Review: GUYS AND DOLLS Resurrects the Golden Age at Benedum Center

A favorite discussion of mine with other theatre nerds is, "when does Guys and Dolls take place?" Sure, nominally it says "1950" on the libretto, but that's a canard. People are flying to Havana for drinks and dancing. Prohibition appears to be on. The Salvation Army is conducting street-corner lectures on teetotalism. Hell, Al Capone (but they can't say his name, so Big Jule) is still king of East Cicero, Illinois. Basically, we exist somewhere within the golden era of Old New York's underbelly, circa 1920-1950, everything, everywhere, all at once. It's a fun world to immerse yourself in, which is part of the reason Guys and Dolls has been a perennial ever since it was released. It's been revived over and over. It's had a film version, an all-black version, a disco version, and is currently running in London in an immersive version. Guys and Dolls, unlike its time period, never gets old or goes out of style. While this production by director Darren Lee and choreographer Mark Esposito may lean more traditionalist than revelatory, that's not a bad way to go with a classic like this. 

Guys and Dolls borders on being plotless, and is more like a series of thin sitcom storylines to tie together a group of colorful characters and great songs. Between that and the bright, colorful and gaudy costumes by Costume World Theatrical (dig those Zoot suits and pinup looks), it's about as close as you can come to a live-action Looney Tunes onstage. Gambler and womanizer Sky Masterson (Jeff Kready) makes a bet that he can seduce upright and uptight Salvation Army missionary Sarah Brown (Nikki Renée Daniels). Minor gangland figure Nathan Detroit (Matthew Saldívar) tries to convince his lifelong fiancee Miss Adelaide (Lesli Margherita) that he's gone straight and no longer runs illegal gambling dens. MAJOR gangland figure Big Jule (Herschel Sparber), has hit the town and wants to shoot craps or shoot welchers, and Lieutenant Brannigan (Richard McBride), who is only semi-crooked and thus a foe to all gangsters and gamblers, is out to catch a crook any way he can. Plus, Nicely-Nicely Johnson (John Treacy Egan) just wants some groceries.

Our Broadway guest stars are fantastic as always. Matthew Saldívar's Nathan Detroit isn't as gruff and petulant as many we've seen; he's a softer, gentler, schmuck of a gangster. It makes you want to root for him even more than you usually do when Saldívar sings "Sue Me" to Adelaide. And of course, what an Adelaide. Broadway star Lesli Margherita, better known by her online sobriquet Queen Lesli, has perfectly-regulated comic timing, and shows off her extremely versatile vocal chops during a sequence in which Adelaide impersonates multiple people in the same conversation. The "straight" couple (as opposed to the "comic" couple; there's no gay couple in the show, though some people have long wondered about Benny Southstreet and Nicely-Nicely Johnson) have less laughs but more songs. Jeff Kready's Sky Masterson is smooth, suave, athletic and unflappably cool. When he plays the role, you can see at once why Frank Sinatra and the Rat Pack reinvented their midcentury identities around this show's image of machismo. Playing his foil Sarah, Nikki Renée Daniels switches effortlessly between the faches of her legit and cotemporary vocal ranges, as Sarah softens up and finds her earthy and spiritual sides at odds.

I feel it is my duty to also salute the CLO orchestra, a full 21-piece pit band with horns, strings and all the trimmings. Even on Broadway, you don't hear that level of opulence often, and they sound like a dream playing the slightly gussied-up Danny Troob orchestrations. The team of Tony Walton and Bryce Cutler on set and projection designs respectively once again continue CLO's tradition of almost seamless blending of digital and physical set pieces. I can't think of a better, classier, more swinging evening of high and low comedy delights than this production of Guys and Dolls, or of a company I'd trust to produce it more than CLO.

The cast is enormous, and serves as a Pittsburgh CLO who's who; you can glance into the voluminous ensemble and say "hey, that's Allan Snyder, Brady D. Patsy, Alex Manalo!" A few Pittsburgh faces get more substantial roles, such as Jeffrey Howell as missionary Arvide, Christine Laitta as General Cartwright, and Michael Greer in a dual role as a mobbed-up garage owner and a sozzled Times Square drunk. Also, you simply do not do Guys and Dolls in Pittsburgh without casting J. Alex Noble in his perennial role as mob enforcer Harry the Horse. From the minute he bursts onto the stage, pumping his arms as he walks like a midcentury cartoon character, Noble's Harry (one of the few gangsters in the show that we actually see in connection to committing crimes) epitomizes the Looney Tunes energy of the piece.

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