GUYS AND DOLLS
It’s a given that Guys and Dolls is one of the great musicals of all time. It may even be judged as the greatest. Imagine then this top premier league show given a massive potion of Nicholas Hytner magic. The famed director has pulled of a spectacular version of this much-loved ‘Fable of New York’. He has employed every trick of the Bridge Theatre in London to offer 150 minutes of joyous illusion. The huge galleried auditorium making a complete audience circle was excitingly decorated with bright neon signs redolent of golden age Manhattan. It was as if Tower Bridge (just outside the theatre) had been teleported with the entire audience to Brooklyn Bridge.
There was a large standing ‘pit’ packed with ticket-holding guys and dolls giving a real sense of a busy megacity. These crowds were marshalled by cops in1940s uniforms who guided the audience as a myriad of acting stages rose from beneath floor. It all looked like a Sim City being created before our eyes and as one stage descended out of site, another one fully equipped with the set of the next scene miraculously hove into place. The choreography of the many scene changes is worth the price of the ticket alone. I have never seen anything quite like it.
And so to the show itself. Set in late 1940s Broadway with characters based on the NYC humourist Damon Runyon’s quirky short stories, we are in a world of shady gamblers with great nicknames like ‘Harry the Horse’ and ‘Society Max’, comical hoods, wisecracking mobsters, flashy dancing girls (or should that be goyles?).
The plot? Mr Fixer, Nathan Detroit whose job is to find venues for illegal crap games finds that he has run out of options. ‘The things being what they are – the back of the police station is out!’ sings a rueful chorus of frustrated crapshooters. It is no dice for the dice throwers and the heat is on to find a gambling venue not to mention the encircling cops. Detroit has to find a thousand bucks by nightfall otherwise the game is off and so is his reputation. Enter top roller Sky Masterson who takes up a one thousand Gs bet from ‘Good Old Reliable Nathan, that he can’t get a certain doll to have dinner with him - in Havana. The doll in question is Sister Sarah, a straightlaced Sally Army girl who has a certain aversion to citizens who toss dice for a living. Will Sky succeed in winning this impossible bet? Add to this an hilarious subplot – Nathan has been engaged to cabaret singer Miss Adelaide for 14 years! But now the marriage chips are down – will the reluctant groom pack up his pack of lies and do the right thing by her?
The scene is set for a beautifully worked out plot, sizzling and hilarious dialogue by Abe Burrows and legendary songs (music AND lyrics) by Frank Loesser.
The great songs keep coming in this marvel of a show: ‘Sit Down You’re Rocking the Boat’, ‘Luck Be a Lady Tonight’, ‘If I Were a Bell’, ‘A Bushel and a Peck,’ and ‘I’ve Never Been in Love Before’ to name but a few. I won’t single out individual performers as this show is truly an ensemble piece. Such though is the scale of the spectacle that more intimate moments were lost – we never really understand why Sister Sarah falls madly in love with the roguish Masterson. Though they sing of ‘Chemistry, yeh Chemistry’ we don’t really get to witness the chemical reaction between them.
This is a slight criticism of another wise top notch show whose pace, plot, song and visual spectacle never cease. Among the many highlights is Miss Adelaide’s Lament as once again Nathan has ratted on his promise of marriage. Her song, ‘A Person Can Develop a Cold’ would have brought the house down only that this house was already well and truly down from the opening number - ‘Fugue for Tinhorns’, Loesser’s masterly contrapuntal trio of racing tipsters each trying to sell their own unique winner. I’m sure the audience cheers could be heard in Time Square!
It was especially satisfying to hear the largely young audience laughing out loud at Loesser’s beautifully crafted witty lyrics ‘When you see a gent / paying all kinds of rent / for a flat that would flatten the Taj Mahal…/You can bet that he’s doing it for some doll’. Arlene Phillips’ choreography (with James Cousins) also shone providing the production with megawatts of energy. All this was supported by a big, brassy band that had every toe in your foot tapping.
As if the sheer pleasure of watching Guys and Dolls weren’t enough, there was a feel of a continuous party with singers and dancers strutting their stuff in the interval and a giant dance-off involving cast and audience in and amongst the still neon-glowing set well after the show ended. One of the great musicals of all time was given one of the great productions. Guys and dolls of The Cambridge Critique, go see it!
ALL IMAGES: Manuel Harlam
https://bridgetheatre.co.uk/
