If you feel like taking a school party to a traditional, roof-raising musical then you won’t do much better than this production of Guys and Dolls, a Chichester Festival Theatre show which transferred into the West End. It’s glitzy, funny and pulsating with energy as it sails triumphantly on to its feel good finale.
Jamie Parker, a fine singer as well as actor, exudes delicious sexual charisma, tempered with growing humility as Sky Masterton finding love and a conscience. David Haig finds kindness and decency in the often wrong-footed Nathan Detroit a weak-willed compulsive gambler and reluctant bridegroom. And Haig’s modest competence as a singer is more than satisfactorily offset by his acting strength. There’s also a show-stopping rendering of “Sit Down You’re Rockin’ the Boat” led by Gavin Spokes with fabulous panache.
Sophie Thompson’s high voiced, rueful Miss Adelaide, hobbling around in her platform soles, is a terrific performance including bravura dance sequences in the nightclub and the contrasting sad, but funny, neediness in the scenes with Nathan. And Siubhan Harrison delights as initially earnest Salvationist Sarah Brown trying and of course, eventually failing, to resist Sky Masterton’s charms. The drunken scene in Havana is a theatrical tour de force – as is almost every ensemble scene in this show. The dancing (choreography by Carlos Acosta and Andrew Wright) is top notch: fast and spectacular with lots of very rapid cartwheels, flips and lifts along with flamboyant legwork.
Then there’s Gareth Valentine managing a splendid band in the pit. His attention to musical detail ensures that the audience notices and enjoys every nuance of orchestration.
It closes at the Savoy on 12 March but reopens a week later at London’s Phoenix Theatre where it’s booking until October. At the same time there’s a big national tour including Liverpool, Canterbury, Aberdeen, Dublin, Plymouth, Norwich and many more. Of course there will be cast changes but basically it’s the same show and there are plenty of chances for you and your students to see it.