extended another week as of this posting. The production can only get stronger. It has so much going for it including Mike Buckley’s three-tiered set with a stunning New York silhouette skyline. Jeanne Reith’s costumes are period perfect as usual, all the guys as well as the dolls in this production keep the sparkle and spirit of the Damon Runyon era alive in this all time musical fable. It’s more than worth a look see, it’s a must see.
See you at the theatre.
Dates: through April 1st
Organization: Lamb’s Players Theatre
Phone: 619-437-6000
Production Type: Musical
Where: 1142 Orange Ave., Coronado, CA
Ticket Prices: $26.00-$64.00
Web: lambsplayers.org
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Davis is a San Diego-based theatre critic. She may be contacted at carol.davis@sdjewishworld.com