Volume 3, Issue 15
July 19 - August 1, 2001

Acting Up

Cilicia Yakhlef

ZOOT SUIT RIOT
@
GUYS AND DOLLS

Arvada Center Amphitheater
303-431-3939
Tu-Su 7:30 pm, $14-$ 28 Through July 29

The suit is the issue, and zoot is where it's at, but be warned, this show is not for the shade sensitive. Pastel is passé, and they seem to know it down at the AC. For this summer's production of Guys and Dolls, the Arvada Center's outdoor amphitheatre is turned into a gorgeous glare of color. Great shouts of red, green, purple and yes, even high-pitched pink stroll onto the stage wrapped around men cast as tough guys.

Written in 1932, Damon Runyon's short story "The Idyll of Miss Sarah Brown" serves as the model for the musical Guys and Dolls. The play opened in November, 1950, and found enduring success as a light hearted musical comedy.

The Arvada Center's production engages the audience with vastly exaggerated characters that push well past the edge of cliché into the realm of the ridiculous. All the better for the audience. When it comes to entertainment, sometimes it is refreshing not to be put to the test of figuring out the deeper meaning of a piece of theater. Being moved by the energy on the stage can be as pleasant as being moved by the artistry of a line, or the genius at the core of a character, and the energy on the stage of Guys and Dolls is undeniable.

Color is a force of nature. Just ask the bees and the hummingbirds. Ask Nicole Hoof and Sally Burke, the pair responsible for putting the zoot in the suits for this production. The pair of costumiers push color beyond its natural boundaries and set to stage an amazing wardrobe that comes close to stealing the show. Explosions of purple plaid, cobalt pinstripe and iridescent green bedeck the cast for the duration of the show against the backdrop of a New York skyline that looks like Gotham gone neon, with curves.

The set has more going for it than just color, though. I've said it before, and I'll say it again: the Arvada Center's stage and scenic designers are the best in Denver. You are very unlikely to see more expertly executed stagecraft anywhere, no matter how high the price you're willing to pay for a ticket. Set changes flow from street to mission to show-club to terrace to two-story sewer without so much as a creak or a squeak from the stage floor. Action flows freely through and around the sets as if it were all quite natural, and actresses float off the stage on sets that move like clouds. Accordingly, the audience is shifted from scene to scene with no break in action.

And action is solid in this musical comedy. Choreographer Troy Rintala is conservative early on, but picks it up with a sensuous samba during the Havana scene. Act two revs up to high speed with "Luck Be a Lady." "Sit Down, You're Rockin' the Boat" is a superbly choreographed number with vocals that add high voltage to the fast paced movement on stage.

The vocal soloists are professionally adept, but Charles Hudson gives a sweet and touching performance of "More I Cannot Wish You," and Rick Hilsabeck shows so much talent with his rendition of "Sit Down, You're Rockin' the Boat" that it is evident he could have easily pulled off the lead role, had he won it.

Beth Flynn as Miss Adelaide is charming and engaging, and Gregory Price as Nathan Detroit performs atop the fulcrum between good behavior and shameful compulsions that drives the plot. Rob Reynolds is hilarious as Harry the Horse, and George Jackson III has great fun with the role of Big Jule.

Guys and Dolls is not a brilliantly written musical. The plot is formulaic, and the lines are light. The Lyrics for "Luck Be a Lady" are serviceable-- at least Sinatra found them so, but otherwise there's not a great deal of depth musically speaking. It is, however, in much the same league as most musicals. The genre just isn't that demanding.

As musicals go, this production is notable both for the costuming and the set design and execution. The Arvada Center has staged another crowd pleaser. The evening's entertainment is engaging, fun, uplifting, and professionally executed, not to mention cool. Yes, the zoot suits and neon landscape emanate 'cool' from the stage while the breeze teases at the skin on the back of your neck at just the right times to make you get a little extra out of this particular musical. Not high art, but certainly an enjoyable evening. Especially fun for neon fanatics like myself. B --Cilicia Yakhlef