'Guys and Dolls' at the Marriott Theatre: Mueller is just the dame to lead this 'Guys and Dolls'
THEATER REVIEW: "Guys and Dolls" ★★★ Through March 27 at the Marriott Theatre, 10 Marriott Drive, Lincolnshire; Running time: 2 hours, 40 minutes; Tickets: $40-$48 at 847-634-0200 and www.marriotttheatre.com
Very few actresses can play both sweet-and-guileless ingénues and snarky, brassy, needy dames such as that eternal fiancée, Miss Adelaide. But the remarkable Jessie Mueller, the shining star of director Matt Raftery's youthful, occasionally tentative and mostly enjoyable Marriott Theatre production of “Guys and Dolls,” seems to be able to pack away one side of her excessively talented young self and stick the other in the glare of the spotlight.
Without Mueller's ebullient Adelaide, this production would be rolling the dice. There's not a lot of chemistry between Brian Hissong's cool but very internalized Sky Masterson and Abby Mueller's earnest Sarah Brown, the vocal talents of both of those performers notwithstanding. And although Rod Thomas, a skilled musical comedian, is a very funny Nathan Detroit, he'd be a more reliable Good Old Nathan in about 10 years, when he gets to be the right age for the part and finds some of the requisite weariness.
Mueller is also young for Miss Adelaide, who has supposedly been kept on marital ice by Nathan for the prior 14 years or so. But her version of the letter-writing Queen of the Hotbox is still dazzling: funny, sweet, charming, honest, colorful, spark-filled. It's all you need. And it stacks up with the very best of them.
And to his credit, Raftery, who is making his directorial debut here at a theater that needs some new blood, has some ideas that show great promise. There are only so many ways you can swing this oft-produced title — justly beloved for its loveable Damon Runyon cast of gamblers and the dazzling jewels within its Frank Loesser score. But Raftery, who has a choreographic background (and also fills those duties here), has dreamed up some new ways to square the circle.
There's a lot of clever detail in this well-sung production, including the way Thomas' Nathan heads backstage to see Adelaide at the Hotbox, down a lonely little corridor that you only see in your head for a moment, but helps Thomas evoke a scared man trapped in his own promises. There are also several great little moments between Bernie Yvon's droll Benny, George Andrew Wolff's wide-open Nicely Nicely, and their mutual gal-pals. Instead of the predictable Marriott trick of gently adjusting the profile so one section doesn't stare too long at the back of a head, Raftery snaps his performers back and forth in a very satisfying fashion, playing up the Marriott experience of theater in the round. And Wolff, who is having a great time, also doesn't fail to rock the boat, when it matters.
There certainly have been darker and wiser takes on this material, and there are times — notably the famous sequence when Sky takes Sarah to Cuba — that the action feels a little thin. But this piece of work is certainly far superior to the last Broadway revival (not saying much there) and mostly lets those sardonic Abe Burrows and Jo Swerling one-liners do their thing (“Tell him I never want to speak to him again,” says Mueller's hapless Adelaide, “and have him call me here”). It makes you want to see more of Raftery's work and encourage him to go further in his reinventions.
What's so great about Jessie is that she is just as amazing on stage as she is off. She is just a tremendous person, and I'm so happy for her.
Posted by: ellen | February 10, 2011 at 10:53 AM