Never dated, always fresh, “Guys and Dolls”, with music and lyrics by the great Frank Loesser, currently enjoys a revival at the Fifth Avenue Theater with a slick new production directed by Peter Rothstein and featuring a talented, predominantly Northwest cast.
Populated with characters based on the wisecracking gamblers, chorines, petty crooks and hoods of “Runyonland”, the Manhattan real estate between 42nd Street and Columbus Circle mythologized by storyteller Damon Runyon, “Guys and Dolls” is a love story about two couples: Petty hustler Nathan Detroit (Daniel Levine), and his fiancée of 14 years and Hotbox night club headliner Miss Adelaide (Billie Wildrick); and the odd couple of cool, detached professional gambler Sky Masterson (Brandon O’Neill) and the equally cool Sergeant Sarah Brown of the Save a Soul Mission (Katherine Strohmaier.)
Fresh from her role as sultry Mary in Vanities, Fifth Avenue regular Billie Wildrick channels Judy Holliday as the high octave Miss Adelaide, expressing comic pathos in “Adelaide’s Lament”, and comic sensuality in “Take Back Your Mink” and “A Bushel and a Peck.” Wildrick and the Broadway-based Levine, as frightened-of-commitment Nathan Detroit, display genuine chemistry as the long-term affianced couple.
In her first starring role, Katherine Strohmaier brings strong vocal and comedic talents to her role as Sarah Brown, running the gamut from stern missionary zeal to intoxicated enthusiasm in “If I Were a Bell”, to her and Sky’s (O’Neill) lovely rendition of the well-known duet, “I’ve Never Been in Love Before.” Brandon O’Neill’s gorgeous tenor harmonizes well with Strohmaier, but he remains a little aloof to convincingly portray a man in love with his missionary miss. His cool demeanor comes across better in his snappy rendition of the ever popular “Luck Be a Lady Tonight.”
A trio of Nathan Detroit’s hangers-on (Todd Buonopane, Greg McCormick Allen and Allen Galli) are a Runyoneseque version of a Greek chorus, introducing individual scenes with comic skits, song and dance. Buonopane, who may be familiar to viewers as Jeffrey Weinerslav on television show 30 Rock, displays his sweet vocals in the satirical spiritual, “Sit Down, You’re Rockin’ the Boat.” Other notable performances include Broadway award-winner and Seattle local Clayton Corzatte as wise Arvide Abernathy, and another Seattle regular, Laura Kenny, as overbearing mission boss General Cartwright.
Seattle native and Roosevelt High grad Noah Racey’s choreography ranges from the jazzy thrills of the Crapshooters’ Dance to the comic (and PG-rated) strip teases of Miss Adelaide and her girls at the Hotbox, enhanced by Gregory A. Poplyk’s clever and sometimes amusing costumes. Kate Sutton-Johnson’s set design is brassy, Broadway and spectacular. And the small but pitch-perfect orchestra under the direction of Music Director Joel Fram perfectly renders Frank Loesser’s timeless score with its many familiar tunes.
Presented at the Fifth Avenue through June 5, the entire production packs its bags and moves to the Ordway Theater in St. Paul after its Seattle close.
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