Mr Pickford's Review of Guys and Dolls

I wouldn't normally publish a review from somebody else on here, but I'll make an exception this week.

First up, and as published in yesterday's Sun-Herald.


Guys and Dolls
Capitol Theatre
Until 31 May
Tickets $70-$130
Bookings 1300 723 038
Critic’s Rating 7/10


Guys and Dolls is such a big and brash Broadway musical it’s really hard to go wrong. It is New York in the 1950s with stories of gangsters, illegal crap games, a Salvation Army band and nightlife in the city that never sleeps.

So famous is the story of Nathan Detroit, Sky Masterson, Sara Brown and Miss Adelaide that some people in the opening night audience were dressed to the nines with fedoras, pinstripes and two tone shoes.

As a musical, Guys and Dolls has all the right ingredients; love, conflict, comedy and songs that soar. It’s the classic boy-meets-girl story, but there are two love stories linked. There’s the gambler and his pursuit of the Salvation Army doll and there’s the hapless crap game organiser and his loved up dancer fiancee.

This version, first produced in 2005 by the British-based Donmar Warehouse, is sharp and quick, elevating the dialogue and characters and removing the traditional reliance on big ensemble numbers.

Every piece of interaction between the characters is magnified so that when the big numbers do happen, they knock your socks off.

The set and staging are kept minimal, with a few relatively simple backdrops that recall the intimate and rustic Donmar Warehouse space in London, never drawing attention away from the action which is happening on stage.

This Australian production injects a bit too much star power to its line-up. Although Lisa McCune, Marina Prior, Ian Stenlake, Garry McDonald, Shane Jacobson and Magda Szubanski all strut their stuff expertly, many of them are miscast.

McDonald seemed too old for the role of Detroit, while Prior was competant but lacked the youthful effervescence of a showgirl.

Szubanski, despite her considerable skill, just didn't have the presence as a big-gun gangster from Chicago.

McCune, however, was clearly multi-talented with a beautiful voice. Stenlake and McCune have a great range and both gave a fabulous performance.

It helps that with songs like Luck Be A Lady, Take Back Your Mink and Bushel and a Peck you can’t but help but be captured by this pure Broadway musical.

The chorus line is remarkably small for such a big musical and the real stars of this production are the minor characters and the ensemble of dancers who drench the stage in energy and skill.

The direction by Michael Grandage and choreography by Rob Ashford seamlessly travels from big powerful numbers such as Havana to the more touching and subtle moments of dialogue.

The most elegant scene is between Salvation Army doll Sarah (Lisa McCune) and her uncle Arvide Abernathy (Russell Newman) during More I Cannot Wish You and the show-stopper is the brilliantly executed Sit Down You’re Rockin’ the Boat.



Post script: The Donmar did not stage Guys and Dolls in the warehouse space, it was in the Piccadilly Theatre.