Interview: Shenandoah University's Four Leading Guys & Dolls

Courtesy of Shenandoah Conservatory

Guys and Dolls is said to be one of the greatest musical comedies ever written, having won five Tony-Awards in 1950 including best musical. It premiered on Broadway at the then 46th Street Theater, the now Richard Rodgers Theater, and ran a total of 1200 performances.

Winchester, Virginia's very own Shenandoah Conservatory's production of Guys and Dolls runs this weekend only, from Friday, February 24th through Sunday, February 27th in the Ohrstrom-Bryant Theatre on the campus of Shenandoah University. The boisterous and witty musical is led by Carolyn Coulson (Director), with Rick Edinger (Music Direction), and Jacob Brent (Choreography).

I was lucky enough to sit down with four of the show's leading guys and dolls: Taylor Bloom (Sky Masterson), Adia J Seckel (Sarah Brown), Stevie Bovo (Nathan Detroit), and Freya Falkenstein (Miss Adelaide) and hear about their personal experiences working on the Shenandoah production.

Christopher Castanho: What was your first exposure to Guys and Dolls?

Adia J Seckel: I saw it in London, last year. I thought this show was so much fun, and I also thought: I have to play Sarah Brown [laughs], before I age out of it, I have to play Sarah Brown.

Taylor Bloom: Guys and Dolls is actually the first musical I ever saw when I was super young at a high school in Berryville, which is about 20 minutes away. All of my older brother's friends were in the production and actually, the guy who would later be the lead singer of my older brother's band played Sky [Masterson].

Taylor Bloom and Adia J Seckel
Courtesy of Shenandoah Conservatory

Stevie Bovo: I saw the movie when I was a kid, and I actually played Sky [Masterson] when I was in elementary school. Guys and Dolls has always been a part of my life, I always liked it and it's really one of my favorite musicals. It's funny, and there's a thing with theatre and art today that bugs me where everyone says "It must mean something! There has to be a deep message!" We forget about the fact that this is a form of entertainment, though there are great artists and patrons who enjoy that, there are also a large group of people that enjoy pure entertainment. And I feel that Guys and Dolls does just that.

Freya Falkenstein: I had never seen it before, so reading the script was the first time I ever had any big understanding of the show. But I still knew Guys and Dolls was a golden age, dance heavy, entertainment kind of musical. The kind of show you want to go watch because the voices will be good, the dancing will be fun, and the characters will be laughable. As it's based off a cartoon, it was meant to be larger than life.

CC: What's your favorite part about telling this story and singing such iconic music?

Adia J Seckel: I have just fallen in love with Guys and Dolls because I think it is so pure and beautiful. Who you think you want to love isn't always necessarily the person that's meant for you. There are things that you hate about a person, but those are also things that made you fall in love with them.

Stevie Bovo: My favorite part is that I get to play around in the era that I always think I was supposed to have lived in. I always have loved the gangsters, mafia, my favorite movie is The Godfather, so all of that type of stuff and time period really interests me. How everyone wore suits everywhere, everyone's hair was perfect, the cars, the food, it was so nostalgically American. I love that I can put that hat on and help tell that story, despite the mustache...

Madelyn Pyles, Brynn Sweere, Lexi Mateo, Freya Falkenstein,
Nikki Culbreth, Marissa Meyers, and Meg Willimont.
Courtesy of Jacob Brent

Freya Falkenstein: To me, it's just fun! [Laughs] I had actually never seen this show before, I'd heard Adelaide's Lament before, I knew Adelaide was a character, because I feel that she's a classic comparative character. But just to give any music life is always fun and especially since our older patrons coming to see the show will know a lot of the story and music. Having the fun and energy behind it is what I always remember so that we can allow all of the people to enjoy these classic tunes they grew up listening to.

Taylor Bloom: It's an interesting and different challenge, I feel that the shows we [as a generation] all feel so intensely about are musicals that do not always align with the community's genre. So it's fun and a learning experience to take a show that the audience is interested in and think about how I can breathe my own life into this story and music in a way that's truthful for someone living as a young person living in today's world.

CC: A couple of you mentioned how this show is often beloved by many older members of our society, but why should young people come see this show and what makes it relevant to today in 2017?

Adia J Seckel: Both couple's love isn't based upon a physical need, which we see so much today, with everything being out in the open, and this is much more of an emotional attachment. I like that about relationships, I'm really old fashioned. I think it's important to share the traditional aspects of love with younger people.

Stevie Bovo: Regardless of how old you are, it's a really funny show. The fact that Nathan and Adelaide have been engaged for fourteen years is funny, no matter where you're from. We laugh all the time whenever we see really old people in mustangs because I think that's the person holding onto their youth for dear life, and that's what Nathan is doing when he's still engaged to Adelaide. We all have that moment in our life where we don't want to let go of what our current life is because we've grown so comfortable with it, and that's a rather universal theme within the comedy.

Freya Falkenstein and Stevie Bovo
Courtesy of Shenandoah Conservatory

Freya Falkenstein: I think it's important to know the history of musical theatre, if you want to be a performer you should definitely know this show. I always think it's so important, in any aspect, in order to know how we got to where we are now, you have to know where we were before. In this world of theatre, people should come out and see the older kind of shows. Truthfully, the meaning of this musical is a little odd to me, but I didn't go too deep into it, and that's one of the reasons why I love it because it's so light-hearted. It's funny to see that back when it was written they would even joke about a 'taboo' subject like a fourteen-year engagement, I think this show is important to see that theatre can be light hearted and funny and doesn't need to be anything more than that.

Taylor Bloom: I like to believe it's a little bit like a hand grenade piece, we pull the pin and the audience catches it and after they leave it explodes and they go "WHOA". Our director Carolyn was talking about that with the end of the first Act "Marry The Man Today" and it's funny because when you listen to the music and see the show you think "Marry The Man Today" that is such a dumb song, but if you go back and listen to "Guys and Dolls" that's the exact same thing, the show demonstrates that everybody's wrong sometimes and we can all be friends if we all accept that. There is a little bit of a deeper meaning in a subtle and light-hearted way. My hope is that people will come and enjoy the show, think 'Wow, what a classic." and then go home thinking "Wow, gender norms!" [Laughs]

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Guys and Dolls runs from February 24th-February 27th at the Ohrstrom-Bryant Theatre on the campus of Shenandoah University in Winchester, VA. Tickets start at $20 and are available to purchase on their website or by calling the Shenandoah Conservatory Box Office at (540) 665-4569. The show runs approximately two and a half hours. Follow #SURockinTheBoat for pictures and information regarding Shenandoah's production.

Direction by Carolyn Coulson, Music Direction by Rick Edinger, and Choreography by Jacob Brent. Also featuring Scenic Design by William Pierson and Kyle M. Dill, Lighting Design by Andrew Carson, Costume Design by Jennifer Flitton Adams, Sound Design by Allison Noah, and Production Stage Management by Elizabeth Emond.

Featuring:

Alex Beard, Emma Benson, Zachary Bigelow, Taylor Bloom, Stevie Bovo, Daniel Bush, Brenna Conroy, Emma Coniglio, Nikki Culbreth, Dorian Davis, Stephen Dransfield, Cait Egan, Freya Falkenstein, Alexandra Fleshman, Rebecca Forrest, Chris Goodwin, Lindy Hockaday, Michael Kennedy, Ashley Knaack, Nick Lenz, Kyle Mangold, Lexi Mateo, Connor McLean, Lydia Murtha, Marissa Myers, Madelyn Pyles, Michael Recchia, Eze Sanabria, Christopher Saunders, Adia J. Seckel, Avery Sedlacek, Esai Sideeq, Brynn Sweere, Nash Tetterton, Sami Weathersby, Will Westray, and Meg Willimont.

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