REVIEW: Guys & Dolls (STC)

Okay, so I haven’t been around for most of Shakespeare Theatre Company’s extended history (dating back to the 70’s). But for their 40th anniversary season, they’ve declared that they’re putting on their “biggest musical ever” in the 1950 classic Guys and Dolls by Frank Loesser, Jo Swerling, and Abe Burrows. Gathering from some of the fellow attendees that I spoke with at last week’s opening, Dolls is one of those shows that is SO ubiquitous in the musical canon that there is seldom an opportunity to see a high-caliber, AAA production of it in Metropolitan America. In fact, my first production of it at all was the immersive 2023 West End production. But as I so often see in British productions of Extremely American™️ shows — especially musicals — it is done from a lens of exotic pantomime, bordering on camp (which Brits seem to love, as there have been three London revivals since its last appearance on Broadway in 2009). These takes aren’t inherently problematic, but it does cloud a more naturalistic yankee-a-yankee analysis. Thus STC’s production takes some big investments to set itself up well as an American take on an American fable: Julie Benko, the breakout understudy from Broadway’s 2022 Funny Girl revival, makes her DC debut, but more risky is attaching an opera director to the piece in the Washington National Opera’s Francesca Zambello. Ultimately, it would take some severe manhandling to make a bad time out of this musical; while this production prunes some facets in favor of some unexpected others, it escapes with joy, sparkle, and earworms for days.

Book/Music

It makes a lot of sense for Artistic Director Simon Godwin to put on Guys & Dolls — it’s arguably one of the most Shakespearean musicals in the American Theatre. The book by Swerling and Burroughs is humorous and suprisingly complex at times, focusing initially on the seedy antics of Nathan Detroit, the operator of an illicit craps ring in New York. When his spot gets raided, he has to quickly fundraise $1000 for another or get sic’d on by a visiting gangster. To do this, he bets notoriously lucky player Sky Masterson that the latter couldn’t manage to win over uptight mission leader Sarah Brown and take her on a trip to Havana. Meanwhile, Detroit also has to grapple with his 14-year long engagement to cabaret dancer Adelaide, who grows impatient with the relationship. The multi-threaded plot, themes of love, growth, and redemption, and witty, contemporary humor take a pretty basic story and “doll” it up into something fast-talking and nigh-impossible to take your attention away from. And in additionally Bard-like fashion, there are lovable side characters whose own operations steal the show quite…Nicely. Loesser’s score somehow always surprises with just how many standards have come out of it: from the minute that the nursery rhyme ding-dongs of “Fugue for Tinhorns” trots into your ears, to the feverish hollers of “Sit Down, You’re Rockin’ the Boat”, and the catharsis of Adelaide and Sarah’s “Marry the Man Today” duet (their first song together being the last one in the show!), Guys & Dolls is American musical theatre at its absolute brightest, a template for the following 75 years and counting. Despite how infectious its score is, this doesn’t obscure just how dated the nitty-gritty of the book is. Themes of mid-century marriage stereotypes a-la “the ol’ ball and chain” pop in and remind you of the times, and suggest that just maybe it could use a Damn Yankees-style update. But unlike its baseball-themed compatriot, the setting informs the dialogue, actions, and characters more directly, and as such I find the show more worthy of appraisal as the period piece it is known to be. (But if anyone wants to take a shot at revising the book a little, just let me know when opening night is.) 10/10

Acting

I found the cast of this production quite charming, each stepping into character (no matter how minor) with a comedic synergy that delights. Starting and ending strongly are the zippy duo of Calvin McCullough’s Benny Southstreet and Kyle Taylor Parker’s Nicely-Nicely Johnson. Rob Colletti’s Nathan Detroit is stoutly affable and quite a humorous match with Hayley Podschun’s smart and bubbly Adelaide. Though much of my favorite parts were the stage chemistry between Jacob Dickey (Sky) and Julie Benko (Sarah), particularly in their duets. Benko particularly shines through her layered, golden-age-style soprano and animated, expressive acting. (If now was a time for any Broadway fans to get in on the ground floor before she gets big, assuming you missed Funny Girl, now’s your chance.) 9/10

Production

Franscesca Zambello’s direction does, at times, feel closer to opera than an integrated musical experience. During some of the more pointed numbers, this allows the singers to enter an aria-like state, enabling more focus on the sharp lyricism, but regrettably fails to deliver a coherent vision for the other 80% of the show. We can start with Walt Spangler’s cavernous set, which needlessly transposes the setting and doesn’t ambulate sufficiently to make up for it. While Guys & Dolls technically has no canon setting beyond that of Midtown Manhattan, general practice surmises it takes place some point in the early-mid 20th century.

So why does the Save-A-Soul Mission have 90’s CRT computer monitors among its offerings?

And during “Runyonland” (the overture), why do so many characters appear in a variety of modern clothing? Starting off with a garish time warp that holds no meaning is dramaturgically explained as a means of representing Sarah’s soul-saving being generationally independent, but instead it detracts from consistency as the remaining costumes by Constance Hoffman— which are sparkly, sharp, and pleasant— fit far more in line with the book’s persona. Now were this part of the entire package, it could be simply understood that this was a more textual approach to the material. But then Act II’s drastically more impressive technical elements arrive, and it leaves the audience wondering, why all the Act I feels so limited in the few examples (“A Bushel and a Peck”, and parts of “Havana”) that exist. Between “Gamblers’ Ballet” and “Luck Be A Lady”, the devilishly acrid staging, thickly verdant lighting (Amith Chandrashaker does great across the whole show), and zippy choreography are all finally utilized to a delicious degree, but it can feel like too little, too late. Such detailed stagings can be delightful, but it takes more than a first impression to justify the scale. 3/10

Viz

I finally get to write about how much I dislike the 90’s cartoon font that’s being used on the key art for this production. What is this, Ren & Stimpy? This continues the production’s temporal identity crisis, along with its worn-out pre-show staging, which I have seen described as both “an office building basement” and “the Urban Outfitters on M Street in Georgetown”. However, the festive gambling decor around the Harman is more forthcoming, and it’s such a well-known musical that most won’t need an introduction — but there’s some hints if you need it. 5/10

Verdict

STC’s Guys & Dolls is a thoroughly enjoyable event for the holidays that’s stuffed with plenty of excellent talent from the DMV and beyond, but some may feel a little let down by the physical execution that leaves the material rattling around. 27/40