A Roll of the Dice: A Guys and Dolls Stage Review
On what started out as a beautiful Sunday before the storm clouds poured rain, I attended Broadway Upstate’s performance of Guys and Dolls at the request of my neighbor, Carissa. I had never seen the musical, though it had been on my radar for many years. My ex-girlfriend, Kiara, had been in the performance when she was in high school. I remember seeing posters advertising the show abound in town when I went to school, but it had not persuaded me to see it. Until today.
I had not pre-ordered tickets to the show, so with a roll of the dice, I marched up to the box office and asked if there were tickets still available. With a smile, Emily Murphy, director of the Wood Theater, said that there were empty seats, turning the monitor around to show me the seat selection. I purchased a front-row ticket, walked to the stage, and sat down with coffee in hand. I proceeded to open my notebook and pen, excited to watch the musical.
The opening of the show was unique; with the curtains still closed and the lights dimmed, the orchestra, led by conductor Tommy Socolof, filled the theatre with music. It stirred feelings of nostalgia for a world I have only known from the movies, when radio was the only family entertainment. As the music continued for a couple minutes, I thought of my memories in school plays as a young kid, behind the curtain, waiting for my turn to head on stage. While my stage performances never occurred in high school, I conquered stage fright in middle school performing magic during a talent show.
Once the curtains opened, the stage design portrayed a newspaper stand, public bench, and a religious building. All of the actors whisked back and forth, silently performing a glimpse into yesteryears, dressed in suits reminiscent of the 1950’s. Actress Zoey Michael bobbed around stage carrying a bottle of alcohol, cultivating humorous faces and situations with the other performers. Actor Joey Lehoisky, playing policeman Brannigan, and actor Mason Huntinton, playing a blind beggar, mimicked the anticks of Scooby-Doo chase scenes as both took turns chasing the other. A gang of men, dressed in exquisite suits and hats, carried newspapers, while a few women, dressed in red dresses, prayed.
The story begins with notorious gamblers, Nathan Detroit, Nicely-Nicely Johnson, and Benny Southstreet, played by actors Adam Spero, Carter Stanclift, and Billy Brown respectively, decided to hold their illegal craps game at Biltmore garage. The owner Joey Biltmore, played by Kaiden Dupuis, required a deposit of $1,000, the sum of which was too much for Nathan. Being the insidious gambler, he decides to make a seemingly safe bet with notorious gambler, Sky Masterson, to garner the money. The bet involves Sky being able to whisk Sarah Brown, played by actress Sofia Rice, on a dinner date in Havana, Cuba. Sarah is a member of the “Save a Soul” mission, and Nathan knows that it is unlikely Sky would be able to win the bet.
Through an act of quid pro quoa, Sky succeeds in heading on a date with Sarah. The stage scene portraying the El Cafe Cabana restaurant in Cuba was brilliant. Sky orders a dulce de leche cocktail for the table, much to the eventual delight of Sarah, who muses amid audience laughter, “This [drink] would be a wonderful way to get children to drink milk.” As the guests began dancing, the physical stamina across everyone on stage was incredible, with lots of twirling, bopping, gymnastic splits on the ground, and more.
Meanwhile back in New York, Nathan went to visit his girlfriend Adelaide, played by Rosalyn Annely, where she works at the Roxy, a nightclub. They had been engaged for fourteen years and had yet to be married. She implores Nathan that they should finally get married, as she had lied to her mother for twelve years about her life status. Her mother, though letters, thought that Adelaide was married and had five kids. Adelaide gets her wishes when Nathan and his gang slyly avoid jailtime for illegal gambling by convincing officer Brannigan of a bachelor party.
When Sky and Sarah come back from Cuba, it is revealed that Nathan orchestrated an illegal craps game at the Save a Soul church building. Dumping Sky, thinking that he only went on a date as a distraction, Sarah later realizes that she loves him. In order to win her back, Sky makes a pact with Sarah that he will bring twelve sinners to the next church meeting as repentance.
Later on, Nicely Nicely Johnson shows Sky to the current location of the craps game: the sewers. A gambler known as Big Jules, played by Nicholas Merzig, appears to be losing, forcing the games to continue until he wins back his losses. Sensing an opportunity, Sky bets $1,000 to a dozen people in the sewers that he will win in exchange for everyone heading to the Save a Soul mission. He wins, revealing a surprising scene where the twelve gamblers’ head into the church building. One of the poignant songs came from Nicely Nicely Johnson, who sang, “Sit Down, You’re Rocking the Boat”, relating to an invented dream of being saved from hell in order to bring together the members of the prayer meeting. It invokes a feeling of redemption for the characters, trapped in a spiral of gambing.
The musical ends with Nathan and Adelaide as well as Sky and Sarah married, gambling behind them, reprising the “Guys and Dolls” song among the whole cast. Sitting next to an older woman named Alexandria, we were ecstatic over the talented young men and women, some as young as eleven years old. All in all, the musical portrays a slice of New York City history and the nature of love and chance. The music, especially those sung by Adelaide, illuminate the misogyny at the time, especially when it came to women and medicine, as well as the dangers of gambling and drinking.
Broadway Upstate’s next musical will delve into the trials of being a teenager with “13: The Musical”. If the talented individuals from their rendition of “Guys and Dolls” is any indication, I am sure their fall performance will be just as suburb.
