The Bridges Family: August 2020

Blown away! Those were the words that describe my feelings after watching the opening number of Audience of One’s 2020 summer musical, “Guys and Dolls”. The purpose of the opening number, ”Runyonland/Fugue for Tinhorns" is to show the seedy side of the streets of Time Square in 1950’s New York City. The production’s entire cast portray these citizens in a delightful and humorous fashion. Alex Dee’s excellent choreography is almost like watching a silent movie of the old Keystone Cops. I especially liked the coming together of the entire cast in the middle of the number to offer precision dancing to the “Can Do” refrain and then morphing back into their original characterizations. And, wow, the hidden humor of watching the three newsboys doing the choreography from last summer’s hit show, "Newsies", amidst all the other dancers will bring a smile to your face. It was like one of those hidden Mickey moments that you see at Disney World.

This old juggernaut musical from 1950 is long and can seem at times to drag, but under Angie Dee’s skillful direction the show comes alive for our modern day audiences. The four leads are to be commended for their part in making this such a successful show. Abi Williams, well remembered for her role as Katherine in last summer’s “Newsies” brings both humor and pathos to her character of Adelaide. Her rendition of the classic “Adelaide’s Lament” was performed to perfection. Gracie Youngman brought her beautiful voice to the role of Sarah Brown, the head of the Save-a-Soul Mission. Her duets with costar Nolan McKinney on two of Frank Loesser’s heartwarming classics, “I’ll Know When My Love Comes Along” and “I’ve Never Been in Love Before” sends chills down your back as these two beautiful voices bring alive these romantic ballads. Nolan McKinney and Abe Gibson carry out their leads as Sky Masterson and Nathan Detroit in admirable fashion. McKinney at first did not seem to fit the role when he first appeared, but grew into a likeable character as the show progressed. His “Luck Be A Lady Tonight’ was a highlight and showed off his musical talents. Abe Gibson carried the role of Nathan Detroit to perfection. His harried attempt to avoid marriage and later capitulation to matrimony was a delight.

The supporting characters and ensemble for this show are to be highly commended. Alex Dee’s Nicely Nicely Johnson was...nicely nicely and his “Sit Down You’re Rockin’ the Boat” was a stand up number. Braden Bruce as Rusty Charlie brought excellent humor to his role as well as his wild dancing in the “Havana” number. Kudos also go to Lucas Blair as Harry the Horse, Tanner Provencher as Big Jule and James Wier as Benny Southwest as well as the other supporting cast members. Of course, the wonderful Keith Heim as Arvide Abernathy did a beautiful rendition of “More I Cannot Wish You”, one of the lesser numbers of the show but yet one of the most delightful.

The musical ensemble of the two big numbers for the Hot Box Girls was done to perfection. “A Bushel and a Peck” and “Take Back Your Mink” are both songs reminiscent of their time period. All the young ladies danced their hearts out for both numbers showing off Hope Beard’s night clubish choreography. Excellent costuming brought realism to their numbers. The male chorus (and some females) for the “Guys and Dolls” number and “Luck Be A Lady” were commendable. They pull out all the stops for the “Havana” number and ended up showing off all the amazing talent of this show’s musical ensemble cast.

The finale with the entire cast singing the title song summed up the outstanding and talented voices that this show contained. Audience of One’s Guys and Dolls was an absolute joy and pleasure to see.

The show was presented live at the Capitol Theatre in downtown Lebanon, Tennessee during two weekends in mid June 2020. This review was based on the taped version of the show. Fortunately, this show is available for your enjoyment on Youtube. Two versions are available, the Main Cast and the Understudy Cast. This review was of the Main Cast... Both versions are available below. Just click away....

Main Cast