Review: GUYS & DOLLS, Bridge Theatre

There's a certain irony in using that phrase because nobody would say it out loud - it's a critic's confection. And much of Guys & Dolls' sparkling interplay between those on and just over the edge of polite society in post-war New York, draws on Damon Runyon's manufactured argot of the gamblers and gals looking for a good time in the bars of Broadway and beyond. Musical Theatre (especially in its American variant) is nothing if not the conjuring of a world that is bigger, brighter and ballsier than that in which we are compelled to play out our dreary lives - and seldom can that brief have been delivered with more chutzpah than in Nicholas Hytner's vision, brought so vividly to life on Bunny Christie's extraordinary hydraulic stage of platforms and podiums.

Abe Burrows' book, overflowing with wiseguys and wisecracks but with more warmth than expected, takes us into a culture that thrives under the noses of the police and peoples of the Big Apple.

Nathan Detroit (Daniel Mays, all Oliver Hardyish surprise and indignation at the lot fate has allocated for him - not that he'd have it any other way) needs $1000 to secure a venue for a spot of illegal gambling, a room needed for the high (not that high really) rollers to roll some dice. He strikes a bet with Sky Masterson (Andrew Richardson, swaggeringly handsome on stage debut) that he can find a doll who won't fall for his considerable charms. He picks out Sergeant Sarah Brown of the Salvation Army (Celinde Schoenmaker, a beautifully rendered quick-thawing ice maiden) and the game's afoot in more senses than one. Meanwhile, Nathan has a doll dilemma of his own, his betrothed of 14 years, nightclub chanteuse Miss Adelaide (a supercharged Marisha Wallace) is running out of patience and wants him to put a ring on it.

Everything succeeds. The immersive element gives a bustle to Broadway - for a blissful five minutes or so, I just watched the punters in the pit, moved hither and thither by the hardworking stagehands to facilitate the comings and goings of the cast within their midst, and the wonder on their faces was a delight to behold. Acknowledging the contrivance which is always at the heart of the MT genre and then raising it by creating a kind of agora in which 'our' New Yorkers are roped in to provide the citizens of this 20th century Rome on the Hudson, is a conceit that pays off like a seven at the shoot.

That one can go so deep into a review without reference to Frank Loesser's songs is a testament to the sensational foundation created for them. Sure we get showstoppers like "Luck, Be A Lady" and a a riotous "Sit Down, You're Rocking The Boat" led with gospel choir fervour by the superb Cedric Neal, but also a wonderfully intimate "Marry The Man Today", delivered with defiant agency by Wallace and Schoenmaker, dolls who are anything but toys in their guys' hands.

Under Tom Brady's baton in a box high above the pit, the 14 piece orchestra give full value to some of theatre's most perfectly realised music, catching both the mood that underpins the emotional swings of the story - yep, we care for these low(ish) lives from the word go - and the energy of the biggest city in the world. There's even a moment of fourth wall breaking that feels just right, using the licence granted by the immersive element that proves anything but a gimmick.

On a day when pensioners are being encouraged to go back to work, a 73 year-old workhorse has come racing out of the traps and sounds and looks as fresh as the day it first wowed audiences in out of town tryouts in a postwar, hopeful America. Sure Arlene Phillips and James Cousins' choreography of the hardworking Hot Box showgirls has echoes of the Hot Gossip girls of two generations past, but it's all of a piece with the transactional nature of eking out a living while hoping for that big roll that comes off. And ain't 21st century life just as transactional as ever it were?

That edge never goes away, but it's subsumed beneath the big hearts of people who look after themselves within an unwritten code of conduct embedded in the culture. The Sally Army pick up those who fall through the gaps and save a soul or two on the way, the craps artists honour their markers with gags not guns and the city respects itself too, the well-spring of the temptations of Sodom and Gomorrah, but also the place where anyone can find love and hope.

Expect a slew of awards come this time next year (you could pick a whole shortlist from the supporting characters alone) and make sure you grab a ticket now while you still can.

Guys and Dolls at the Bridge Theatre until 2 September

Photo Credit: Manuel Harlan