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Melanie Marshall as General Cartwright and Jack Edwards as Nicely-Nicely entreat everyone to sit down and not rock the boat. Pictures: Johan Persson Guys and Dolls
Wolverhampton Grand
**** THIS is one of
the great musicals, up there with the likes of
West Side Story, The Sound of Music,
Cabaret, Les Miserables
. . . and a sheer delight from beginning to end. It is lively,
colourful, has superb set which gives you everything from the New York
skyline, to nightclubs and even Times Square, plenty of la It might be of pensionable age by now, it first appeared on Broadway in 1950, but age hardly matters with such a well-crafted show with a strong enough storyline to stand on its own, colourful characters and songs written to compliment the dialogue rather than just shoehorned in – a feature of too many modern jukebox musicals.
It is based on two of
Damon Runyon’s short stories The Idyll of Miss
Sarah Brown and Blood Pressure
set on Broadway in the prohibition years, a world and even a language he
invented full of characters such as Harry the Horse, Nicely-Nicely
Johnson, Benny Southside and Rusty Charlie, a world of gamblers,
gangsters and showgirls. It you haven’t read Runyon then perhaps you
should.
The musical surrounds
Nathan Detroit’s search for a location for his illegal craps game,
The oldest established
permanent floating crap game in New York. The only place on offer is the
Biltmore Garage, which wants $1,000 cash up front. Maxwell Caulfield is a believable Detroit,
avoiding marriage, ducking and dodging his way through life, living on
his wits and always needing cash. Which brings in a bet for said $1,000 with high
roller, bet on anything, Sky Masterson who is bet he can’t take the
religious and pious Miss Sarah Brown to Havana for dinner. Richard
Fleeshman is a likeable Sky, suave, sophisticated - at least against the
rest of the Broadway low-life - and with a decent voice. Bethany Lindsell is a straight-laced Miss Brown,
who runs the Save a Soul mission which, in truth, is struggling to find
any souls to save. She has a nice voice which blends well with Sky in
their duets and has no idea that it is Detroit’s bet that has set in
train a world of romance. When it comes to romance though, Detroit’s train
is stuck in the sidings, having been engaged to Miss Adelaide for 14
years. Adelaide is a lovely comedy role and Louise De Nicely-Nicely is played
with a sense of fun by the larger than life Jack Edwards with
Sit Down, you’re rocking the boat
a highlight. There is good support from Peter Harding as
Sarah’s grandfather Arvide, Mark Sangster as Benny, Christopher Howell
as Rusty Charlie, Craig Pinder as Harry the Horse, Cameron Johnson as
Big Jule, Anthony McGill as Lt Branigan and Melanie Marshall General
Cartwright.
Choreography is slick and clever, as you might
expect from Carlos Acosta and Andrew Wright which director Gordon
Greenberg keeps everything moving along at a cracking pace, helped by
Peter McKintosh’s wonderfully flexible design of a semi-circular wall of
advertising panels which, thanks to the wonder of LEDs and computers can
be nightclub, skyline, street scenes or even Havana. The Chichester Festival Theatre production passed
through on its way to the West End last year -where it remains until at
least October and this is a new touring production, but the West End
production values are still there for all to see. A class musical and a
class production. To 23-07-16 Roger Clarke 29-07-16 And down the street . . . **** THIS is one of
the great musicals that has never required one big number to lift the
audience, but if you needed to look for a show stopper it would surely
be Sit Down, You’re
Rockin’ the Boat. It comes near the end when the gamblers are
confessing their sins to music in New York’s Save a Soul Mission, and
Jack Edwards, playing the chubby Nicely-Nicely Johnson, leads the way
with his scary dream of going overboard on a cruise to heaven. A brilliant performance by Edwards, earning a
huge ovation from the first night audience, and this 1950 hit, which
spawned the movie starring Marlon Brando, Frank Sinatra and Jean
Simmons, is still able to pack ‘em in. It is staged on a clever, electronic set, and the
story is full of warmth, humour and wonderful choreography by Carlos
Acosta and Andrew Wright. Richard Fleeshman and Bethany Lindsell haven’t
the best voices I have heard for the love interest roles of big-time
gambler Sky Masterson and Sgt Sarah Brown, who runs the mission, but
move up a few gears when they join the cast of a Havana night club for
an alcohol-fuelled dance that sends the pulses racing. The most convincing couple in this colourful
musical are Maxwell Caufield, playing the amusing floating crap game
organiser Nathan Detroit, and his so-patient fiancee of 14 years, Hot
Box club singer-dancer Miss Adelaide (Louise Dearman). They have some
great moments. And there is a
spectacular scene in a sewer where the gamblers meet to play out of
sight of the cops, dance to Luck Be a
Lady, and visiting gangster Big Jule
(Cameron Johnson) insists on using his own pair of dice from which he
has removed the numbers . . . but can remember what they were! Andy Massey is musical director of a fine show
which runs to 23-07-16 Paul Marston
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ughs,
a bit of pathos, an unlikely romance, good strong songs, including the
likes 
arman
does it full justice with her asides and one liners devoid of all logic,
and, of course, her kitsch nightclub act at the Hot Box.