By Les Spindle for Backstage West
Guys and Dolls

Frank Loesser's perennially popular 1950 tuner has always felt as much like a cartoon musical as those derived from comic strips such as Annie and Li'l Abner. There's something about this lighthearted portrait of Damon Runyon's chauvinistic but harmless Big Apple mobsters and their sassy dames that cries out for garishly bright sets and costumes, and oversized performances. One can almost see those dialogue balloons floating over the characters' heads. In recent years, revivals have tended to work against the show's old-fashioned whimsy in favor of something closer to a bona fide love story, presumably hoping to appease contemporary tastes. Director Nick DeGruccio's staging blends stylized tableaus and cotton-candy production numbers with prosaic dialogue exchanges that keep this creampuff musical from scaling the giddy heights one expects.

Thankfully, there are saving graces: sterling lead performances and zesty dance sequences by choreographer Lee Martino. Kevin Earley makes a dapper and likeable Sky Masterson and is in tip-top voice. As the emotionally repressed yet stouthearted evangelist Sarah, Tami Tappan Damiano is buoyant and offers splendid renditions of the soaring Loesser love ballads. Bets Malone is an irresistible Miss Adelaide, finding the perfect balance between daffy kewpie doll and surprisingly smart cookie. Patrick De Santis is appealing as marriage-shy gambler Nathan Detroit, and John Massey has considerable fun as the resourceful second banana Nicely Nicely Johnson.

Unfortunately the pace lags when the coterie of gangsters converges in lackluster ensemble scenes. This is particularly evident in the plodding crapshoot sequence in the second act. The last thing this frothy show needs is talky and humorless lapses. Drab sets by The Set Company don't help, and Jeremy Pivnick's lighting too often strives for a gritty look, when ebullient high spirits are needed. The guys and their dolls strike a royal flush, but too much else in this rendition feels like an unlucky crapshoot.

7/17/2005

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