Right: Cast of Guys and Dolls; photo by Carol Roseagg.This revival of Frank Loesser's classic musical Guys and Dolls, directed by Des McAnuff, opened at the Nederlander Theatre on March 1, and critics have not acclaimed director's Des McAnuff's choices in casting or mounting this production. The male leads, Craig Bierko and Oliver Platt, have not garnered any praise, while female leads Lauren Graham and Kate Jennings Grant have generated some favorable reviews. A sentiment typical of the mainstream reviews is this quote from Ben Brantley's critique in the New York Times: "...there ain’t no chemistry in your show: not between the two pairs of leading lovers, or between the singers and their songs, or the actors and their parts. Whatever special substance it is that makes old shows feel new-born and artificial musicals ring truer than life, this 'Guys and Dolls' left it behind in the laboratory. Instead this production, which opened Sunday and also stars Oliver Platt and Lauren Graham, provides a valuable lesson in the importance of chemistry by demonstrating what can happen without it — even to a show as seemingly foolproof as 'Guys and Dolls.'" Some reviewers have noted that the show achieves a greater spark of life in the second act. In the words of Brendan Lemon of the Financial Times, "we go to Guys and Dolls less for purveyors of pristine pitch than for a sense of raffish joy, and by this criterion the production delivers, if more solidly in the second act than in the first."
Craig Bierko plays smooth gambler Sky Masterson; Kate Jennings Grant is the women he unexpectedly falls in love, a Salvation Army missionary; Oliver Platt plays Nathan Detroit and Lauren Graham his fiancee, Miss Adelaide. The score contains such classics as "Fugue for Tinhorns," "A Bushel and a Peck," "Adelaide's Lament," "I'll Know," "Guys and Dolls," "More I Cannot Wish You," "Luck Be A Lady," and "Sit Down, You're Rockin' the Boat," with music and lyrics by Frank Loesser and book by Jo Swerling and Abe Burrows, based on Damon Runyon stories "The Idyll of Miss Sarah Brown," "Blood Pressure," and "Pick the Winner."
I have not seen this production, but Julian Suez saw it in previews and came away with a far more favorable impression than the mainstream reviewers: "At TKTS, I bought matinee tickets for Guys & Dolls. It was a wonderful production, still in preview. In fact, the director came out before curtain time to say that this is the first Wednesday matinee in preview. All four leads are great, especially Craig Bierko who did Music Man revival a few years back. The supporting cast was also outstanding. All in all, it was a great show. I will probably be crazy enough to go see it again." Given the generally weak reviews, discounts abound, including on www.theatermania.com.
-- Ellen
