What I truly love about Music Theater Works is their absolute commitment to classic music theatre. They choose chestnuts from the American canon and go all in with them, offering fully fleshed out productions in period appropriate style. In the case of the now onstage Guys and Dolls that means fabulous costumes by Bob Kuhn, gorgeous hair and wigs by Alice Salazar and Melanie Saso and dynamic choreography by Clayton Cross, with Loesser’s memorable and ear wormable score perfectly realized under Linda Madonia with a full 8 piece orchestra led by Kevin Disch. The horn section really sends this show into the stratosphere. Music Theater Works has honored and honed Loesser’s use of operatic forms so well you won’t notice the skill required for the “arias” and recitatives. Guys and Dolls is considered a masterpiece of the form, and you will not see a higher quality production even if you head to a national touring Broadway version and this exquisitely danced version is right here in the comfy confines of Skokie.
If you haven’t paid any attention to music theatre since 1950 when this show premiered, you might not know that this cleaned up tale set in New York City, of gamblers and gangsters and the showgirls who love them along with the missionaries that try to “save” them, is originally based on some Damon Runyon short stories. So one does not go to Guys and Dolls looking for a contemporary depiction of gender roles and relationships: the glorious dancing and powerhouse singing may serve to make you forget that for your ancestors, marriage was the only career goal acceptable for women. Cecilia Iole’s Sarah Brown lets go of her evangelical primness and becomes a woman with a personal mission even as her grandfather, Bob Sanders as Arvide Abernathy, seems to think happiness is about finding a man. Jeffrey Charles as Sky Masterson is far less smooth and underhanded than many others who have fulfilled the role. Charles hints at a complex back story which is refreshing. Kristin Brintnall’s Adelaide is exceptional and channels Vivian Blaine who originated the role. Callan Roberts as Nathan Detroit is an interesting choice: more naive and hapless than angsty and stuck as he is often played. A special shout out to chameleon Peter Ruger whose wry physical comedy as the stage hand at the Hot Box nightclub makes the mood. He manages to physicalize all of the characters he plays in the show, from a street missionary to a member of the masses dancing their hearts out in Ben Lipinski’s atmospheric New York set. Ruger proves the adage that you don't need a lot of lines to be remarkable.
This is a production for the whole family to enjoy: I had a ball listening to the grandfather seated behind me telling his grandkids about seeing this show on Broadway when it first came out, then the whole family was singing Got the Horse Right Here (called the Fugue for Tinhorns) as they headed to the parking lot. Guys and Dolls is playing Wednesdays through Sundays in the North Theater at the North Shore Center for the Performing Arts, 9501 Skokie Boulevard in Skokie. For tickets and information go to https://www.musictheaterworks.com/2025-season/guys-and-dolls/
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