Guys and Dolls, one of the great musicals, with unforgettable songs by Frank Loesser (they don't write songs like this for musicals anymore) and a still-snappy book by Jo Swerling and Abe Burrows, opens with super style in an inventive set (by Robert Brill), spectacular costumes (by Paul Tazewell), super choreography (by Sergio Trujillo) and period tone with a mime show of New York gangsters and gamblers in action in the 1930's.
While the entire chorus of terrific singers and acrobatic dancers can move dynamically to the innovative choreography, there are, for me, a couple of flaws in the principal cast. While Craig Bierko as Sky Masterson and Lauren Graham as Adelaide are vibrant, Broadway-level performers, Oliver Platt as Nathan Detroit lacks the edge the character needs, and Kate Jennings Grant, who is very pretty and has a lovely, strong singing voice, lacks the undercurrent of repressed sexuality the character should have in Act 1 that Masterson will bring to fruition in Act 2.
Mary Testa as The General just about steals the show with her energy and verve. I love the theatricality of the production (snappily directed by Des McAnuff), the great songs sung well, the wonderful stage pictures where every nuance in action and costume cooks -- it's a great musical that the audience loved.
