Theater Review—

Richter’s ‘Guys And Dolls’ Is Perfect Summer Escapism

By Julie Stern

DANBURY — There is oil pouring into the Gulf. Unemployment continues to be unmercifully high, while the real estate market continues to slump. There is frustration and strife in the Middle East and the war in Afghanistan is not going as well as we had hoped. And for the past week it’s been too darned hot!

I have no easy answers or quick solutions for any of the above real and serious problems, except perhaps, the last.

If you want to be cool and comfortable, if you want to take your mind off the troubles of the world for a couple of hours, if you want to just kick back and have a wonderful evening, get over to Richter Park and catch their season-opening production of Guys and Dolls.

Frank Loesser’s 1950 blockbuster is one of my all time favorite musicals to begin with. Based on some short stories by Damon Runyon, the plot follows the romances of two pairs of lovers: Nathan Detroit, a fast-talking wise guy who operates a floating crap game, who has been staving off marriage to Adelaide, his nightclub-singer girlfriend, for 14 years; and gambler Sky Masterton and missionary Sarah Brown.

Needing $1,000 to secure a safe place to hold a craps game, Nathan makes a “sure” bet with big time gambler, Sky Masterton, that Sky cannot get a girl to go to Havana with him. When Sky takes the bet, Nathan reveals that the girl he has chosen is Salvation Army Sergeant, Sarah Brown, the virginally prim and proper new director of the local mission.

Sky in turn makes a deal with Sarah: if she goes to dinner with him, he will provide a load of genuine sinners for her next prayer meeting. And so it goes…

The play is a vehicle for a dozen and a half of Loesser’s incredibly wonderful songs, consisting of one audience favorite after another, from the opening “Fugue for Three Tinhorns” (“I’ve got a horse right here, his name is Paul Revere…” ) through “My Time of Day,” “Take Back Your Mink” “Luck Be a Lady” “Sit Down You’re Rockin’ the Boat” and so forth.

Like Cole Porter before him, Loesser wrote lyrics that were as clever as his tunes were melodic, filled with picturesque imagery.

While the material Richter had to work with is top drawer stuff, what really matters is what director Donald Birely and his team have done with it, is why I feel this is the best work MAR has done in years. Where to begin?

For starters, there is the matter of talent. There is a huge cast — some thirty in number — and with crisp, professional direction they all perform beautifully. This means not just the principals, but the chorus and secondary players as well.

Choreographer Matthew Farina has done wonders with Adelaide’s Hot Box Dancers and their male cohorts. Director Birely keeps the action moving briskly but with attention to detail so that every action is carefully thought out, from the drunk flopping on the park bench to the pickpocket stalking the oblivious tourists to the gamblers wriggling uncomfortably on their chairs at the Mission Prayer Meeting. With a few deft touches, Runyon’s characters are brought magically to life on the stage.

All the singers have rich and melodious voices, but Chuck Stango and Elayne Cassara are totally hilarious as well in the roles of Nathan and Miss Adelaide. Similarly, Mensah Robinson, as the tin-horn Nicely Nicely Johnson, is terrific, especially in his heartfelt rendition of “Sit Down You’re Rocking the Boat.

As Sarah Brown, Beth Bria is an interesting choice. Not the typical ingénue, she wins you over by the power of her contralto. With Nathan Mandracchia as the cynical Sky — a man who has spent so much time in hotel rooms that he’s read the Gideon Bible 12 times — she represents a force for righteousness that can only end in religious conversion.

Joe Bukowski as Lt Brannigan (the cop determined to catch the gamblers in the act) does a fine job, as do brothers John and Mike Armstrong as Harry the Horse and Big Jule from Chicago. Bobby Bria and Peter Wood support Mensah Robinson as the tinhorns, Benny Southstreet and Rusty Charlie.

Barbara Kessler and Cat Heidel are Salvation Army stalwarts. It’s interesting that while many productions of this show have their missionaries equipped with bass drums and trumpets, musical director Anna DeMasi has them rely entirely on their voices. And in fact, when the mission ladies open the show by parading through the audience, belting out “Follow the fold (and stray no more)” it makes you want to jump up and follow them. I actually accepted a tract from Sergeant Sarah.

This production is over two hours long, but it goes by in a flash, with nary a dull moment or a flat spot in the entire evening. With live music, eye-catching costumes, and directorial perfectionism, this is Richter at its very best. Take your picnic and get over there and escape the cares of the world while you enjoy a great, great show!

(Performances continue at Richter Arts Center, 100 Aunt Hack Road in Danbury, weekends until July 3.

See the Enjoy Calendar or call 203-748-6873 for performance, ticket and reservation details).