Guys and Dolls is considered one of the quintessential American musical comedies that stem from the golden age of musical theatre. Damon Runyon’s colorful cast of characters with names like Sky, Liver Lips Louie, Harry the Horse, along with his stories of gamblers and denizens of Broadway, provided the foundation to Frank Loesser’s timeless songs like Luck Be a Lady, Sue Me, and I’ve Never Been in Love Before. Runyon’s characters, with Loesser’s music and lyrics combined with the dialogue by Jo Swerling and Abe Burrows, all combine to create what is known as the American book musical. The formula has been such a staple of Broadway, community theatres, and schools for well over a half of a century now, that when new variations on the old style come along they are either wildly popular like Lin Manuel Miranda’s In the Heights, or Hamilton, or fail miserably like Disaster! Never heard of that last one? There’s a reason.
Despite some innovations to the standard book musical, the basic format remains the same. First, tell a story with interesting characters. Two, have those characters spontaneously break into song and dance numbers. Three, add a little conflict, and throw in a few jokes. Viola! Musical comedy. Ultimately, as unrealistic it is to believe in characters who spontaneously sing and dance, even today’s modern audiences suspend their disbelief and find themselves entertained - so long as it is entertaining. It may sometimes cause you to think, or to challenge what you once thought, but ultimately, a musical that entertains, succeeds. And that brings me back to this show.
A sixteen year old was pestered by his sophomore English teacher to audition for the spring musical. The cocky, sophomoric kid, refused, believing that spontaneous song and dance was just “not his thing.” Partly to appease his teacher, and perhaps just to try something different, he auditions. When the cast list appears and his name is next to a character with a name, he’s shocked, curious, and immediately questions what he has just gotten himself involved with. What he discovers, is what would eventually become a life-long passion of using theatre to entertain, to educate, to challenge, and to bring to life, stories and characters for a variety of audiences.
Theatre shapes lives. I believe in the value of entertainment, for the sake of entertaining. That’s Guys and Dolls. It’s a variety of fun characters, living life, making mistakes, attempting to make those mistakes right while they sing, dance, and tell their stories. There’s a reason it has been a staple of American musical theatre for a half of a century. There’s a reason why I’ve been involved with theatre for over over twenty-five years. All of that is brought to you tonight by students who took their own chances. Gambled at being a part of something fun. Learned to work together to make everyone around them look good. And whose lives, like mine, will be shaped by what they have done to make this show as entertaining as they can for you. And maybe, whether they ever do theatre again, or end up being involved with it over the next three decades or more, their lives will forever be shaped by Guys and Dolls.
