Staging an American Classic
Nearly fifty years later, Guys and Dolls still resonates. By Meghan Irons
Nathan Detroit runs a floating crap game and is having difficulties settling down with his fiancée, Miss Adelaide, a woman he's dated for fourteen years. Sky Masterson is a high roller and Nathan's longtime friend. Always a gambler, he can't resist Nathan's bet to make a rendezvous with the saintly Sarah Brown, a street-side evangelist and determined soul saver.
Thus begins the Broadway classic Guys and Dolls, which is being revived at the Studio Theater in the Curry Student Center on May 1517 and 2124. Based on a story and shady characters by Damon Runyon, the show features an all-student cast and is a special treat for the N.U. theater department, which produces only one musical every two years because of their cost and difficulty.
"It's a great musical," says Del Lewis, chairman of the theater department and director of the show. "It's an American classic. It's a very witty show." Set in postWorld War II New York and subtitled "A musical fable of Broadway," Guys and Dolls is populated with colorful characters like Nicely-Nicely Johnson, Rusty Charlie, and Angie the Ox. "The Runyon characters all have a specific way of speaking which is strange and awkward to us," Lewis says. "It's a very colorful language."
The show was a huge hit upon opening on Broadway in 1950. It also scored big in its 1955 motion picture debut featuring Frank Sinatra and Marlon Brando. Frank Loesser's music and lyrics, in songs such as "Fugue for Tinhorns," "Follow the Fold," and "I'll Know," have lasted over time. "Everyone knows at least one of the songs from Guys and Dolls, whether they know it comes from Guys and Dolls or not," says Lewis, who is in his ninth year at Northeastern. "You hear music from Guys and Dolls all the time. People have taken it and reorchestrated it. The main reason is the characters are so colorful and so much fun."
No stranger to Broadway classics, Lewis has had an impressive run of his own in the theatrical world. His many performances include Chaim in Fiddler on the Roof in New York, Jacob in The Rothschilds, and a kleptomaniac in the film Diary of a Mad Housewife.
As a director of fifteen musicals, including four others at Northeastern-Celebration, Working, Runaways, and The Threepenny Opera-Lewis has never before directed Guys and Dolls. But he says it's a treat. "Discovering the script is always great fun. I've known this musical for a long time, but I've never appeared in it," he says. "The thrill of it is to get students to know it."
The process of learning a musical, Lewis believes, will help students develop a sense of team-building in a communal setting. Plus it gives them exposure to a play that never dies. "[This musical] has lasted and endured over the years," he says. "Every community theater has done it at least once. Everybody wants to do it occasionally. The style of the show and the athleticism still stand up."
Tickets to the show, which starts at 8 p.m., are $10 ($8 for Northeastern students) and are available at the N.U. Ticket Center, 105 Ell Building (telephone 617-373-2247).
Contemporary Spanish architectural drawings by Gines Sanchez Hevia Through May 16, Ryder Hall lobby. Sanchez Hevia is principal architect of GSH Architects in Madrid, Spain. 373-2083.
Economic Development in Inner-City Communities: The New Challenge for Urban Universities May 6, 90 Snell Library, 11:45 a.m. With Joseph Warren, associate professor of African-American studies. 373-3148.
In the Wake of O. J.: Some Lessons for Forensic Laboratories and Their Stakeholders May 8, 130 Hurtig,4 p.m. With Carl Matthew Selavka, director of forensic sciences, New York State Division of Criminal Justice Services. 373-2822.
Women, Scholarship, and International Development Policies May 8, Frost Lounge, 8 p.m. With Soheir Morsy, professor of anthropology and director of women's studies, Tufts University. 373-3148.
Roy Wilkins and the Kansas City Call, 19231931 May 13, 37 Snell Library, 11:45 a.m. With Lewis Suggs, history professor, Clemson University. 373-3148.
Education or Entertainment? Multimedia Software for High School World History Curriculum May 16, 420 Classroom Building, 3 to 4:30 p.m. With Parker James, professor of history, Tufts University. 373-2660.
Louis Tomkins Wright, M.D.: Equal Opportunity-No More, No Less! Race Vindication in Medicine May 20, 90 Snell Library, 11:45 a.m. With Robert Hayden, lecturer in history and literature, University of MassachusettsBoston. 373-3148.
Examination of Gender Roles in the Black Church, 19661979 May 27, 90 Snell Library, 11:45 a.m. With Irene Monroe, doctoral candidate at Harvard University Divinity School. 373-3148.
New Directions in Computer Music May 15, Curry Student Center ballroom, noon. Featuring associate professor of music Dennis Miller. 373-2671.
N.U. Orchestra May 19, Curry Student Center, 7:30 p.m. Program will include Beethoven's Symphony no. 5. 373-2442.
Music for Wind Synthesizer and Piano May 29, Curry Student Center ballroom, noon. With associate professor of music Bruce Ronkin and pianist Juanita Tsu. 373-2671.
N.U. Concert Band's second annual alumni concert May 31, Blackman Auditorium, 8 p.m. $5; $3 students and seniors. 373-2442.
Poetic Justice: A Women's Poetry Slam May 9, Blackman Auditorium, 8 p.m. Featuring Boston-area poets. $8 in advance; $10 at the door; $5 with student ID. 373-2247.
Springfest 1997 May 1216, various locations. Weeklong event features live concert, May 12, Krentzman Quad, 11 a.m. to 1:30 p.m.; campus-wide egghunt, May 13; fashion show, May 14, Curry Student Center West Addition, 7 p.m.; Springfest Quad Day, May 15, Krentzman Quad, 11:45 a.m. to 1:30 p.m.; dance party, May 16, Speare Hall, 8 p.m. to 1 a.m. 373-4336.
Family Day Cookout/Auction May 17, noon, location to be announced. 373-3868.
N.U. Alive! May 17, Centennial Common, noon to 5 p.m. 373-4336.
Black Graduates' Baccalaureate Ceremony June 13, 6 to 8 p.m., N.U. African-American Institute. 373-4919.
Commencement Ceremonies June 14, FleetCenter, Boston, 10 a.m. Afternoon ceremony for University College and advanced degree candidates, 3:15 p.m.
Call Joanne Murphy or Maureen Feeley, 373-3186.
May: Manhattan, N.U. Service Day, May 3, 9:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. Call for locations. Sigma Epsilon Rho, trip and tour, May 4, time to be announced; seminar, May 8, Batterymarch campus, 6 p.m., initiation and scholarship, May 31, Hanscom Air Force Base (Enlisted Men's Club), 5 p.m. Nursing, reception in honor of National Nurses Week, May 8, Egan Center, 6 p.m. Rhode Island, golf tournament, May 12, Quidnesset Country Club, North Kingstown.
June: N.U. Night at the Pops, June 12, Symphony Hall, time to be announced. Greater Boston, fifth annual golf outing, June 16, Framingham Country Club, noon. Washington, D.C., Phantom of the Opera, June 19, Kennedy Center, time to be announced.
