“The work and this production have plenty to love – singing, dancing, the wise-guy dialogue and spectacle! … If musicals are for you, you won’t want to miss this. For my money, I hope we will see the return of something from the operatic repertoire in future seasons.”
Kate Gaul
3 Stars
“I am not putting the knock on dolls. It’s just that they are something to have around only when they come in handy… like cough drops. Figuring weight or age, all dolls are the same.” So says Sky Masterson in Guys and Dolls, this year’s offering from Opera Australia for the annual on-the-water spectacular.
Guys and Dolls centres around the underground gambling business in NYC and a mission trying to save the sinners. Nathan Detroit (a suave Bobby Fox) runs the big craps game in town and is always looking for a place to hold it, while trying to hide it from Miss Adelaide (stunningly played by Angelica Thomson), Hot Box dancer and his fiancé of 14 years. To get the money to secure a location for the game, Nathan bets big-time gambler Sky Masterson (confidently played by Cody Simpson) that he cannot convince pious mission worker Sarah Brown (the gorgeous and beyond fabulous Annie Aiken) to go to Havana with him. Sky wins the bet, but it’s not quite that simple. To win Sarah’s heart, he bets against the guys’ souls to get them to come to a meeting and save the mission. And everyone lives happily ever after.
In any list of most popular musicals, Frank Loesser’s 1950 musical always features close to the top. Based on Damon Runyon‘s tales of Broadway, the book by Jo Swerling and Abe Burrows brings together several stories into what many have called the ‘perfect’ musical comedy. The combination of a tight yet light-hearted book with an unforgettable collection of songs makes for a musical that remains popular to multiple generations, and is one that has soaked into our psyche, thanks to school and amateur productions, the iconic film version starring Frank Sinatra, and the wide reach of the score which includes standards such as “Sit Down, You’re Rocking the Boat”, “If I Were a Bell”, “Take Back Your Mink”, and of course “Luck, Be a Lady Tonight”. Music Director Guy Simpson delivers all with great style.
The work and this production have plenty to love – singing, dancing, the wise-guy dialogue and spectacle! It is of course ensconced in the backwards gender attitudes of its time. The titular song, after all, is an exasperated observation of men going to great lengths to please their girlfriends and wives – it’s a warning of the dangers of being pussy whipped. Nathan’s long-suffering girlfriend, Miss Adelaide, is plagued by psychosomatic colds because she remains unmarried; Sarah Brown admits she’s probably “repressed” and “a prude” before she falls for Sky. Sarah is given alcohol without consent and Adelaide strips as returning gifts exchanged for sex. Taking Sky Masterson’s line above – it’s not a shocking outlier or an especially outrageous example of sexism for ’50s America, but it is insidious in its own way, and the dialogue suggests that single women end up maladjusted and shrill.
If I rejected all forms of media because they contained problematic elements, I would live in a very silent and still world. That’s the thing about the patriarchy—it’s so steeped into our mythos that it powerfully permeates all corners of our culture. So, in Guys and Dolls the gender roles are dated. More positively, both women are strong-willed in their own ways. Adelaide wants marriage, and in the end, she gets it. She’s presented as maybe not being a genius, but she doesn’t let Nathan fool her. Sarah Brown isn’t so much tricked into anything as she is wooed as any person might be. She even wears her mission uniform to the wedding – she won’t be giving up her career for marriage.
We’ll never know why outgoing Artistic Director Jo Davies programmed Guys and Dolls now except that it’s a crowd-pleaser that will sell lots of tickets. And if she did have a certain take or twist, again, we will never know. Shaun Rennie takes the reigns as director and produces a pacy production with highlights that include phenomenal costume design by the evergreen designer Jennifer Irwin. How wonderful it would be if she had twice the ensemble to dress and five times the budget! Brian Thomson’s set of the oversized New York cab is classic Thomson. The revelation of the Hot Box club from the boot of the car never really worked but I guess the pressures of a short rehearsal period means that its sometimes inevitable to roll with an initial idea. The decision to place the orchestra above the action is astute and clever (rather than under the stage as in previous years). This provides a built-in scaffold to back the action. I only wish I could have seen more of the orchestral work behind what is only a partial gauze for this production. Choreography by Kelly Abbey shines and is in full force for a wonderful finale as Jason Arrow (as Nicely-Nicely Johnson) offers his interpretation of “Sit Down, You’re Rocking the Boat” – the absolute highlight of this production. Lighting designer Bruno Poetcreates has some significant moments and effects throughout – no mean feat given the challenges of on outdoor production.
If musicals are for you, you won’t want to miss this. For my money, I hope we will see the return of something from the operatic repertoire in future seasons.
Kate Gaul, Theatre Now
