'Guys & Dolls' Still The Best Musical of All Time
PITTSFIELD, Mass. — This is the one, the classic that Barrington Stage Company was born to do. "Guys and Dolls" succeeds where musicals and plays about nobler characters fall short. This down-to-earth show was first penned in 1950 and took Broadway by storm. Its magical ingredients are the perfect concoction of words, music, dance and story. It all begins with a bet, and from there on we are off to the races, so to speak.The show focuses on a quartet of characters. Nathan Detroit (Michael Thomas Holmes) is trying to stay a step ahead of the police and find a place to hold his craps game. He needs front money and bets another gambler, Sky Masterson (Matthew Risch), that he can't persuade Save-A-Soul missionary sister Sarah Brown (Morgan James) to go with him to Cuba. Meanwhile, Nathan is doing his best to stay outside the matrimonial clutches of his long-suffering fiancée, Miss Adelaide (Leslie Kritzer).
The creators of Guys and Dolls — Frank Loesser (music and lyrics) and Jo Swerling and Abe Burrows (book) — called the show a "Fable of Broadway" and its recreation of life on the street is naive, impulsive, self-centered, and lively. Gamblers and gangsters mix it up with molls and missionaries, propelled along by one of the sprightliest musical scores ever written.The large production includes a cast of 24 (16 equity). Only BSC's "West Side Story" had more at 25. Nine wonderful musicians were in the pit led by Darren Cohen. This has to be the best sounding orchestra ever assembled for a BSC production. Rich in brass, the players were top-notch with nary a "plotch" or "bleep" to be heard all evening long.
Alexander Dodge went all out designing the sets, with backlit skyscrapers climbing the proscenium even before the show began. They overflowed the stage yet left plenty of room for the dancing, the chases and the crowd scenes. Alejo Vietti designed the costumes with both cleverness and restraint. Less-assured designers often portray the gamblers and gangsters in cartoonish outfits, but not Vietti. There is a authentic period feel to his creations — enough so that it would make people stop and stare. But they were not so over-the-top that they would call the police. His designs were in service to the story. He managed to make the Hot Box dancers look like sexpots, but not quite floozies.
Rui Rita's lighting was, um, spot on, and subtle enough that it did not draw attention to itself. Too bad the same could not be said for the sound, which had far too much amplification, a constant tendency at BSC. As the show progressed it seemed to restrain itself more. I no longer have the acute hearing of my youth, so I suppose they are compensating for people with even more hearing loss than this writer. But if someone is cranking it up because they think louder makes it better, they are quite mistaken. All it does is introduce distortion into the natural sound, making it off-putting to careful listeners.
But that is the only nit I can find to pick. Everyone on stage was totally brilliant, playing their roles with gusto, and enjoying themselves immensely. As a result, the audience was totally smitten, too.
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The work of choreographers is a major component of any musical's success, and Joshua Bergasse deserves applause for his brilliant work, and for sticking close to the conventions of the era from which this musical comes. He did not have a large contingent of dancers to work with, just five women and six men, plus a cast willing to try anything. So he supplemented the dancing with gorgeous costumes and large movements, easily filling the stage with color and motion. Bergasse had many surprises in the first act, but he saved his most spectacular effects for the second act as the show built to a climax.
Although this is the first Barrington Stage production led by director John Rando, he is no stranger to the Berkshires or Broadway. BSC Artistic Director Julianne Boyd has a knack for engaging great directors, and she hit the jackpot with Rando. While comedy is his forte, it is clear that musicals are his gift. Guys and Dolls was polished to a fine classic glow, yet this production also displayed a few subtle innovations, making it fresh and new at the same time.
One novelty was the cinematic touch of the curtain rising earlier than usual during the overture, revealing the denizens of New York. It included a wild police chase that screamed on and off the stage in lightning segments. One of the dancers, dressing "en travesty" played a little old lady who kept getting bowled over. Hilarious.
In a show that has no dull moments and so many juicy parts, Rando found a way to pace it so that it was able to build a relationship with the audience over its two acts. As an inveterate audience watcher, I could see and hear the magic of theater happen. Song by song, scene by scene, the applause following each section got louder and longer. The twitching, scratching, and seat wriggling ground to a halt and by the middle of the second act the entire audience, as they say, was "in the palm of their hands."
The standing ovation at the end was spontaneous, lengthy and deserved. The audience had "paid their money and taken their chances" and not only got everything they expected, but much more.
What I find amazing about the work of Barrington Stage Company and our other professional Berkshire theater companies is how resourceful, even frugal, they have to be to pull these big shows off. "Guys and Dolls" was budgeted at $300,000 for its one-month run, which seems like a lot of money until you consider that "Spider-Man" on Broadway is now up to $75 million in cost.I think this show is far better. Spidey may fly around a mammoth theater, but at Barrington Stage the dancers are doing backflips in synch with the music. It's even more spectacular and just as dangerous.
So you have read one critic's opinion, but you don't have to take my word for it. See it for yourself and afterwards please leave your own thoughts in the comments section below. Better yet, try out the new BSC iCritic Booth in the lobby where you can record your own review of "Guys and Dolls" for YouTube. After all, this is the musical most of us rate as the best ever. In this fabulous production you can't go wrong recommending it to everyone you know.
Larry Murray is a contributor to iBerkshires.com and offers reviews and arts news from around the region at Berkshire On Stage.
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