Lady Luck Smiles on Ogunquit 'GUYS & DOLLS'

"Guys and Dolls"

Based on a story and characters of Damon Runyon; music and lyrics by Frank Loesser; book by Jo Swerling and Abe Burrows; directed by Steven Beckler; choreographer, Mark Esposito; musical director, Ken Clifton; scenery designed by Tony Walton, owned by Pittsburgh CLO; costumes based on the designs by William Ivey Long, provided by Costume World Theatrical; lighting design by Richard Latta; sound design by Adam Rigby; hair design by Corey Martin; production stage manager, Michael J. Stein

Cast in order of appearance:

Nicely Nicely Johnson, Blake Hammond; Benny Southstreet, James Patterson; Rustie Charlie, Kent Zimmerman; Sarah Brown, Glory Crampton; Arvide Abernathy, John Little; Agatha, Kerry Schneider; Calvin, Christopher Noffke; Martha, Afton Quast; Harry the Horse, Matt Jones; Lt. Brannigan, Joe Gately; Nathan Detroit, Richard Kind; Miss Adelaide, Liz Larsen; Sky Masterson, Christian Hoff; Joey Biltmore, Joe Gately; Hot Box MC, Jim Becker; Mimi, Mahri Relin; General Matilda B. Cartwright, Linda Cameron; Big Jule, Sal Mistretta

Performances: Now through August 8, Ogunquit Playhouse, 101 Main Street, Ogunquit, Maine; Tuesday through Friday, 8 p.m., Saturday 8:30 p.m., Wednesday and Thursday, 2:30 p.m., Saturday 3:30 p.m., and Sunday 2 p.m.

Tickets: Prices range from $41 to $60 and are available at the Box Office, by calling 207-646-5511 or online at www.ogunquitplayhouse.org

If it ain't broke, don't fix it. These are words the Ogunquit Playhouse has obviously chosen to live by in staging its delightfully earnest re-creation of the 1992 Tony Award-winning revival of the classic American musical Guys and Dolls. Unlike the much-maligned - and short-lived - Broadway version that Des McAnuff helmed this past spring, the Ogunquit production wisely relies on good old-fashioned faith in the material to elicit refreshingly original performances that crackle and shine.

Directed by Steven Beckler, the 1992 production supervisor under Tony Award winner Jerry Zaks, this Guys and Dolls bursts with color and light, energetically bringing to life Damon Runyon's fabled Times Square denizens - gamblers, chorus girls, mobsters and evangelists - all exquisitely coiffed and costumed in circa 1950 fantasy comic book style. Brawny guys' guys spew Swerling and Burrows' faux-elegant low-brow vernacular with a natural ease and, along with their various dolls and the sincere missionaries who are doggedly out to save their souls, strike a perfect balance between exaggerated cartoon caricature stereotypes and the living, breathing imperfect people whose hearts all yearn for something bigger underneath.

In the lead roles, a quartet of bona fide Broadway theater professionals merrily work their way through the show's animated book and beautifully interwoven jazz-inflected score. Richard Kind of TV's Spin City and Mad About You is a thoroughly endearing Nathan Detroit, the hangdog "entrepreneur" who tries desperately to keep his long-suffering fiancée of 14 years Miss Adelaide (the fabulous Liz Larsen) at bay while coming up with the bankroll and the hideaway to operate his "oldest established permanent floating crap game in New York." His $1000 bet with the suave tough-guy Sky Masterson (a rather bland Christian Hoff who won a Tony Award for his work as bad boy Tommy DeVito in Jersey Boys) sets in motion Sky's rakish attempt to charm the buttoned up missionary Sarah Brown (a lovely and spunky Glory Crampton) into traveling to Havana with him for dinner. A few broken promises and a number of dulce de leches later, and love proves to be a stronger addiction than either vice or virtue - for either couple.

Frank Loesser's intoxicating character-driven score filled with unforgettable words and music sounds fresh and new here, delivered with truth, vim and vigor by a vocally gifted cast that, for the most part, is perfectly suited to their roles. Music director Ken Clifton's swinging seven-piece orchestra also effortlessly shifts from the smooth romantic tones of Loesser's love ballads to the pulsating masculine rhythms that spring from the underbelly of a bygone Broadway and 42nd Street. The richly harmonic gambler's hymn "The Oldest Established" and the rollicking revivalist gospel "Sit Down, You're Rockin' the Boat" articulate the sublime paradox of gambling as religion magnificently.

Blake Hammond as moon-faced Nicely Nicely Johnson and James Patterson as square-jawed Benny Southstreet set a "can do" attitude for Guys and Dolls right from their opening "Fugue for Tinhorns." More enamored with the spots on a pair of dice than the freckles on some doll's cheeks, they serve as comical commentators on the love struck shenanigans of their underworld idols. Their rendition of the title song as a "better you than me" male buddy anthem firmly establishes them as happily unattached sworn bachelors.

Anguished yet amiable Nathan Detroit is anything but happily unattached. A marriage phobic who on the one hand fears that he can't live permanently with Adelaide but proves on the other that - year after year of beleaguered engagement - he can't live easily without her, he is the fidgety and bemused center of this cockeyed universe trying to keep both romantic and "business" spheres spinning peaceably in parallel orbit. Kind as Nathan is lovably infuriating, as irresistible as an excitable untrained pup. When he lies almost pathologically to his hopelessly smitten chorus doll, you want to smack him on the nose with a newspaper. When he cuddles and coos ruefully in "Sue Me" and puts his massively sincere heart on his conniving crap game promoter's pinstriped sleeve, you are as prone to melt in his arms as Miss Adelaide. Funny and warm, Kind is a wonderfully appealing Nathan. His love-hate chemistry with Larsen positively sparkles.

As the emotionally addled Adelaide whose years of unrewarded devotion have manifested themselves in cold-like "psychosomatic symptoms," Larsen is purely delicious. A little world weary but, despite her repeated disappointments, still a lot in love, Larsen shines a bright light under her sweetly naïve "bushel and a peck." Her Adelaide Wisely underplays the dumb blonde squeak-speak to reveal a smarter than expected nightclub showgirl whose self-esteem, sincerity and depth make her steadfastness to Nathan that much more affecting. Her "Adelaide's Lament" is a revelation. Her first rendition shows a growing understanding of her lovelorn plight as she recognizes in the pages of her psychology text her constant sneezing as a symptom of her repressed emotions. With every new realization showing spontaneously on her comically expressive face, Larsen's confidence and determination build until finally, at the top of Act II, she channels her own personal disgust with men into a hilarious and almost feminist strip tease "Take Back Your Mink." She follows this with a heartbreaking reprise of her lament, her sniffles now a product of genuine sadness instead of her previously sublimated tears.

The secondary couple of Sky and Sarah don't ignite quite the same shimmering spark as Kind and Larsen do, partly because they are the less colorful romantic leads but also because Hoff lacks the essential manly charisma to break down Crampton's self-righteous defenses. Adopting James Cagney-like mannerisms and sounding as if he's still a small-time hood from the streets of "Joisey," Hoff comes across as a too-modern little boy playing dress up in his grandfather's clothing. In his big scenes when he's charged with commanding respect from his fellow gamblers, he is unconvincing. It's hard to imagine a mob boss like Big Jule (the ample Sal Mistretta) ever being coerced into attending a revival meeting by this fresh-faced young whippersnapper.

Hoff also seems uncomfortable in his musical numbers. Off-key much of the time, he is flat where he should be warm and sexy and small where he should be full of bravado. He is a complete vocal mismatch with the glorious Glory Crampton in the lovely ballads "I'll Know" and "I've Never Been in Love Before," and he is all but relegated to the background in what should be his sizzling showstopper "Luck Be a Lady." Fortunately the male ensemble is chock full of masculine, muscular dancers who make "Lady" and "The Crapshooter's Dance" breathtakingly athletic production numbers.

Fortunately, too, that Crampton is an adorably uptight evangelist with an angelic voice and a glowing charm. She shows the womanly layers beneath the crisply uniformed savior and adds just the right dash of simmering sensuality to her straight-laced virginal goodness. She brings a deft comic touch and limber dancing skills to the jazz-laced tango "Havana," and when much too much Bacardi loosens her inhibitions in "If I Were a Bell" she joyously embraces her newfound longings without seeming overly intoxicated.

Guys and Dolls is a beautifully conceived Broadway musical chock full of scene and song highlights - and this Ogunquit production nails every single one of them. Pitch perfect Irish tenor John Little as Sarah's surrogate missionary father Arvide Abernathy sings a gorgeous and tender "More I Cannot Wish You" when encouraging her to follow her heart instead of the religious fold. Larsen and Crampton commiserate shrewdly in "Marry the Man Today" while Kind and Hoff pantomime the ladies' tantalizing lyrical fantasies. And what would Guys and Dolls be without the hand-clapping joy-making celebration "Sit Down, You're Rockin' the Boat," the rousing 11 o'clock number that could make a saint out of any sinner? Blake Hammond as Nicely Nicely Johnson doesn't disappoint, leading the exuberant and blissfully harmonic ensemble in a chorus of vibrant halleluiahs that would right any sinking ship.

Original Broadway scenery and costumes by Tony Walton and William Ivey Long brighten but never overwhelm the characters, fixing them in a Technicolor fantasy world above and below the streets of a pre-computerized, pre-synthesized New York. The palette changes to one of summer white, ivory, beige and bronze when the scene shifts to tropical Havana. Sets move fluidly on and off and lights change imperceptibly to keep the show's pace snappy and smooth. Sound is amplified but well balanced, body mikes planted discreetly beneath wigs and wide brimmed chapeaus.

Guys and Dolls continues at the Ogunquit Playhouse through August 8. If you missed the recent Broadway revival, don't despair. You still have time to catch the marvelous Tony Award-winning 1992 version in a charming 77-year-old summer playhouse conveniently situated along the scenic Maine coast.

PHOTOS: Richard Kind as Nathan Detroit, Liz Larsen as Miss Adelaide, Christian Hoff as Sky Masterson and Glory Crampton as Sarah Brown; Richard Kind and Liz Larsen; Christian Hoff and company; Blake Hammond as Nicely Nicely Johnson and company

 

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