Bridge Theatre, London – booking until 31 August 2024
Reviewed by Claire Roderick
5*****
One year on, and Nicholas Hytner’s production of Guys and Dolls is as exciting and energetic as ever.
With seating in the round available, or immersive standing tickets, the streets of New York are brought to vivid life on Bunny Christie’s ever changing set. Neon signs and traffic lights hang overhead to denote locations as platforms rise and fall to create sidewalks, sewers, cafes and The Hot Box night club. The energy in the standing audience is always electric, as the stage crew, dressed as New York’s finest, shepherd you around to make space for rising platforms and cast entrances. Christie and Deborah Andrews’ costumes capture the seediness and glamour of 1950s New York brilliantly, while Arlene Phillips and James Cousins’ choreography is fast, slick and sexy.
Jo Swerling and Abe Burrows’ book, inspired by Damon Runyan’s stories of wise guys, hustlers and hoodlums, is corny and kitsch, but the full-throated comedy performances of the cast suck you into the seedy world. Frank Loesser’s timeless music and lyrics are the lifeblood of the show, and the entire cast sing and dance as if their lives depended on it.
Owain Arthur takes over the role of Nathan Detroit, with a fantastically flustered comic touch as he tries to stay two steps ahead of the law and his long-suffering fiancé Miss Adelaide (Timmika Ramsay – giving a powerhouse performance and the perfect comic foil for Arthur). George Ioannides and Celinde Schoenmaker continue in their roles as slick gambler Sky Masterson and Sarah Brown, the mission doll he bets he can take to Havana. Ioannides and Schoenmaker’s chemistry is electric, and their voices sublime. Jonathan Andrew Hume is the new Nicely-Nicely Johnson, magnificent in the showstopping Sit Down, You’re Rockin’ the Boat – staged and choreographed to create a fever pitch level of excitement in the audience.
Whether you choose to sit and marvel at the show from above or get down and dirty on the mean streets of New York, Guys and Dolls is an incredible and unforgettable theatrical experience.