2008 Guys and Dolls
Following a hugely successful season of Les Misérables in 2007, we wanted to find a very different show for our 2008 offering.
I am sure you will agree that Guys and Dolls is so vastly different from Les Mis that it is hard to imagine that it is brought to you by many of the same production team. What this show lacks in towering and eternal themes, it certainly compensates in colour, movement and vitality. The cast, orchestra and crew have thoroughly enjoyed the preparation and now it remains for the audience to bring the work to life through your energetic participation.
Staging such a popular and well known show as Guys and Dolls is a challenge. Everyone who has seen the show before will imagine how Miss Adelaide should be played, or how Sky Masterson should look, or how Miss Sarah should act. I have not yet seen the 1955 film where Marlon Brando plays Sky and Frank Sinatra plays Nathan Detroit. A piece of theatre, even one as trite as this one can be, still deserves fresh eyes. The text of Guys and Dolls has a comic book style, where characters are sharply drawn and the action is speedy, almost truncated. The narrative moves like comic strip frames, leaving the reader to fill in some of the detail from their own imagination. The humour undercuts successfully some of the less palatable elements of the characters and the choices they make. It is as if the whole narrative is a kind of fable that will move, in its own good time and circumstance, towards the inevitable happy end.
To convey the sense of comic book colour and shade, we have used sharp delineations in Robyn Lauder’s costume designs. Together with Jenny Campbell and their hard working team, they have spent countless hours of detailed effort preparing the costumes for the students. The crapshooters stand out so obviously that even the dull witted and slow moving Lt. Brannigan cannot fail to recognise them. Nathan Detroit (James Harding) and Sky Masterson (Alexander Clubb) experience contrasting encounters with two very different dolls, Miss Adelaide (Gracie Partridge/Hannah Benjamin) and Miss Sarah Brown (Lizzie Garrett / Zoe Freeman). The contrasting worlds of the Save a Soul Mission and the Hot Box Dolls, of the crap shooters and the chaotic inhabitants of Broadway invite the audience to move into a different kind of world, one in which the rolling of the dice could make you a fortune and where it could be lost on the same night. Such narratives are not to be taken too much to heart, even if the director feels a measure of ambivalence about trivialising such matters.
The set design by Hector Abrahams attempt to suggest the various New York City scenes without intruding on the actors’ space. References on the store windows and billboards are made to products that were popular in 1950. The streetscape suggests the chaotic, slightly misshapen scenes you might expect to see on Broadway. The levels deliberately are misaligned to emphasise the cartoon or comic book feeling of the whole work. The colours, too, suggest the imagery of the costuming and the setting. The look of the Hot Box Café is very different to that of “Save a Soul Mission Interior”, which his hardly surprising. The challenge has been to create the right images in a show that moves speedily from scene to scene and place to place. You will be the judge of the success with which we have executed the designer’s intentions.
The set construction of Ray Elphick once again has been a highlight of the production team. The scenery design required a great deal of elevation, which Ray somehow has achieved. These flats were painted with tremendous detail and finesse by a team of parents led by Pam Fairburn and Helen Humphrys.
Music Direction by Chris Belshaw was a highlight of the experience. We are very thankful to Jem Harding, Jack Symonds and Huw Belling for supporting the production. We enjoy so many excellent singers and musicians at the School. The choreography of this show required a special degree of energy and focus. The students responded to Natalie Neary and Catherine Vasilakis’ direction to produce the exciting effects you will see during the show. Needless to say, to achieve the effect the cast dedicated many hours of work.
To produce a piece like Guys and Dolls has involved more than 250 people within the St Andrew’s community. For that reason alone it is worth the effort. I can think of no better way of bringing our diverse and widespread community together than to prepare for a show. To all people who were involved in this production, the cast expresses their gratitude. The kindly assistance of Craig West, a new parent to the School, has been simply invaluable. I am indebted to him for his willingness to assist. Allison Calvi continues to support in so many ways and we thank her. Yet the pinnacle of energetic support and passion for the production was the indefatigable efforts of Jillian Workman, our producer.
The students in the cast and crew have been a delight. The show deliberately is playful and the students enjoyed the experience. It is with pride in our terrific School that we take pleasure in presenting this old favourite Guys and Dolls for you during 2008. It is another step along the way to putting the creative arts at the heart of the School’s annual programme.
Phillip Heath
Director
