The television series Glee has proven that a passion for Broadway show tunes and 1980s pop songs can be invigorating, sexy and relevant. Week after week, Glee has shown that old-fashioned song-and-dance numbers can be infused with a contemporary sensibility to bridge the generation gaps, appealing to teenagers, their parents and grandparents. Now, director John Rando has given us a Glee-ful version of the 1950 musical Guys & Dolls that's exhilarating, electrifying and enticingly erotic.
There are two love stories in Guys & Dolls, and they're rarely convincing in the countless versions I've seen at summer camps, high schools, community theaters and on Broadway. (With all due respect to Nathan Lane who played Nathan Detroit on Broadway in 1992, I always thought he'd really rather be playing Miss Adelaide than her longtime fiancé.) But in this fresh production, you can feel the pheromones colliding onstage as if someone laced the water in the dressing rooms with Viagra and Benzedrine. Barrington Stage's Guys & Dolls is not just hot, it's on fire. Casting is destiny in theater, and Guys & Dolls has an impeccable roster of actors. Leslie Kritzer (who was brilliant in last year's The Memory Show at BSC's Musical Theatre Lab) looks like an avatar of the showgirl Miss Adelaide—she might have popped out of a Pixar movie, and she manages to be deliciously synthetic and authentic at the same time. Her two schmaltzy nightclub numbers—"A Bushel and A Peck" and "Take Back Your Mink"—are laced with innuendo and the contradictions of mid-century mores. By the second act, when she sings "Sue Me" (with Nathan played by Michael Thomas Holmes) and "Marry the Man Today" (with Sister Sarah played by Morgan James), you realize that Kritzer just may be her generation's Carol Burnett; she's got an elastic face, a powerful voice, and the ability to get a laugh by just lifting an eyebrow. Michael Thomas Holmes is every inch her equal, and his take on Nathan makes him a sincerely lovable "no-goodnik," and he delivers every line with gusto and flawless timing. It's a wonder that Matthew Risch (the devilishly handsome actor who plays the gambler Sky Masterson) and Morgan James (the beautiful ingenue who plays the missionary Sarah Brown) don't rip each other's clothes off right on stage. They don't just have chemistry; they have lust in their hearts and loins. In other versions of the play, their romance seems far fetched, but here it feels like destiny.
The rest of the cast is uniformly excellent. Daniel Marcus, who plays Nicely-Nicely Johnson, is one of those character actors with the charisma of a leading man, and he makes "Sit Down, Your Rockin' the Boat" a show stopper. Peggy Pharr Wilson plays General Matilda B. Cartwright as a missionary with a wandering eye and she has some of the best comic moments in the play. Indeed, Rando has underscored every laugh line without going ironic; he's managed to update Guys & Dolls while still keeping it a family show. Every element of the production is superb. Joshua Bergasse's choreography is brash and breathtakingly energetic. Alexander Dodge's sets are a wonderful pastiche: a moody, modernist Times Square, a realistic Save A Soul mission and an appropriately gaudy Hot Box nightclub. The costumes by Alejo Vietti bring each character to life, especially Miss Adelaide. Rui Rita's lighting adds drama to every scene, and Darren Cohen's musical direction has you tapping your foot every step of the way. As it has done for the past several years, Barrington Stage has set an unbelievably high bar for the Berkshires summer theater season. Guys & Dolls is the current gold standard. Guys & Dolls at Barrington Stage CompanyPittsfield, MA Through July 16, 2011
