Guys and Dolls may not be my first choice of musical but it is one of Geoff’s favourites.

This Donmar Warehouse on Tour production however is superb.

Although coming to the end of its run with only Edinburgh and Leeds before the finish I am desperate to see this fantastically talented cast, in this extremely cleverly directed and uniquely choreographed production again. 

The four main characters Nathan Detroit, Miss Adelaide, Sky Masterson and Sarah Brown are usually played by well known personalities and this production is no different but I want to concentrate on the rest of the cast first. They cover a fairly large age and experience range displaying an amazingly talented and well-grounded base for the main characters to build upon. The quality of acting, dancing and singing is extremely high, encouraging the main characters to work even harder than usual.  From Sarah’s Uncle Arvide Abernathy (Dave Delve) through General Cartwright (Alwyne Taylor) and other members of the Mission; from crooks and gangsters Nicely Nicely Johnson (Christian Patterson), Benny Southstreet (Stephen Webb), Big Jule (Miltos Yerolemou) and others; to the Hotbox Girls and Havana dancers and last but not least Lt Brannigan (Shaun Hennessy). The numbers ‘Fugue for Tinhorns’ and the phenomenal ‘Sit Down You’re Rockin’ the Boat’ rocked the theatre and nearly brought the house down. With a supporting cast of such superbly talented people the four leads are facing some challenge to maintain the high quality.

Nathan Detroit is the cuddly charismatic Shaun Williamson, known to millions as Barry Evans from ‘EastEnders’ and many other numerous TV productions most recently Celebrity ‘Fame Academy’, but I remember him best from the Saturday night C5 TV show ‘Night Fever’ where Celebs got to sing numerous songs, Guys against Dolls. His fabulous voice is unfortunately not given much opportunity in this character but he lights up the stage whenever he appears and you find your eyes drawn to him.  Lynsey Britton as his long-suffering fiancée of 14 years Miss Adelaide is a perfect foil for Shaun. Her comical ‘Adelaide’s Lament’ and both Hot Box numbers, ‘Bushel and a Peck’ and ‘Take Back Your Mink’ set up her comedy side which contrasts beautifully with ‘Sue Me’ where Adelaide rants at Nathan who defends himself by replying he loves her. Both Shaun and Lynsey seem perfect together.

Scottish audiences in particular have a fondness for Darius Danesh, who is Sky Masterson, as most of us watched as he twice auditioned on TV to become a Pop Idol. We all know that Darius can sing, but this is an opportunity for us to display his acting talents. His tall swarthy good looks are a lovely contrast to the petit beauty of Louise Dearman as the demure innocent Sarah Brown. Occasionally Louise’s vocal talents almost eclipsed Darius’s and her on stage melting, assisted by her first consumption of alcohol is both charming and hilarious.  The on stage love affair is totally believable and the disintegration from the indifferent aloof gambler to the enraptured lover was enchanting.

An amazing orchestra supports this superb production with James Dunsmore as Musical Director. James has been in Edinburgh before and on this occasion he has Alex Coburn, George Double, John Franchi, Paul Frost, Nigel Hailwood, Adam Linsley, Gavin Mallett, Gemma Moore, Pete Moore, Malcolm Newton, Mike Nickel, James O’Carroll, Richard Wimpenny and Paul Wright as his Orchestra.

The rest of the cast are; Jenni Bowden, Andrew Bowness, Neil Clench, Alex Gaumond, Chris Hornby, Joshua Horner, Sheryl Lafferty, Philip Marriott, Toussaint Meghie, Sarah O’Gleby, Jennifer Owen, Zoe Rainey, Stuart Reid, Celia Mei Rubin, John Stacey, Vicki Lee Taylor, Sally Whitehead and Jamie Wilkin.

For further information on this show visit the site www.guysanddollsthemusical.com.