The stage is black and all is quiet. Music blares throughout the dome.  The whole stage is in lit and in view. The musical kicks into gear and the first actor comes onto the stage. By the first note, it is clear the musical will be a smashing success.

The 1950 Broadway hit, Guys and Dolls, a comedy about unlikely friends, is set in 1940s New York City..

The main characters of the musical, Miss Adelaide, Nathan Detroit, Detective Brannigan, Sarah Brown, Sky Masterson, Arvide Abernathy, Harry the Horse, Nicely-Nicely Johnson and others,  are petty criminals and gamblers.

“There are so many fun and colorful characters,” said Tania Ayoub, Debate and Theatre teacher and TAPA Instructor. “We have gamblers, gangsters, chorus girls, and dirty cops! The story starts with Nathan Detroit trying to find a new location for his “floating craps game”, which is illegal gambling. Detective Brannigan is breathing down his neck, and he has to come up with cash quickly to rent out a spot for his illegal gambling night. He makes a bet with Sky Masterson in order to get the money he needs and the story continues from there.”

The musical is a new experience for Talon Theatre, considering it is a comedy and will have different aspects of it, such as the New York dialect and providing adequate comedic relief to engage the audience.

“For the first time we are having a dialect coach coming in to teach us a traditional New York accent,” said junior Dylan Field, who plays Nathan Detroit. “Nathan Detroit is a facilitator of a dice game and uses a different type of comedy that I haven’t used a lot before, so I’m most excited about playing a different type of role.”

Thematically, Guys and Dolls portrays the everyday suffering and hardships of normal people, without glamorizing the challenges.

“Our Talon Theatre Year is based on the slogan ‘Art and Soul’ so part of the story of Guys and Dolls has to do with a change of heart and conversion from how to live a better life,” said Amy Luskey-Barth, Director of Theatre Arts. “There is a sense of redemption, even though it is a comedy.”

The musical allows the audience to travel back in time to the early 1940s. The true, passionate love in the musical allows the audience to relate to the central theme.

The Talon chose Guys and Dolls  mainly because it is Principal Raymond Dunne’s favorite musical, but also because of the romantic comedy aspect of the play.

“Mr. Dunne is a historian and since a lot of the phrases and vocabulary that the characters use are very colloquial, he will be coming in and doing some historical background and some dramaturgical work with us,” Barth said. “He was always lobbying for Guys and Dolls.”

Students should see the timeless classic, Guys and Dolls . The musical has been performed on Broadway over 1200 times during the 1950s.  Since then, it has only been performed in small scale performing arts centers, and now by our own Talon Theatre crew. This piece is not something that students have the chance to see often.

“Musical theatre in general is one of the great inventions of Broadway and especially today I think students do not always have the opportunity to see the classics like Guys and Dolls,” said Barth. “To have the chance to see a really great production of a golden age production is something that I hope the students will take advantage of and come.”

Purchase tickets to see Guys and Dolls on the Talon Theatre website!