Review by Greggory Moore
The sum total of my childhood exposure to traditional Broadway musicals was the film Grease and my mom’s incessant playing of the original cast recording of A Chorus Line. So, when I get out to Musical Theatre West, I’m usually in the strange position of reviewing a show I’ve barely heard of, but that is likely to be well familiar to the vast majority of people reading my words.
Guys and Dolls fits the bill in spades. It won the 1951 Tony and Pulitzer Prize, it was a major motion picture in 1955 and this is the second time Musical Theatre West has done it this millennium. Nonetheless, unless you count the Frank Sinatra big band version of Luck Be a Lady Tonight, it’s all new to me.
For anyone who might be in my boat, a quick synopsis. In the heart of New York City, “the devil’s own city on the devil’s own street,” sin (more venial than venal) is everywhere, but the Save-A-Soul Mission outpost led by Sarah Brown (Madison Claire Parks) does not seem to be snatching anyone out of the jaws of perdition. That certainly includes Nathan Detroit (Matthew Henerson), longtime proprietor of “the oldest established floating crap game in New York.” Nathan’s got a problem of his own: crime boss Big Jule (Phil Nieto) is in town from Chicago expressly to “shoot crap,” and the only venue Nathan can lock down requires a $1,000 deposit that Nathan just don’t have. Lucky for him high-roller Sky Masterson (Jeremiah James) is passing through, and Sky likes the action so much that surely Nathan can sucker him into a bet that will produce the dough. But the show’s called “Guys and Dolls,” so it’s romance—the long-term engagement between Nathan and Adelaide (Bree Murphy) and the unexpected thunderbolt striking Sky and Sarah—that creates the twists and turns leading to exactly the place you knew you were going all along. “Call it sad, call it funny, but it’s better than even money,” goes the title song (chock full of droll gambling references), “that the guy’s only doing it for some doll.”
From the opening scene-setting pantomime, Musical Theatre West produces Guys and Dolls with more than enough hustle and bustle. There’s nothing bad about this production, but nothing better than Mark Martino’s direction and Daniel Smith’s choreography. During the songs there doesn’t seem to be a step or a gesture not tuned to the musical moment, and blocking during dialog is no less fine. A highlight among highlights comes during Sit Down, You’re Rockin’ the Boat, where Martino and Smith are able to massage a static set-up of four rows of seated cast members behind soloist Nicely-Nicely Johnson (robustly played by Andrew Metzger) until it bursts with energy.
Because the show’s movement element is so strong—and because this isn’t the kind of music I’m listening to at home—perhaps my favorite bits were not the songs but instrumental portions featuring the entire ensemble gallivanting all over the stage, such as when Sky and Sarah get to Havana. For me, this is the unique magic of musical theatre, and Musical Theatre West has the mojo.
But to be sure, they also have the singers they need. Parks’ operatic soprano rings out like the bell Sarah sings about being, Murphy perfectly blends her vocal ability with the cutesy caricature that is Adelaide, and James is so strong that it’s startling to hear his singing voice emerge for the first time from on the heels of Sky’s smoothly charismatic palaver.
The production’s mise en scène is no less strong. Tamara Becker’s dazzling costumery doesn’t miss a stitch, Paul Black’s lighting captures colors and casts shadows just where it needs to and Musical Theatre West’s simple yet sweeping backgrounds bring the audience inside this cartoonish universe. A perfect conflation of these elements comes when Nathan’s crap game floats from the streets down into the sewers, where in little more than an eyeblink the neon lights of Broadway give way to a subterranean cavern.
If the production has a weakness, it’s that occasionally the ensemble vocals don’t fit together perfectly. I don’t know whether that’s the singing itself (there are a helluva lot of harmonies in there) or a technical issue (that’s a helluva lot of lavalier microphones to coordinate), but tweaking the overall equalization (a tad less treble, a bit more midrange) might help mesh the vocals with the music (flawlessly rendered by an orchestra under the direction of Benet Braun).
That’s about as negative as I can get. Guys and Dolls isn’t the kind of show that’s going to change your life, but if you’re in the mood for the glitzy bubblegum fun that this kind of musical can offer, you can’t do much better than this.
Time:Thursday and Friday 8 p.m. Sat 2 and 8 p.m., Sunday 1 p.m. (and 6 p.m. 2/25)
Cost: $20–$92 Through March 4
Details: 562.856-1999 ext. 4, www.musical.org
Venue: Musical Theater West at The Carpenter performing Arts Center