Guys & Dolls at Bridge Theatre is a Sizzling, Immersive Experience.
Guys & Dolls, which is currently showing at Bridge Theatre in London, is a dynamic, immersive production of the well loved show which first swaggered its way onto Broadway in 1950, with music and lyrics by Frank Loesser and book by Jo Swerling and Abe Burrows. Here it is brought dazzlingly to life under the innovative direction of Nicholas Hytner, with choreography by Arlene Phillips.
It’s New York. The high-rollers are in town and want to gamble. Nathan Detroit (Owain Arthur) is the man to organise a crap game. Unfortunately, he needs to raise a thousand dollars to get a fitting venue. How will he raise the money? Gambling! He makes master gambler Sky Masterson (George Ioannides) a bet he knows he cannot possibly lose – that Sky cannot convince the fervently religious Sarah Brown (Celinde Schoenmaker), who works in the local mission, to go on a good-time trip with him to Havana. Meanwhile Nathan has romantic issues of his own, as his long standing fiancée, Miss Adelaide (Timmika Ramsay), is determined that they should tie the knot having been engaged for a mere 14 years.
The book of Guys and Dolls is a thing of beauty, with Swiss-watch like construction, and witty, gritty lines that you could listen to all day, while the songs have in many cases become standards, but it is the staging under Hytner’s direction that sets this production apart. There are two ticket types available, sitting and standing. This writer opted to stand, which for those able to stand for about two and a half hours, excluding the interval, is certainly the best way to experience the show. When standing during the show one is free to position themselves directly against the stage, which means that you will certainly find yourself nose to kneecap with the cast, if you so so wish. But that’s not the half of it.
The stage is actually a series of platforms that go up and down throughout the show, meaning that the performance space frequently changes shape, and so does the audience that surrounds it. Stagehands dressed as New York cops move throughout the audience, guiding us back when a platform is about to raise and beckoning us forward when a platform lowers, inviting us to step over the lowered portion of the stage and again stand close to the performers. At other times they direct the audience to part, creating entrances and exits for the actors. It is a remarkable piece of crowd choreography and the stagehands quite deserved their applause at the show’s end. This proximity allows for an unusual degree of interactivity between cast and audience. This writer was sprayed in the face, for a long time I might add, by one of the cast members holding a soda sprayer, until I had the good sense to duck and cover. At another moment I was invited to sit at a table and served a cocktail, only to have this seated area raised up on a platform to become part of a scene. So for a few minutes I was a live prop in the show, albeit in the background. It is this that people seem to love so much. Members of the standing audience had seen the show 2,3,4 times.
Of course all of this would be for nothing without the cast, who sing, dance and act with all the seedy aplomb that the show, and Arlene Phillips’ sexy, provocative choreography, demands. George Ioannides has the magnetism and rough diamond decency of Sky Masterson down to a fine art, and he handles the now classic number Luck Be a Lady, upon which the plot hinges, with confidence and vigour. Celinde Schoenmaker, who is leaving the production at the end of August, plays Sarah Brown with a deft comic touch as she goes from primness personified to a woman in love by way of Havana and a few glasses of Bacardi. She also has a lovely pure voice with a bird-like vibrato, quite befitting the role. Owain Arthur as Nathan Detroit is a sweaty, desperate bundle of energy and handles the richest comedic moments between himself and Miss Adelaide with excellent energy and timing. While Timmika Ramsay as Miss Adelaide manages to combine just the right amounts of powerful sass and yearning. She can also belt out a tune and has enormous stage presence. However, it must be said that Jonathan Andrew Hume as Nicely-Nicely Johnson provides the show with its highest point by dint of the show stopper Sit Down, You’re Rockin’ the Boat, which blows the roof off and just keeps on going.
This production of Guys & Dolls takes a legitimately great show and creates something innovative and immersive. Go and see it. Stand if you can.
Guys & Dolls is playing at Bridge Theatre, London until January 4th 2024.
