Theater: 'Guys and Dolls' reviewed

Guys and Dolls
by Frank Loesser, Jo Swerling & Abe Burrows

review by Aaron Grunfeld
two and a half stars (out of five)

I never watched "Gilmore Girls", but after seeing Lauren Graham in "Guys and Dolls", I'll add it to my Netflix queue. Unfortunately I might also add the 1955 film of "Guys and Dolls". It's not an exceptional version of the classic musical, but neither is the latest Broadway revival. This new version, directed by Des McAnuff, is more interested in its flashy set (neon-draped girders of an elevated train, circa 1935) than in the purr of its song-and-gag engine. And yet, days later, I'm still humming its tunes and giggling at its jokes.

Damon Runyon's Gotham is visible onstage at the Nederlander on 41st Street, but Graham is the only one to live there. It's not easy to play a bimbo like Miss Adelaide, the dingbat dancer engaged for 14 years to local gambler Nathan Detroit (thinly voiced by Oliver Platt). But Graham's eyes flash as idiot logic leaps out of her mouth, and somehow it makes sense. Her Adelaide, dressed in frazzled flash by costumer Paul Tazewell, bumps along the stage with an innocence that's va-va-voom.

But when cloddish Craig Bierko belts out “Luck Be a Lady”, or Tituss Burgess nearly bursts his ill-fitting fat-suit during “Sit Down, You're Rockin' the Boat”, they look like they'd rather be playing cards in their dressing rooms. The show goes to the Dolls: its high point is Graham's duet with Kate Jennings Grant, a nimble number called “Marry the Man Today”. We may not see what they see in their respective guys – the show suffers from a lack of chemistry – but their verve feels authentic. Probably that, and the perfect work by Loesser (music), Burrows and Swerling (book), is enough to enjoy, even more than TV and Netflix.


“Guys and Dolls” plays at the Nederlander Theatre (located at 208 W. 41st Street, between Seventh and Eighth Avenues) on Tuesdays at 7 pm, Wednesdays through Saturdays at 8 pm, Wednesdays and Saturdays at 2 pm and Sundays at 3 pm. Tickets are available by calling 212-307-4100 or going to ticketmaster.com.