Guys And Dolls At The Stratford Festival
After nine years, Donna Feore’s sublime production of Guys and Dolls is back on the Festival Theatre stage to bathe those who saw the 2017 edition in glorious nostalgia and to enchant those encountering it for the first time.
Based on the stories of Damon Runyon, with music and wickedly clever lyrics by Frank Loesser and a very funny book by Jo Swerling and Abe Burrows, Guys and Dolls has my vote for the greatest of the the musicals from Broadway’s so-called golden age.
Runyon’s New York underworld was a colourful place where the gangsters and gamblers spoke an oddly elevated argot that eschewed contractions and the past tense as they christened one another with inventive nicknames.
I will assume you are familiar with the plot of Guys and Dolls. Those who were not brought up properly are free to consult Wikipedia.
Those who saw the 2017 outing will be relieved to know that this version is an almost photographic reproduction of the original, taking into account the tweaks to bits and business needed to accommodate a new cast. There is one egregious bit of miscasting, but I’ll let that go in the interest of not rocking the boat.
Comparisons, as they say, are odious, but the central characters of this rendition of Guys and Dolls are every bit the equal of their predecessors.
As good old reliable Nathan Detroit (Mark Uhre, Benny Southstreet in the 2017 production) is a sheer delight. My one regret is that the role doesn’t allow him to really showcase his considerable dancing chops. As Miss Adelaide, his long-suffering love interest who is suffering through a fourteen-year engagement, Jennifer Rider-Shaw turns in yet another smashing lead performance, one that rivals her star turn in Chicago.
Rider-Shaw is blessed with some of the greatest comic songs in the canon – “Adelaide’s Lament,” “Take Back Your Mink,” and “Marry The Man Today.” It’s a probable twelve to seven that you’ll never hear them sung better.
Contrasting with the broad comedy of Nathan and Adelaide is the unlikely love story of “Mission Doll” Sara Brown (Olivia Sinclair-Brisbane), who runs the Save-A-Soul Mission in the heart of Broadway, and the charismatic, high-rolling gambler Sky Masterson (Dan Chameroy).
Sinclair-Brisbane is the best Sara Brown I have ever seen. She makes both her evangelizing on Broadway and her tipsy brawling in a Havana nightclub utterly believable and utterly adorable.
The protean Chameroy, who can be truly outrageous as his Nostradamus in Something Rotten shows, plays it much closer to the vest as Sky. Like Sinclair-Brisbane, he makes the arc of his love completely believable.
Reprising his role from the 2017 production, Steve Ross once again brings the house down with his rousing rendition of “Sit Down, You’re Rocking the Boat.” No wonder he’s one of Stratford’s most beloved players.
Also worthy of note are Juan Chioran as Big Jule and Stephen Patterson as Arvide Abernathy. Chioran may lack the sheer bulk that the character name suggests but he more than makes up for it with a voice that sounds like metal shards in a blender.
Patterson does a beautiful job with the sentimental song “More I Cannot Wish You,” Interestingly, in this version he is Sara’s father, not her grandfather. So what’s with the different surnames?
Of course the real star of Guys and Dolls is Donna Feore’s direction and choreography. The woman is genius personified. Number after number is sheer perfection and every last one of them elicits extended applause. I was bit surprised there wasn’t a standing ovation or two. Canadian politesse?
Feore’s big production numbers, especially the “Crapshooters Dance,” are intricate tapestries of energetic movement, which is why I always recommend sitting in the balcony for a Feore musical. And I can’t leave the subject of her choreography without mentioning Devon Michael Brown’s astonishing leaps and tumbling runs, which have not lost an ounce of their power since he introduced them in 2017.
As they were in 2017, the sets of Michael Gianfrancesco and the costumes of Dana Osborne are simply terrific. This time around the lighting chores were handled by Bonnie Beecher who does a splendid job. The sound design, like that of Something Rotten, is by Haley Parcher, and as with Something Rotten the amplification occasionally reaches the pain level, especially when Rider-Shaw and Sinclair-Brisbane hit their high notes. But, hey, as Anastasia Steele might say, what’s a little pain when you’re in the throes of ecstasy as I was for most of the show.
I’ve already booked to revisit Guys and Dolls in a month. Once you’ve seen it you may well do the same.
Guys And Dolls continues at the Festival Theatre through November 1, 2026. For more information and to purchase tickets visit the Stratford Festival website.
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