Marriott gives 'Guys and Dolls' a rousing revival

The snapshot of Broadway's denizens that accompanies the brassy, bustling overture of Marriott Theatre's marvelous revival of “Guys and Dolls” leaves no doubt what kind of battle underscores Frank Loesser's terrific tuner.

Throughout director/choreographer Matt Raftery's exuberantly staged opening number, men and women — hustlers and chorus girls, socialites and tourists, winos and missionaries — dance around each other like prize fighters angling for the first punch. As Raftery observes in his director's notes, relationships between guys and dolls — specifically a woman's desire to transform a man and the man's resistance — propel the show, which chronicles the romantic entanglements and professional peccadilloes of the folks who populated Damon Runyon's New York stories.

Those uncommonly colorful characters, together with a memorable Loesser score and Jo Swerling and Abe Burrows' lively book with its eloquent tough-guy patois, earned “Guys and Dolls” a place among musical theater's first tier.

Marriott's great-looking, wonderfully sung production earns kudos for music director Ryan T. Nelson and Raftery, whose main stage directorial debut is also noteworthy for his robust, always engaging choreography.

Abby Mueller plays Sarah Brown, a buttoned-up Salvation Army sergeant who attempts to steer the city's so-called lowlifes away from dice and booze and onto the straight and narrow path. Into her Save-A-Soul Mission strolls Sky Masterson (Brian Hissong), a gambler known for his outrageous bets, the latest of which involves Sarah herself. When Sky boasts he can get any doll he wants, Nathan Detroit (Rod Thomas) bets Sky that he can't convince Sarah to accompany him to dinner in Havana.

Nathan has problems of his own. The force behind New York's oldest floating craps game, Nathan has lost his regular venue and needs a place to accommodate some high-rollers. At the same time, he has to contend with his showgirl fiancee Miss Adelaide (Jessie Mueller, Abby's sister), who after 14 years has still not convinced her man to walk down the aisle.

Orbiting around this quartet is a quirky cast of characters, which includes the skirt-chasing Benny Southstreet (Bernie Yvon); Rusty Charlie (George Keating); Harry the Horse (Rob Rahn whose whiskey-soaked voice suits the part) and Big Jule (John Lister), Harry's pistol-packing associate from Chicago. Then there's genial Nicely-Nicely Johnson (George Andrew Wolff), who stops the show with the rousing “Sit Down You're Rockin' the Boat.”

On the right side of the law are mission workers Arvide Abernathy (Roger Mueller, Abby and Jessie's father) and General Cartwright (Anne Gunn), as well as Michael Aaron Lindner's blustering Lt. Brannigan.

Abby Mueller and Hissong sing beautifully; their back-to-back solos “If I Were a Bell” and the soulful “My Time of Day” are charming. But they fail to create the kind of heat that would make a mission doll jet off to Havana with a bad boy. Abby Mueller shows very little vulnerability as Sarah and Hissong conveys none of the menacing seductiveness that makes Sky alluring. When he describes his heart “as black as two feet down a wolf's gullet” you can't help but doubt him.

Their comical counterparts fare better. The dynamic Jessie Mueller wins us over from the start with her pitch-perfect turn as Adelaide — no small feat considering her perennial cold, the result of Nathan's inability to commit. The lanky Thomas displays a quirky charm as the quick-thinking, fast-talking, marriage-averse Nathan.

Like Sky, Nathan loses the battle of the sexes — an outcome that is never in doubt, especially after the Mueller sisters make clear their intentions in the delightful duet, “Marry the Man Today.” But defeat loses its sting, when victory comes in the form of these delightful dolls.

“Guys and Dolls”

3 ½ stars

<b>Location:</b> Marriott Theatre, 10 Marriott Drive, Lincolnshire, (847) 634-0200 or marriott theatre.com

<b>Showtimes:</b> 1 and 8 p.m. Wednesday; 8 p.m. Thursday and Friday; 4:30 and 8 p.m. Saturday; 1 and 5 p.m. Sunday through March 27

<b>Running time: </b>About 2 hours, 20 minutes with intermission

<b>Tickets:</b> $40-$48, dinner- theater packages available

<b>Parking: </b>Free lot adjacent to the theater

<b>Rating: </b>For most audiences