★★★★★
Abe Burrows (one of the writers of Guys and Dolls) recalled in his autobiography feeling anxious for the show’s first ever in 1950, but as soon as the trumpet call for ‘Fungus for tinhorns’ played there was a huge positive reaction from the audience as they laughed in recognition of the Runyon premise. The creators at that point knew they had created a hit musical. It’s a feeling replicated seconds into The Bridge Theatre’s rendition of Guys and Dolls.
In this timeless romantic comedy Nathan Detroit (Daniel Mays) is a conman trying to organise a crap game but lacks the dough to pay for a location to organise it discreetly. In comes Sky Masterson (Andrew Richardson) a high roller who Detroit decides to entice with a bet to secure the funds for his crap game. This bet being that Masterson must seduce uptight missionary sergeant Sarah Brown (Celinde Schoenmaker) and take her on a date to Havana or lose $1000. Meanwhile, Miss Adelaide (Marisha Wallace) Nathan’s fiancé of 14 years, does everything in her power to make him marry her.
Stepping through the stage doors you’re transported to the streets of depression- era New York. As a promenade piece the audience walk on to the stage under glowing neon signs and traffic lights. The delicious smell of hot dogs and pretzels greets you from the number of stalls selling food, drinks, and hats with vendors fully in character with strong New York accents. The large number of audience members in character, vendors and soundscape successfully immersed the audience’s senses to engender the feeling of being in the hustle and bustle of New York.
The immersion, although a unique and astonishing experience, had the potential to be distracting at times, in terms of the set changes and in character actors within the audience waiting to go on stage. However, Nicholas Hytner has perfected the timing of the immersion letting audience’s eyes wander but stealing back their attention for the crucial parts of the performance.
The cast of Guys and Dolls all sang with passion and charm. Marisha Wallace’s Miss Adelaide was incredibly loveable, making it easy for the audience to sympathise with her mission to marry Nathan and have six kids. Her vocals were astounding during ‘Adelaide’s Lament’ where she sang beautifully and brought a lot of character to the song. The show stopping number was of course the infamous ‘Sit down you’re Rocking the Boat’ where Cedric Neal’s Nicely Nicely Johnson took us to church with his gospel style rendition leaving the audience screaming for an encore.
Overall, Hytner is developing the future of theatre listening to the current trends of immersive experiences and mixing it with timeless, classic shows. Seeing the progression at the Bridge Theatre from A Midsummer Night’s Dream to Guys and Dolls it will be thrilling to see what this dream team comes up with next.
Words by Fleur Calder
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