BWW Reviews: Shaw Festival's GUYS AND DOLLS Has Moments that Sparkle

Near the end of the Shaw Festival's production of GUYS AND DOLLS Thom Allison playing Nicely-Nicely Johnson launches into the show's famous eleven O'clock number "Sit Down You're Rocking the Boat." As he leads the ensemble into the show stopping routine there is an air of inevitability about it. When you have an amazing singer like Allison in the cast you must give him a moment where he can raise the roof.

And raise it he does, ensuring this slick production lands clearly in the "hit" column. Yet it isn't the most fully realized production of this classic musical comedy by Abe Burrows, Jo Swerling and Frank Loesser.

The set, designed by Peter Hartwell doesn't quite recall Damon Runyon's Broadway, but he has found ingenious ways to take us along the street, into the mission house, down below to the sewers of New York and even off to Havana for a brief sequence. A slight art-deco touch does suggest the time period but the basic backdrop is all black and silver with no sign of the neon lights that flood the rain-washed pavement that gambler Sky Masterson so lovingly sings of.

Director Tadeusz Bradecki shows a masterful understanding of how this repertoire needs to play. He keeps the pacing tight and the performers firmly rooted in their Runyonesque characters. Working with choreographer Parker Esse, the mood is set with the opening Runyonland ballet, after which introduces three of the gamblers who strike up the unusual opening number "Fugue for Tinhorns." Here, Allison along with Billy Lake and Kelly Wong master composer Frank Loesser's intricate three-part counterpoint with tremendous dexterity. The three are so good together that audience members could be forgiven for hoping these three will be the main characters in our story. Of course, they are not: The story revolves around gambler guys Sky Masterson and Nathan Detroit and their dolls, Sarah Brown (of the Save-a-Soul Mission) and Miss Adelaide (of the Hot Box night club.) It is here where the balance of the production goes a bit askew. Shawn Wright and Jenny L. Wright have such obvious fun as Nathan and Adelaide that it seems as if the roles were written with these two performers in mind.

Jenny L.Wright delivers "Adelaide's Lament" making every line of this well-loved showpiece appear freshly minted. For his part, Shawn Wright keeps pace with her in their second-act argument duet "Sue Me." For a leading male role, he doesn't get a lot else to sing. There's a story behind this. The original Nathan Detroit on Broadway was character actor Sam Levene. Levene was tone deaf to the extent that the stage manager asked him only to mouth the words in ensemble numbers lest he throw the other singers off key. That solved the problem for the original cast but leaves the role of Nathan without much participation the musical feast but Shawn more than makes up for it with his comic timing.

Unfortunately, as good as the Wrights are, they can't quite balance the problematic performances of Elodie Gillett as Sarah Brown and Kyle Blair as Sky Masterson. The two lack chemistry, which is ironic because the script uses that specific word twice in defining their budding romance. Blair comes across as a bland gambler not giving any hint of Sky's suave charms. He wraps his croonerish voice around his part of the love song "I've Never Been in Love Before" quite effectively, but the while he makes the most of the melodic line, when the lyrics talk of experiencing "Wine that's all to strange and strong" the lack of passion disproves the point.

For her part, Gillett sings too stridently, at odds with Sarah's demure persona. It's as if she were secretly plotting to take over Adelaide's job at the Hot Box. While it is fun to see her cut loose under the influence of a bit of rum when Sky takes her off to Havana for an evening, there is no warmth in her performance to make one root for this couple to get together. Her most tender moment happens not with Sky but with Peter Millard as her doting grandfather as he sings "More I Cannot Wish You."

You can't help but wish that this central couple were not such a weak link in an otherwise solidly performed production. The energetic dancing of the "Crapshooter's Dance" , the suitably tacky nightclub routines and the fine playing of Paul Sportelli's orchestra provide many moments of pleasure. Add to that one of Frank Loesser's finest scores and a by now familiar story filled with endearing characters and you have all of the ingredients for a joyous production of a classic musical comedy. Though the batter gets a bit lumpy at times, the crisp staging strings us along until Thom Allison provides the grand slam with his big number. Those three minutes give us a feel for the excitement Guys and Dolls must have generated when it first premiered on Broadway.

GUYS AND DOLLS is in the Festival Theatre at Shaw until October 12. For performance schedule and ticket availability go to www.shawfest.com or call 1-800-511-7429.

Photo : Thom Allison as Nicely-Nicely Johnson with the cast of Guys and Dolls. Photo by David Cooper.

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