As the house lights dim and the curtain rises, the filled auditorium waits anxiously for the spotlights to take them to 1943 New York City through the Athens Drive Theatre production of Frank Loesser’s “Guys and Dolls.” The story tells of the notorious world of lovers, gamblers and, apparently, singers.
The story starts with Nathan Detroit (Alex Sherron, senior), an undercover gambler, hearing about a group of “high rollers” coming into the city. Detroit sets out to arrange another round of “crap game.” Unfortunately, Detroit only finds the Biltmore Hotel garage, which is offering itself to the game, but at the heavy price of $1000. Detroit bets Sky Masterson (Alec Sturgis, junior), another local gambler, that Masterson is not able to persuade missionary Sergeant Sarah Brown (Amanda Decker, senior) into going to Havana, Cuba with him. Luckily for Masterson, Brown’s Save-a-Soul mission is short of sinners and is at risk of being closed. She accepts the offer after he promises her a dozen sinners will attend her Thursday Midnight prayer meeting.
While Masterson and Brown are in Havana, the unknowing Detroit is waiting for Masterson to come to him and admit his loss. However, Detroit’s fiancée of 14 years, Adelaide (Barrett Ward, junior), hears of his plans and realizes Detroit’s lies and gambling have prevented him from settling down and finally getting married. However, Adelaide has her own secrets to fess up to. During their 14 years of delayed engagement, Adelaide has written to her mother that the couple got married, had 5 children, with another on the way, and that Detroit is the Assistant Manager at an A&P.
Masterson and Brown, now in Havana, go to dinner and Masterson tries to take advantage of her, with the help of Bacardi. He ends up dancing with another woman, which causes a brawl between Brown and the Cuban Dancer (Clarissa Rivera, senior). Decker and Rivera did extremely well in the fight scene. By looking at their facial expressions, it was obvious that the actresses were serious. This scene had a lot of action between every character, including the dancer’s posse (Nathalie Fortunel, junior, and Marie Neal, sophomore), who also fought against Brown. Not many audience members know that the cast members improvised with the choreography during rehearsals, yet it was still amazing on stage.
Late into production and rehearsals, Beau Osborne, former junior at Athens and the original Nicely-Nicely Johnson, one of the small-time gamblers, left school unexpectedly, causing the theatre department to worry. Luckily, Brandon Yates, senior, stepped up to take Osborne’s role, even though he had a limited amount of time to learn the part. Yates, even under his time crunch, gave an enjoyable performance and danced brilliantly.
Nevertheless, every live show has its flaws. Some small components that needed improvement were the technical equipment, the volume control and the static. At the beginning of Act I, while Johnson, Benny Southwest (Devin Romney, junior) and fellow gambler, Rusty Charlie (David Wilson, sophomore) are on stage, it was hard to understand what they were singing. Some members of the cast used microphones that created static when placed too close to another microphone, which made the actors sound fuzzy and pitchy. The dancers also had room for improvement because in some choreographed scenes, like in the Havana restaurant scene, the dancers were not moving in unison.
On the other hand, all of the singers did a wonderful job. Ward’s reprise of “Adelaide’s Lament” was passionate, and Ward never let her character’s squeaky voice weaken. Sturgis’ performance of “Luck Be a Lady” was like listening to a Frank Sinatra record: rich, powerful and lively. Crowd favorite, Romney, had an energetic performance as Southwest; he truly represented the character’s anxious and excited personality.
Although it was time and money consuming, the show turned out to be very rewarding. Theatrical director Burgandy Zikowitz, musical director Joy Clayton, technical director Lee Ball, choreographer Emily Holcombe, the student-run technical crew and the cast all did a great job recreating the original musical. The production was worth much more than just a “bushel and a peck.”