Guys and Dolls at The Erie Playhouse
A Theater Review
“Guys and Dolls” is at the Erie Playhouse!
What more can you say?
Considered by many to be the quintessential Broadway musical comedy, the current production delivers on all the promises that the original show delivered.
“Guys and Dolls” debuted in 1950 with music and lyrics by Frank Loesser, the book by Jo Swerling and Abe Burrows, based upon a story and additional characters by Damon Runyon.
Presenting the tale of 1950’s-era lovable ne’er-do-well gamblers, gangsters and gals, “Guys” tells the story of Nathan Detroit (Ken Falkenhagen) who sponsors “floating” crap games around New York City to avoid police arrest. Low on dough to get a new site, he makes a bet with perpetual gambler Sky Masterson (Jason Lawergren): If Sky can’t get soul saver Sarah Brown (Rachel Freenock) to visit Cuba with him, Nathan will win a thousand dollars and be able to host his next event.
But as with most musicals, love complicates all.
Nate’s long-suffering fiancee’ of 14 years Miss Adelaide (Leah Johnson) is growing impatient for him to set a wedding date; Sarah complicates things by falling in love with Sky in Cuba.
Should the women gamble and stay with these men?
Directed and choreographed by Almitra Clerkin, the production speeds along with classic tunes from the Great American Songbook. Performed live by conductor Devon Yates and the orchestra, there’s “A Bushel and a Peck,” “If I Were a Bell,” and “Sit Down You’re Rockin’ the Boat,” well performed by Nicely-Nicely Johnson (Joel Natalie, Sr.) and the ensemble that was for this gal, the showstopper song.
But then again, who could leave the Playhouse and not be humming “Luck Be a Lady?”
Kudos to costume designer Ryan Ingram for creating the garish, far-out retina-burning garments that the gamblers, goons and gangsters wear. From Nathan’s striped purple suit (replete with purple shoes!), Nicely-Nicely’s radiant white-yellow-black-blue checkered duds to Big Jule’s (Jerry Gill) any-more-red-and-it’d-be-on-fire threads, the attire worn entertained the eyes almost as much as the actors.
Speaking of performances, the entire cast—from the Hot Box Girls to the Havana Dancers to the Save-A-Soul missionaries to the secondary and tertiary gamblers—all put their best dancing feet forward for the show I attended. And special kudos to Gill’s gangster Big Jule, who got a laugh anytime he opened his mouth and just wanted to shoot “crap!”
Of course the guys and dolls who made “Guys and Dolls” so watchable were the lead performers. Falkenhagen’s comedic down-on-his-luck in love and loot Nathan Detroit, kept the audience laughing during his travails; Johnson’s cutesy-ditzy Miss Adelaide, his love interest, together are a match made in…Manhattan?
Yet the real story is the love-found/love-lost/love-found again story between Lawergren’s Sky Masterson and Freenock’s Sarah Brown. Their musical duets on “I’ll Know” and “I’ve Never Been in Love Before” rise above the crap-shooting hijinks storyline and elevates the musical beyond its rightful perch as a classic theatrical comedy to a tender, sometime bittersweet love story.
Great songs, great characters, two love stories that (spoiler alert!) end well, roll the dice and see “Guys and Dolls” while it’s still here.
It’s not a gamble. It’s a sure thing.
See you in the balcony!
XOXO!
***Thea Tah
Guys and Dolls runs through June 30. Tickets can be purchased at erieplayhouse.org, or by calling (814) 454-2852.
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