Guys and Dolls is a show full of dancing, gambling, and, of course, acting. The cast has been working hard these past few months to bring the show to the stage, between practicing dance numbers, songs, and scenes.
The show focuses on Nathan Detroit and his struggle to find a place to gamble, and coming to the conclusion that he needs to scrape together one thousand dollars to pay for the only spot available. He ends up betting Sky Masterson, a well-known gambler, that he can’t take a girl to Havana.
Marjorie Long plays Sarah Brown, a passionate mission worker who does everything she can to save her failing Broadway mission, until her plans are inadvertently derailed by Sky. Having taken part in a production of Guys and Dolls four years before, Long went in already having been familiar with the show. “I went in kind of knowing what to expect and knowing how much I liked the show or not and I just completely fell in love with it all over again,” Long explained.
However, acting in the show for the second time comes with its own challenges. “The most challenging part of the show was… not giving the same performance I gave four years ago,” Long said.
Meanwhile, junior Rachel Herman, who plays gambler Nicely-Nicely Johnson the first two nights, only found out recently that she would be standing in for Matthew Pease. “Learning the role in such a short time and only having two rehearsals was really fun and really challenging and it was something I really enjoyed doing,” Herman reflected, recognizing that she was quite literally pushed into the limelight.
The closing weekend, she was supposed to resume her role as a hotbox girl, but at Thursday’s rehearsal, Pease’s health still remained an issue and a decision was made to keep Herman on for the rest of the run. “The biggest difference is that when I’m in the ensemble I have a lot of quick changes, and a lot of different people that I’m playing,” explained Herman, adding that, when she was playing Nicely, “multiple times I have raced down because I thought I was supposed to be onstage but I wasn’t.” Because there is not much overlap between the parts, learning new lines also meant learning a whole new set of cues. Judging by the positive reviews of her performance, however, she clearly caught on quickly.
One of the things that both girl emphasized was the bonds formed between the cast members. “I do really like being a hot box girl because I like being with everyone in the hot box. We all work together, and it’s such a strong bond,” said Herman. When she plays Nicely, she also enjoys working with the other cast members onstage. “Being with Joey who plays Nathan and Oscar who plays Benny and all the other characters is really fun, too.”
Long, while describing her favorite song to perform, explained that one of the reasons she liked it so much is because of who she sings it with. “Marry the Man Today” is a duet between Sarah and Adelaide, played by Kit Flaherty. “She’s one of my favorite people on the planet, it’s our one moment together and we both just get to be divas.”
Both Long and Herman agreed that the lasting friendships forged during the production was perhaps the best part of the long rehearsal process. And while watching the show, it is easy to see how much fun the cast is having onstage.
