April 4th, 2008
NEW BEDFORD – When a new musical called Guys and Dolls was announced in 1949, who would have bet that a show about gamblers, based on short stories by newspaperman Damon Runyon, would become a musical theatre classic?
But critics jockeyed for superlatives during the show’s five-week tryout in Philadelphia during the fall of 1950: “perfect” and “resounding hit” were typical verdicts. When the musical opened at Broadway’s 46th Street Theatre (now the Richard Rodgers) on November 24th, 1950, the next day’s newspaper proclaimed Guys and Dolls “a perfect musical comedy”. “It’s the Oklahoma! of the horse players, the South Pacific of the crapshooters”, explained one critic, while Brooks Atkinson termed the show “a musical play that Broadway can be proud of…a work of art”.
The original production ran for 1,200 performances and garnered five Tony Awards, including one for Best Musical.
Guys and Dolls opens in brash, flashy Runyonland – the comic book Times Square of a crapshooter’s dream – where police, con men, simpering lasses, ladies of dubious morals and Salvation Army types parade. Nathan Detroit, a harried but avid gambler, needs to raise $1,000 to front the floating crap game he runs. Nathan bets the dashing Sky Masterson that the next girl Sky sees will fall for him. And the next girl Sky sees is the prim Sara Brown, who runs the shabby Save-a-Soul Mission. After Sky sweeps Sara down to Havana for a rendezvous, they fall for each other. Meanwhile, Nathan keeps jilting Miss Adelaide, the nightclub singer to whom he has been engaged for 14 years, giving her a fierce case of psychosomatic sniffles from never marching to the altar. After appropriate comic complications, Nathan gets his game, Sky comes down to earth, Sarah saves a soul, and Adelaide gets rid of her cold.
Guys and Dolls will mark the completion of the Voc-Tech Theatre Company’s 8th season and 16th production. Cast and crew are all committed to creating great entertainment – and having a high old time doing it.
“It’s not a show with a great life saving message nor does it teach us how we should all lead our lives so that the world will be a better place in which to live,” says Gerald A. Morrissey, Jr., the Theatre Company’s Artistic Director. “It’s just a show that provides rolls of laughter and a score which is one of the priceless gems of American Pop Culture”.
With songs such as “Sit Down You’re Rocking The Boat”, “If I Were a Bell”, Bushel and a Peck”, “Luck Be a Lady”, coupled up with New York’s most colorful and crazy characters, you’ve got a bet you just can’t lose, and we are all counting on “Luck” being a real lady here at the Voc-Tech Auditorium on May 15th, 16th, 17th and 18th.
Showtime is at 7:00 p.m. with a 2:00 p.m. Sunday matinee. Tickets are all reserved, with adults at $12, seniors at $8, and students and children at $6.
Tickets can be purchased by calling the Box Office at (508) 998-3321, ext. 424. Starting April 8th, tickets can also be purchased at the Welcome Center located in the main lobby at Voc-Tech from 3:00-6:00 p.m.
The Theatre Company is also featuring a New York Style Gourmet Dinner Theatre on opening night, Thursday, May 15th at 5:00 p.m. Tickets for the package are $24.95 and must be reserved. Seating is limited so call early.
|
