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Jamie Parker as Sky Masterson and, below, Sophie Thompson as Miss Adelaide. Pictures: Johan Persson Guys and Dolls
The New Alexandra Theatre
***** IF you leave the Alex without a smile on
your face, a song on your lips and a spring in your step after seeing
this wonderful show . . . then
someone really should check your pulse. This is the best musical of the year by several
Damon Runyon Broadway blocks - sheer delight and everything you could
ever want from a musical comedy, and then some. It has a script, by Jo Swerling and Abe Burrows,
with a story to tell, and it tells it full of fun and easy, unforced humour, with some
great lines from the bursting-with-life characters that inhabit Runyon’s
glorious invented after-hours world. A world of gamblers shooting craps
and playing the horses, showgirls and singers in his wonderful
underworld Broadway
of guys and dolls. There is innocent romance, the dance numbers are
pure class and the music by Frank Loesser is simply magic. There is
nothing dull or stuck in just to fill here, the music is alive an That is big for a touring show and it shows with
a full, rounded sound to complement an outstanding show.
David Haig is a wonderful Nathan Detroit
desperately trying to find the money to keep his illegal enterprise, the
oldest established permanent floating crap game in New York, still
floating. Floating being moving around rather than chugging up and down
the East River, incidentally. He is also trying desperately to avoid getting
married to his doll of 14 years, Miss Adelaide, having made the mistake,
according to Benny Southstreet with no sense of humour, of falling in
love with his fiancée. Sophie Thompson gives
us a dumb, but not all the time, showgirl in dizzy Miss Adelaide who
always finds ways to forgive Detroit, probably for things he has
probably not even done yet. With a hint of Brooklyn twang Thompson is
funny, endearing and has a pleasing voice with some wonderfully funny
numbers such as Aledaide’s Lament. The other love interest is straight-laced,
God-fearing missionary Sergeant Sarah Brown in the shape of Siubhan
Harrison who presents the two sides of Sgt Brown quite beautifully and
has a lovely voice to boot. And into her life comes
Sky Masterson, big-time, high-roller ready to bet on anything, played
with easy charm to spare by Jamie Parker. His duet with Harrison on
I’ve never been in love before
is among the highlights. He also gives us one of the show stoppers in
Luck be a Lady.
And that is all you need to know about the plot – just sit back and
enjoy. The other big number
comes from Nicely Nicely Johnson, played with a wonderful look of
permanent bewilderment by Gavin Spokes who leads pretty well the entire
cast in a tub thumping, soul rousing
Sit down you’re rocking the boat.
Around the main
characters we have Benny Southstreet, full of one liners that make sense
to him, played by Ian Hughes. The far from easy opening number,
Fugue for Tinhorns,
sets the tone with three gamblers studying racing form and Niceley
Nicely sings about his horse Paul Revere, Benny singing of his selection
Valentine and and Rusty Charlie, played by Carl Patrick, singing about
his horse Epitaph, all at the same time. Fun, slick and clever which
just about describes the whole show.. We meet the gamblers of New York, in a sewer as
it happens, including the giant and sinister, in a friendly sort of way,
Big Jule played by Nic Greenshields and Harry the Horse played by
Cornelius Clarke. And on the other side
of the law Sarah’s grandfather, Arvide Abernathy, played by Neil McCaul,
weighs in with the lovely More I cannot
wish you as he tries to convince his
granddaughter that Sky is inherently good – but we all knew that didn’t
we, while trying unsuccessfully, to keep everyone in line we have
William Oxborrow as Lt Branningan of NYPD. Choreography by ballet superstar Carlos Acosta
and Andrew Wright is just captivating, slick and imaginative, Peter
McKintosh’s design is clever and just right for every scene, cleverly
lit by Tim Mitchell, and if you ever wanted to know what a Broadway show
would look like, New York director Gordon Greenberg is showing you with
a production that oozes class from curtain up to curtain call, fast
paced with never a dull or wasted moment. It’s a big cast, 26, big orchestra and a big,
larger than life show, as close to perfection in musical comedy as you
are likely to get. Every show has its faults though, and, sadly,
this one is no exception. It all ended too soon. I would have been happy for it to go on
and on well into Sky, Nathan and Nicely’s time of day. It is that good
and one of the few shows you can happily say is unmissable. The dice
keep rolling until Saturday, 5 December. Roger Clarke
25-11-15
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d
all part of the story – and while we are on about music what a brass
section in the superb 14 piece orchestra under musical director Gareth
Valentine.