Guys and Dolls (2005)

Guys and Dolls (2005) Poster

Production Details

Synopsis

All the hot gamblers are in town, and they’re all depending on Nathan Detroit to set up this week’s incarnation of “The Oldest Established Permanent Floating Crap Game in New York”; the only problem is, he needs $1000 to get the place. Throw in Sarah Brown, who’s short on sinners at the mission she runs; Sky Masterson, who accepts Nathan’s $1000 bet that he can’t get Sarah Brown to go with him to Havana; Miss Adelaide, who wants Nathan to marry her; Police Lieutenant Brannigan, who always seems to appear at the wrong time; and the music/lyrics of Frank Loesser, and you’ve got quite a musical. Includes the songs: Fugue for Tinhorns, “Luck Be a Lady”, “Sit Down, You’re Rocking the Boat”.

Cast

Principals
The Company

Alison Banks, Denise Beckford, Sophie Begg, Hazel Bone, Liz Cairns, Elizabeth Clapham, Peter Clapham, Doreen Cothay, Bryony Cooper, John Cuckson, Anthony Dixon, Janet Dixon, Mike Dixon, Christine Dobbie, Aouska Drion, Pam Drion, Helen Egglestone, Jonathan Gilderoy, Nick Goddard, Barbara Gray, Rebecca Grundy, Katy Haggart, Bill Harland, Helen Harries, Mollie Hughes, Katherine Ions, Dennis Lavin, June Lavin, Catherine Lawes, Guy Lawes, Heather McLoughlin, Robin Murray, David O’Donnell, Kirrilee Reid, Christopher Smith, Derek Smith, Steve Stephens, Jonathan Taylor, Deirdre Tyrrell, Pat Walker, Graeme Walton, Katy Watson, Helen Wigham, Samantha Wilkinson, Chris Wood, Lucy Wright

Backstage

  • Stage Manager – Alan Hogarth
  • Deputy Stage Manager – Andy Garth
  • Stage Crew – Carole Carter, Dave Carter, Katy Duff, Jean Foster, Rob Hutchinson, Sarah Jackson, John Smith, Graham Sneddon & Team
  • Scenery – Prosceneium Ltd. Rochdale
  • Properties – Denise Brooksbank, Melanie Spedding, Miriam Maddox, Claire Wright, Nikki Hellmuth, Graham Brooksbank, Deborah Siddle, Jenni Sneddon & Team
  • Guns – Hands On Glasgow
  • Wax Bottles – White Lights Northern
  • Wardrobe – Jean Graham, Jane Flowers, Judith Frisby, Carolyn Knott
  • Costumes – W. A. Homburg Ltd Leeds, Society Wardrobe
  • Wigs – Showbiz Southampton
  • Make-Up – Brenda Mullen, Hayley Hook, Jessica Lamb, Anne-Marie Murray, Eunice Sneddon, Jenni Sneddon & Team
  • Lighting Design – Keir Webster
  • Asst. Lighting Design – Anna Bosanko
  • Sound Design – Graham Holder
  • Technical Support – Brian Dunn
  • Prompt – Jo Smart
  • Rehearsal Pianists – Robert Humes, Martin Dack, Evelyn Hamilton
  • Front of House – David Foxall, Frank Cure, Mary Robinson, Margaret Sutton, Anne Robinson, Lawrence Jones, Joyce Allinson, Dorothea Tuckerman, Frank Tuckerman
  • Refreshments – Joan Foxall & Team
  • Chaperones – Ruth Ball, Pam Drion & Team
  • Dressers – Pam Drion, Eunice Sneddon, Valenda Taylor

Orchestra

Andre Arnott, Sarah Browbank, Bridget Coulter, Tabitha Marston, Will Thomas, Kay Wilkinson

Programme

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Reviews

Northern Echo – Saturday 12th Feb 2005

DURHAM Musical Theatre Company’s version of the Frank Loesser Broadway musical is a show bursting with sin, gambling and more than a smattering of crap games. There is plenty of talent on show from an experienced cast performing the company’s 110th production.

Accolades are deserved for all aspects of the performance, but the biggest bouquets are for the dance routines. The show culminates in the dancers leading the entire cast in a spectacular tap dancing finale, dressed in bright, shimmering costumes, to bring a glamorous and glittery end to a hugely enjoyable show.

The stupendous choreography of Janet Dixon and Kathleen Knox should not overshadow the singing, namely female joint lead Erin Wright, as do-gooder Sarah Brown, trying to make the Broadway populace repent its sins. Comical moments also feature as the American-born actress plays a flawless first-time drunk, and her duet with Delia McNally, Miss Adelaide, is memorable.

McNally, a company regular, successfully maintains her screeching voice and elaborate gestures throughout the spectacle. Other notable performances are from the male lead, Anthony Smith, as an entertaining Nathan Detroit, and Clark Adamson, as Sky Masterson, the notorious gambler who is reformed by the efforts of Miss Brown.

An appreciative audience reached a crescendo at the climax to a production which is another feather in the cap for the long-standing local theatre company.

It is also a fitting swansong for veteran musical director, George Hetherington, who hangs up his baton after tonight’s final curtain following 40 years with the company.