MUSICAL THEATRE REVIEW: GUYS AND DOLLS


Pictured: Shawn Wright, Jenny L. Wright

JOHN COULBOURN, Special to TorSun
15 MAY 2013
R: 4.5/5

While fans of musical theatre might favour a nice Douglas Fir or a Scotch Pine when Christmas rolls around, chances are their evergreen of choice for the rest of the year is something like GUYS AND DOLLS.

More than 60 years after it was carved from the fanciful New York tales of Damon Runyan by collaborators Jo Swerling and Abe Burrows, who provided a wonderful, witty book, and Frank Loesser, who dreamed up gold-plated music and lyrics that turned his tunes into abiding hits, a good production of G&D still out-sparkles almost anything in the American musical theatre canon. And happily, the Shaw Festival's latest production, which opened in the Festival Theatre, under the solid direction of Tadeusz Bradecki, proves to be almost solid gold, served-up largely unadorned by modern theatrical technology as a showcase for some fine singing, smooth dancing and rock-solid acting.

Chances are, you're already familiar with the storyline — but just in case, here goes: Set in the underbelly of mid-20th century Manhattan, G&D is a double barrelled romance: The first, a long-running engagement between burlesque queen Miss Adelaide (a show-stopping Jenny L. Wright) and small-time hood, Nathan Detroit (an utterly note perfect Shawn Wright); The second, an unlikely union between the inscrutable Sky Masterson (fresh-faced Kyle Blair, fighting above his weight and landing more than a few impressive punches) and Sarah Brown (sweet-voiced Elodi Gillett), a soldier in the Salvation Army.

When a half-hearted police crackdown throws Nathan off his floating craps game, it also unleashes a series of delightful and hugely complicated plot twists that lead us through Cuba and other travails before arriving at an inevitable matrimonial conclusion as the action flows seamlessly across Peter Hartwell's simply wonderful set. Along the way, there are, of course, all those glorious songs, given new life under the strong musical direction of Paul Sportelli.

There are, mind you, a few minor weaknesses in Bradecki's otherwise masterful take on the tale, not the least of which is the fact that, while Miss Adelaide and Nathan clearly enjoy all the Wright stuff, Sky's and Sarah's romance seems fired as much by strong technique as by chemistry, but thanks to their skills, this upsets the perfect balance of the piece only minimally. And happily, with the run already extended, there's plenty of time for that chemistry to grow.