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Phil Hopkins
Group Travel Editor & Theatre Correspondent
@philhopkinsuk
3:22 PM 25th May 2016
arts

Guys And Dolls. Flirt Without The Dirt!

 
Guys and Dolls. Photo credit Johan Persson
Guys and Dolls. Photo credit Johan Persson
Guys and Dolls is a musical of its time.

Originally inspired by the works of journalist cum sports reporter, Damon Runyon, it is widely regarded as 'a musical fable of Broadway'.

Based largely on non-fictional characters who populated the seedy streets of New York's theatre district, Guys and Dolls was born at a time when people wanted gloss and glamour, and the memories of celebrity crooks and criminals - Al Capone, John Dillinger - were held as dear as their Hollywood counterparts.

Its subject matter is mean and dirty, its treatment of that material clean and flirty!

And therein lies the success of this Frank Loesser musical which is full of pizzazz, wonderful choreography, gorgeous girls, and clean cut suits.

It appeals to everything within us that is fun, daring and risqué without actually allowing us to see the seamier side of American city life, other than as a comical interlude.

Top marks must go to Peter McKintosh's wonderful set and costume design. The principal set was colourful and multi -functional, whilst the 1940's outfits were distinctly Gene Kelly as, indeed, was much of the athletic, acrobatic choreography.



Maxwell Caulfield as Nathan Detroit, was pathetically loveable as the small town crook, for ever hustling a quick buck, and you desperately wanted him to propose to his long-time girlfriend, Miss Adelaide, so beautifully played by Lucy Jane Adcock.

At its heart Guys and Dolls is a happy ending love story that sends us home with that 'lovely' feeling, but in reality the subject matter is hard edged, albeit softened considerably by Loesser and book writers, Jo Swerling and Abe Burrows.

It centres round the world of gangster high roller, Sky Masterson and his hoodlum buddies who are forever looking for a venue at which to host their next craps game. Anna O'Byrne as Salvation Army girl Sarah Brown, is the straight laced leading lady charged with saving their souls at the Broadway mission she operates out of.

They find each other, hate each other then fall in love and everyone lives happily after. No hard edged reality as in Martin Scorsese here; even the New York sewers where the gambling takes place look well-polished!

This show spans the test of time because it is set in a period that people remain eternally curious about, a time when New York was at its height, when tommy guns were round every street corner, and clean cut crooks had more cash than the average owner of a dime eatery!

Richard Fleeshman's Sky was beautifully slick and appropriately over confident, while Jack Edwards as Nicely-Nicely Johnson and Mark Sangster as Benny Southstreet were excellent as the resident loveable rogues.

This is a great, entertaining show with superb choreography. It is vibrant, colourful, paced and, somehow, from another era, a musical that shines a torch upon a period in history when celebrities were made in the newspapers and reputation was everything. Dirt that uplifts the spirits you might say!

Guys & Dolls
Leeds Grand
7.30pm
Until Saturday 28th May 2016