Tommy Ratkiewicz and Emily Martyka in Guys & Dolls
The classic musical Guys & Dolls premiered on Broadway in 1950, winning five Tony awards including Best Musical. Frank Loesser wrote the music and lyrics, and Jo Swerling the book, rewritten by Abe Burrows. Swerling, among others, co-wrote It’s a Wonderful Life, as well as other screenplays. He just wasn’t fluent in Runyonese.
Huh?
Wildly popular journalist and short-story writer Damon Runyon infused real street dialects with polite, roundabout expressions for comic effect. Thus, he influenced show-biz depictions of criminals for decades. Anyway, Posy Feuer had come up with the idea to make Runyon’s stories into a musical. Who? Her husband Cy was a Broadway producer. Bing, bam, boom: Guys & Dolls. It was translated to film in 1955. Before Friday night at Eldridge's North Scott High School Fine Arts Auditorium, I hadn’t seen the show. Go on and clutch those poils, doll. I do not know the show. So sue me. But I had a swell time. In spades!
Guys & Dolls is Countryside Community Theatre’s current offering. The performers, crew, and staff, led by director Eric Field and music director Laura Engles, with choreographer Caroline Sieren and pit director George Behnke, have created a delightfully entertaining production, with some highly memorable portrayals. However, I had serious qualms during the first scene: “Runyonland.” It established a lively neighborhood in New York City with a string of no-dialogue bits featuring pedestrians, con artists, and cops. However, the stage is so wide that the time lags while actors crossed it, even at a brisk pace, seemed interminable. The whole production would’ve been better served by a narrower playing space, achievable with masking curtains. In later scenes, nightclub tables were isolated like farmsteads on the prairie, not packed together like subway commuters as would be typical in a big city. Visual technical problems also abounded, including digital scenery that seemed to scroll at random behind stationary characters, and there were awkward light plots and cues.
But let’s get to the great stuff, starting with “Fugue for Tinhorns” at the top of the show – my favorite number. (I heard it in the 1984 movie Oh God! You Devil, okay?). In it, Tim Dominicus' Nicely-Nicely, Joseph Nguyen's Benny, and Nate Gahagen's Rusty, three charming illegitimate businessmen, share melodious, good-natured pitches about which racehorse to pick. But the hustle they’re most into is craps – shooting dice. Their boss, Chase Crull's Nathan Detroit, has to find – and rent – a safe location for his infamous lucrative ongoing crap game. High rollers are in town, including Sky Masterson (Tommy Ratkiewicz), so Nathan tries to roll him – thus getting his rent dough – by betting Sky $1,000 he can’t talk a particular woman into flying to Havana. That woman is Sarah (Emily Martyka), a “sergeant” at a neighborhood mission. (I was getting The Music Man vibes at this point, but I get those a lot.)
Poor, beleaguered Nathan has personal problems, too. His girlfriend of 14 years, Adelaide (Courtney Cooper), wants him out of the crap game and into wedlock. Meanwhile, Nathan and his buddies are cowering before a visiting crap shooter, the large, intimidating Big Jule (Chip Witt). So many obstacles to overcome! But it’s a beloved musical, in part, because you know there’ll be a “happy ending.” This isn't a spoiler, by the way – it says so, right in the program. It’s the title of the final number.
The singing and blends here are to swoon for. Sarah and Sky’s “I’ll Know” and “I’ve Never Been in Love Before” are lovely highlights, as are the heartfelt “More I Cannot Wish You" sung by Sarah’s grandfather Arvide (Anthony Dexter), Nathan and Adelaide’s “Sue Me,” and Adelaide and Sarah’s “Marry the Man Today.”
But what really got to me, with every single performer on that stage, was the acting. The physical stances, postures, attitudes – every character-infused step, whether of dance or not. The smiles, winks, nudges, hat-tips, little hops and double-takes; dejection, drooping, and fear (always comical – reassuring when you’re surrounded by even-pretend hustlers). Nothing looked calculated or overdone. These were real, natural people; even though they were characters, the emotions felt genuine. And the Noo Yawk accents – I was totally convinced. In particular, I hung on Miss Cooper’s every syllable. What a magnificent portrayal, in every aspect! The show's younger actors also did a lot of nimble stage-crew setting and striking. Show-biz isn’t all glamour, and that’s a lesson best learned early.
I must also mention Guys & Dolls' glorious 15-member orchestra, positioned backstage instead of in the pit, who delivered outstanding accuracy and dynamics. I heard every note, as I heard every actor’s word, so big thanks to the tech crew and everyone who had to deal with those pesky body mics.
Go. Enjoy. As Sky says: “I’ll lay you eight to five you'll be very happy.”
Countryside Community Theatre's Guys & Dolls runs at the North Scott High School Fine Arts Auditorium (200 South First Street, Eldridge, IA) through July 12, and more information and tickets are available by calling (563)219-7519 and visiting CountrysideQC.org.
