AMATEUR THEATRE REVIEW: Guys And Dolls - St. George's Hall, Bradford.

 

'Guys And Dolls' is an absolute classic of a show that holds a special place in my heart as the last production I was a part of way back in my college days; there aren’t many shows that I know or love as well as this one, so I was excited to see Buttershaw St Paul’s AODS put their spin on it. Admittedly I’ve been a little spoilt with my theatre experiences – I’m usually one for large scale productions and haven’t had much experience with amateur productions from an audience standpoint, so I wasn’t too sure what to expect – but I must say that I was pleasantly surprised! Despite a few hiccups, BSP pulled out all the stops to provide us with an evening full of song, silliness and spats that definitely did this well-established show justice.

'Guys And Dolls' tells the heartwarming, rib-tickling tale of a bunch of ne’er-do-well gamblers making the most of Broadway’s criminal underbelly in the 1940s – and despite being law-dodging criminals betting their lives away on the ‘oldest established permanent floating craps game in New York’, you can’t help but love them. Nathan Detroit (Rick Whyte) is the witty and comical ringleader, on the run from the law and from his long-suffering fiancé Adelaide (Stacey Gilyard-Rodgers) and trying to find a place to hold his game, makes a deal with renowned betting man Sky Masterson (Richard Armstrong) that he can’t convince uptight Lord-loving Sarah Brown (Francesca Rosado) of the Save A Soul Mission to join him on a date in Havana – to the tune of £1000. As is always the way, the guys get their dolls, and everybody wins; but not before a series of hilarious mishaps and miscommunications that you really must see for yourself.

The production values looked high – the set design looked incredibly professional, though it is a shame this doesn’t seem to be credited in the programme. I particularly enjoyed the simple way the changes of location were managed; beautifully designed street signs for ‘Broadway’, ‘The Hot Box’ and the ‘Save A Soul Mission’ were suspended above the scenes, illuminated by spotlight one at a time to show where the scenes were taking place. A simple yet effective means of transitioning which, when paired with a few additional set pieces, did the job beautifully – although there did appear to be a mix up with scene changes at one point, but this was quickly rectified and not too much of a distraction once the crew had picked up on the mistake.The mics were a little sensitive overall, or perhaps not perfectly placed, as breathing and on-stage movement was as easily heard as the dialogue, although this was easier to switch off to once the show got going, but listening to a backstage conversation above the happenings on stage, when one cast member forgot to switch off their mic after leaving the stage was more than unfortunate! The only other slight negative was the ensemble movement on stage – dance numbers were quite repetitive sadly, and sometimes we had some crowding and problems with them exiting the stage. This looked a tad messy at times. However, ‘Luck Be A Lady’ as a male ensemble piece absolutely stole the show – no notes.

Staying with the positives – of which there were many! The casting choices for the leads were marvellous; Rick Whyte and Stacey Gilyard-Rodgers painted the perfect pair as Nathan and Adelaide, with a wonderful on-stage chemistry and non-stop energy and performances that wouldn’t be out of place in a professional production. And it was lovely to watch the sarcasm develop into soppiness between Richard Amstrong and Francesca Rosado as Sky and Sarah – perhaps wanting a little fine tuning as they’re not easy parts to play, but it could just have been first night nerves, and I was still really surprised by the level of talent we were treated to. The band were also a major highlight – again, a definite surprise!

The BSP have been around for over 90 years now and it’s easy to see why – their people have real passion, and it really shows. 

Reviewer - Hazel Goodlad
on - 25.1.24