Guys and Dolls, Shakespeare Theatre Company
Every inch of Harman Hall's sizeable stage greets you when you arrive at Francesca Zambello's production of Guys and Dolls. It's not just the optional proscenium that's been taken out, but all the regular masking of the wings has been removed as well, extending the stage outwards and even backwards-- you can just see the costumed head of James Lowe leading the orchestra at the very back of the stage. Every other inch has been transformed into a worn-down, thrift-store inspired set for for the Save-A-Soul Mission from set designed Walt Spangler. It's all on view to the audience as they arrive, lit in full by Amith A. Chandrashaker's designs, and even before the bright and colorful costume designs of Constance Hoffman arrive, it makes a statement: STC has gone all in on this production.
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But all the money in the world isn't a guarantee, not even with one of the best book and scores of classic American musical theatre in hand. The proof arrives approximately three minutes in, when Kyle Taylor Parker, Calvin McCullough, and Tommy Gedrich come to downstage center and sing the living daylights out of "Fugue for Tinhorns." If you had any doubts? Just wait until the entrance of the male ensemble in "The Oldest Established," a moment which made me laugh myself silly and know with confidence that we were in for a treat.
For many musical theatre aficionados, one of the biggest draws in Zambello's production was the casting of Julie Benko as Sarah Brown, the upright missionary irresistibly drawn to gambler Sky Masterson. Benko was acclaimed for her performance in the recent Broadway revival of Funny Girl, and although Sarah is not the comic center of Guys and Dolls, Benko's rendition of "If I Were a Bell" found new heights both in her musical interpretation and for her wonderful physical comedy throughout the Havana sequence. It's normally the role of Miss Adelaide that earns the comic accolades, and Hayley Podschun shines throughout, but it was a thrill when the two actors finally got to team up, however briefly, for "Marry the Man Today" and play off of each other.
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There's a famous sequence late in the second half of the show, when the floating crap game has wound up playing through the night deep in the New York sewers, discovered first through a dance number and capped with "Luck Be a Lady." The Harman Hall is often a place where Shakespeareans lean in for the famous soliloquies, or to judge how a certain interpretation stacks up against the other five Juliets they've seen in the last decade. Here, the audience leaned in in absolute delight, as featured dancers leaped and spun and flipped, and actors nailed their laugh lines and raised the tension. The world outside the theatre right now is a difficult place to be; inside the Harman, it's a welcome respite of comedy, thrillingly sung music, and enough dancing to keep you sympathetically warm from the winter cold. Need a break? I got the show right here.
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