THE TRANSATLANTIC MAGAZINE
THE TRANSATLANTIC MAGAZINE
Guys & Dolls has often been called the perfect musical, because it is, and though first produced in 1950, it always seems fresh. Damon Runyon’s tales about gamblers and the unfortunate women who try to domesticate them might be set in 1940s Times Square, but it always rings true because it presents universal truths about life and love and it delivers it with a glorious sardonic wit.
Could there be a better opening number than the trio ‘A Fugue for Tinhorns’ (“I got the horse right here...”), or funnier pastiche nightclub numbers than ‘A Bushel and Peck’ or ‘Take Back Your Mink’ and, as this production proves, there is no better just-fallen-in-love song than ‘If I Were a Bell’? Here, the poised, elegant, Celinde Schoenmaker plays Sally Army missionary Sarah Brown and we watch as she swings from a lamppost on a sultry night in Havana after her heart has been melted. The cause of this is the dashing Sky Masterson, who has flown her there for dinner on a bet. He’s played by a relative newcomer, and an American, Andrew Richardson, and it’s a fantastic pairing, as not only do they both have the glamorous looks but they’re blessed with pristine voices. She’s a West End veteran now and he’s got that honeyed crooner style of a Harry Connick Jr.
For his first musical at The Bridge (which he runs) Nicholas Hytner has opted for an evergreen classic and he’s got two big things right – it’s vocally unsurpassed and he’s given it a brash sexiness, which is new. It helps to dispel any cobwebs of heritage musical, making it seem modern without undermining the period setting. Bunny Christie and Deborah Andrews’ costumes are exquisite and for the nightclub acts they present more of a Crazy Horse Paris vibe than a demure but witty 1940s cabaret. One almost veers into S&M territory and the other has enough silver sequins to make Halston blush. Sky and Sarah also appear to end up in a gay salsa club in Havana, which is fresh (as are the gogo boys!). Arlene Phillips and James Cousins’ choreography is pure showbiz, and they know how to steadily build a number to a climax that finally hits you between the eyes.
Another big decision is the immersive staging. All seats are removed from the stalls, which is transformed into a New York street, where the audience proms and scenes play out on raised platforms. Apart from giving the nightclub scenes a bit more life (which you’d get in the round in any case) it doesn’t add much and indeed often distracts, as you lose focus while being constantly shuffled out of the way by stage crew delivering props or staging. This is the third time they’ve done it at the Bridge and as they might say in Noo Yawk “Enough already with da immersive”.
The central couple couldn’t be more perfect. Marisha Wallace, (so brilliant in her Oliver nominated role in Oklahoma!) is vocally ravishing, a ‘soul sister does Broadway’, and that could have been enough, but she brings so much more. She carefully avoids the pitfall of making Miss Adelaide a figure of fun, instead lending her a big-hearted cleverness to counter the vivacity. That consummate all-rounder Daniel Mays has the comic timing perfect for Nathan Detroit, as you’d expect, but he anchors him as a decent, hapless, guy with some simple but effective touches.
The show has one part, Nicely Nicely Johnson, which is the envy of all supporting actors, because you get to deliver the number which cannot but fail to bring the house down every night. Here, Cedric Neal, expertly hits the great gospel infused anthem ‘Sit Down, You’re Rockin’ the Boat’, out of the ballpark. As often happens then, the MD (here Tom Brady and his ace band), has to relent, and give us one more encore. And the show hasn’t even finished.
Hytner has fashioned a wonderfully polished gem here and his expert hand is obvious in so many of the details. It deserves to be a huge hit.
The vocally ravishing Marisha Wallace is interviewed in The American magazine. GET YOUR COPY HERE.
