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Article content To June 30 Stanley Industrial Alliance Stage From $39 at The quintessential New York musical, set among the gamblers and small-time gangsters of Broadway, Guys and Dolls has long been one of my favourite shows. I’ve seen several excellent productions and loved the movie starring Frank Sinatra, Marlon Brando and Vivian Blaine. I know almost all the songs by heart.

So my bar was set very high for the Arts Club’s version, staged by artistic director Ashlie Corcoran. I can sum up my reaction in one word: knockout. This is as handsome a production as I’ve seen, with a brightly lit, marvellously versatile Times Square-ish set by Scott Penner, cheesily handsome costumes by Christine Reimer, and Shelley Stewart Hunt’s imaginative choreography in support of a terrific ensemble cast of 24 crowned by Madeleine Suddaby’s magnificent star turn as Miss Adelaide.



One plot line follows Nathan Detroit (Josh Epstein), engaged to showgirl Adelaide for 14 years, who needs a venue for his crap game. The other concerns gambler Sky Masterson (Jonathan Winsby), trying to win a bet with Nathan by winning the heart of Salvation Army Sgt. Sarah Brown (Chelsea Rose).

Guys and Dolls premiered in 1950 and those plots mostly follow 1950s gender norms: though in love with their dolls, the guys want to stay single and free; the dolls in turn want conventional marriages, though neither woman is conventional. Frank Loesser’s music and lyrics, among the best Broadway has ever produce.

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