Although it won a Tony Award for its first Broadway staging in 1950, and is regarded as a Broadway classic, the musical “Guys and Dolls” still seemed an unusual choice by Opera Australia to be given the HOSH treatment.
The choice of former Artistic Director, Jo Davis, who was also scheduled to direct it, the musical was inspired by the stories of Damon Runyan which famously features cartoonish gangsters, gamblers and other characters who inhabited Runyan’s version of the New York underworld and who speak in a unique comic dialect that mixes highly formal language and colourful slang.
The score contains several memorable songs, but after 75 years, the book is dated and the world that Runyan celebrated is long gone. How the show would have presented had Davis remained to direct it as originally planned, will never be known, but her contribution to the concept is acknowledged in the printed program.
However, on her sudden departure, Opera Australia entrusted the directing responsibilities to emerging young director, Shaun Rennie, who has been hitting sixers with his productions over the last couple of years, and surrounded him with a team of the best musical theatre creatives in the country, including Musical Director, Guy Simpson, Choreographer, Kelly Abbey, Set Designer Brian Thomson and costume designer Jennifer Irwin, and a fresh young cast of accomplished singers, dancers and actors.
Despite the fact that most of the action for the musical takes place in a third-rate cabaret and a charity meeting room, Brian Thomson, a veteran in creating spectacular outdoor settings for HOSH, outdid himself with a set that, for the first time for a HOSH production, has the orchestra in full view of the audience, positioning them high above the outdoor stage behind a dropdown street sign. For his centrepiece, Thomson devised an oversized yellow New York taxicab which offers a surprise at every turn.
Guy Simpson took advantage of his large orchestra’s exposure by providing them with fresh new arrangements, including exciting new backings for the Cuban scene, and turning the title number Guys and Dolls, originally a duet, and Luck Be a Lady into spectacular full-stage production numbers.
Unarguably the best commercial dance choreographer in the country, Kelly Abbey is renowned for the originality and virtuosity of her dance creations. Those who saw her stunning dance segments for the HOSH production of Carmen are unlikely to forget them.
However, for this production of Guys & Dolls Abbey has exceeded even those, by gathering together a team of extraordinary dancers, and pulling out all stops to create a series of spectacular dance numbers that not only show off the highly polished techniques of her dancers but also revels in the opportunities offered by Jennifer Irwin’s colourful 50’s inspired costumes, to fill the vast HOSH stage with riotous colour and movement.
But it is still the Director who has the responsibility of focussing and organising all these disparate elements so that the actors charged with telling the story, don’t get lost among all the activity on the vast stage. It is in this that Rennie excels.
Working with a dream cast of skilled musical theatre performers, none of whom would have been born when the musical was created, let alone participated in a crap game, Rennie draws on the brilliance of lighting designer, Bruno Poet, and the sound design skills of Jim Atkins, to create inventive blocking to both showcase his performers and captivate the audience with the storytelling.
His cast work hard to make their characters believable, but with Guys & Dolls this is a tall order, because, with the exception of Sky Masterson and Sarah Brown, the other roles are written as caricatures intended to be performed by actors skilled in the art of old-fashioned vaudeville comedy schtick. Although the skill of clever schtick for actors is rapidly disappearing, Rennie’s cast endeavour to replace it with youthful enthusiasm.
Following her recent showstopping turn in Candide at the Sydney Opera House, the role of Sarah Brown offers Annie Aitken little opportunity to display her vocal and comedic brilliance. Her renditions of I’ll Know and I’ve Never Been in Love Before are prettily sung, but conventional.
Her only opportunity to display her comedic talents came with If I Were a Bell but due to the restrictive nature of the role, her interpretation of this song felt rather too forceful, even charmless, as were her over-enthusiastic responses to Sky Masterson in the Cuban scene.
Elsewhere her performance was nicely judged, even affecting, particularly in her duet with Cody Simpson, I’ve Never Been in Love Before, and her responses to More I Cannot Wish You sung by Tony McGill as Arvide Abernathy.
Surprise casting, and making his Australian musical theatre debut as Sky Masterson, Cody Simpson brought a youthful charm and fine voice to his role. He was given strong support from Bobby Fox as Nathan Detroit and Jason Arrow as Nicely Nicely Johnson, displaying his versatility, fresh from touring the country in the title role in Hamilton, along with Joel Granger (Benny Southstreet), Kieran McGrath (Rusty Charlie), John Xintavelonis (Harry the Horse) and Doron Chester (Big Julie), particularly during the spectacular staging of Luck Be a Lady.
But it is Angelina Thomson who steals the show with her exuberant performance as the long-suffering Miss Adelaide. Perhaps best known for her television role in the TV series Home and Away, Thomson has already appeared in a succession of musicals.
However it is this exuberant performance as Miss Adelaide, which she smashes out of the ballpark with her accomplished singing, dancing and acting, particularly in Bushell and a Peck and Take Back Your Mink that will undoubtedly mark Miss Adelaide as her breakout role.
Whether or not Guys & Dolls is among your favourite musicals, this HOSH production is a rare of example of where the production, rather than the show itself, becomes the star, and how a talented director gifted with brilliant creatives and enthusiastic cast can transform a potential disaster into a diamante incrusted silk purse.
Handa Opera on Sydney Harbour: Guys & Dolls
Fleet Steps – Mrs Macquaries Point, Sydney
Performance: Friday 21 March 2025
Season continues to 20 April 2025
Information and Bookings: www.opera.org.au
Images: Jason Arrow as Nicely-Nicely Johnson, Joel Granger as Benny Southstreet and John Xintavelonis as Harry the Horse in the Handa Opera on Sydney Harbour’s 2025 production of Guys & Dolls – photo by Neil Bennett | Handa Opera on Sydney Harbour Orchestra, conducted by Musical Director Guy Simpson at Guys & Dolls on Sydney Harbour – photo by Hamilton Lund | Cody Simpson as Sky Masterson and Bobby Fox as Nathan Detroit in the Handa Opera on Sydney Harbour’s 2025 production of Guys & Dolls – photo by Neil Bennett | Annie Aitken as Sarah Brown and Cody Simpson as Sky Masterson in the Handa Opera on Sydney Harbour’s 2025 production of Guys & Dolls – photo by Neil Bennett | Angelina Thomson as Miss Adelaide in the Handa Opera on Sydney Harbour’s 2025 production of Guys & Dolls – photo by Carlita Sari
Review: Bill Stephens OAM