guys & dolls

    One of Broadway’s best musicals of all time is back. With a book by Jo Swerling and Abe Burrows and scored by Frank Loesser, Guys and Dolls has been a winner since its debut and through its 2600 Broadway performances in three successful runs.

    The plot is simple. Hustler Nathan Detroit is always on the run from a persistent Irish cop, Lt. Brannigan (Mark Wright), and he needs money to host a pack of gamblers in the world’s longest-running floating crap game. He makes a sucker bet with worldly gambler Sky Masterson, that Sky can’t romance the strait-laced missionary lady, Sarah Brown. Meanwhile, Detroit has his hands full trying to avoid marriage to his long time girl friend Miss Adelaide (fourteen years and counting). The play is full of colorful characters with colorful names and it truly lives up to its title “A Musical Fable of Broadway.”

    I conducted an informal survey at intermission, and I found that everyone I asked had seen this show before. So is this version any different, you ask? As many times as I have reviewed this show, I am always looking for a new twist, and I wondered what Caryl Butterley, making her directorial debut at Theatre Jacksonville, was going to bring to the table. With twenty years acting and directing in New York, Caryl knows the Big Apple backwards and forwards. Since I know you are going to see the show, look for the unique innovations that she brings to this production.

    In the Havana nightclub scene, Ms. Butterley has combined talents with Choreographer Holly Deckerhoff Manuel to make this presentation visually exciting. Using one table that is taken back and forth across the stage to give the impression of visiting many nightclubs, featured dancer Nick Sacks, Tyler Ross, Colleen Doherty and Tess Granfield whirl around Sky and Sarah on their Cuban adventure.

    In Act II, when all the gamblers come to the prayer meeting, Ms. Butterly has women in attendance. This is first time I have ever seen this, and the ladies nicely filled out the required twelve gamblers promised by Sky Masterson.

    The sweetest song in the show is ‘More I Cannot Wish You.’ The oldest man a theatre can find usually sings it in a slow, almost dreamlike manner. The forever-young- no-matter-what-his-age-may-be Karl Rogers plays Arvide Abernathy and sings the song in a very upbeat arrangement that I really enjoyed.

    David Jon Davis has enormous energy and a wonderful voice as Nicely Johnson, and he opens the show musically with Benny Southstreet (Kevin Jaeger) and Harry the Horse (Ruthven Darragh) with ‘Fugue for Tinhorns.’

    My favorite character was Big Julie, the bad mobster from Chicago. Picture a cross between Robert De Niro and Anthony Quinn dressed in a dazzling white zoot suit and you have Jeremie Cook (a very scary guy).

    Jennifer Thomas Medure, as Sarah Brown, is back on TJ’s stage after a five-year absence. She has been off training her lovely voice at the Boston Conservatory of Music, and she must have made the honor roll, since she sings wonderfully.

    Storm Browne is a University of Florida student making his debut at TJ as Sky Masterson. This role is usually played as a very slick, fast-talking con-man character, but Mr. Browne’s spin on Sky is a boyish charm with nothing sleazy about him. He really comes into his own vocally with ‘Luck Be a Lady.’

    Daniel Owen Dungan nails the part of Nathan Detroit to a T. Dungan is so good with physical comedy, he says volumes with his eyes and facial expressions. This, coupled with his great comic timing, makes him a winner, no matter how badly he throws dice.

    Laura Crolla as Miss Adelaide is a law student who hopes to be a Public Defender in the future. When she sings the song ‘Sue Me,’ she seems to give it that extra push. Laura can belt out a song, and you will be glad she has a lot of them to sing. She and Nathan match perfectly like ‘A Bushel and a Peck.’

    Costumer Joy Smith is back on staff and hasn’t lost a step in her costume creations. I loved the bright red dresses of the Hot Box Girls in ‘Take Back Your Mink.’

    The dynamic duo of Jeff Wagoner (Technical Director/Lighting Designer) and Kelly Wagoner (Scenic Design) are once again at the top of their game, giving audiences sets that suit the action and are pleasing to experience. In this case, because Guys and Dolls can be a long show, the settings are built for swift changes. Example: the Hot Box Club is a painted flat that slides out in front of the New York skyline in a split-second. Add a single table and chairs and that is it! The mission headquarters consists of two flats that slide together in less than a minute. The result is a fast-paced show.

    Musical Director Dale Choate leads a wonderful orchestra that never overpowers the singers and plays to perfection.

    This is a largely young cast with lots of new talent on the Theatre Jacksonville stage for the first time. They love what they are doing and you will love watching them. The show closes June 23. Call 398-4526 for information and to make your reservation.