GUYS & DOLLS at the Bridge Theatre

★★★★★

“a captivating, energetic show that you’d bet on to run and run.”

The Bridge Theatre’s production of Guys and Dolls opened a year ago to rave reviews and now a new cast continues the party. This show really does feel like a knees up: my cheeks were aching by the interval and even I was persuaded to join in with a celebratory wiggle during the finale. Even if you have never seen this 1950 musical before, the immersive experience draws you into a world of gamblers, showgirls and fervent missionaries, and you will leave humming the excellent songs.

Part of what draws the audience in is the Bridge Theatre set (Bunny Christie), which includes seating on four sides of an immersive area which you can roam around with a standing ticket. Before the start of the show, the central area is laid out like a street map, vendors sell real hot dogs and pretzels from stands to the audience, and the ensemble circulate puffing on stage cigarettes. Bright neon and coloured bulbs (lighting design Paule Constable) decorate hanging signs that transport you to a busy Broadway, New York with the attention to detail on the road markings and sewer covers apparent up close. The immersive audience is encouraged to sit at diner tables and interact with the ensemble as the bustle increases. Given the geography of the room, the orchestra is not in a pit: it is elevated to the gallery, and flanked with more of the garish bulbs which shows off the pink glittery music stands and snazzy audience jackets. This is a show that’s not afraid to show how it operates, but that only adds to the magic.

And what magic. Especially when standing, the action is happening literally centimetres away. The acting therefore must be – and is – flawless. Emotions have to be portrayed both small and large for the audiences closer and those further away. Dancing (Arlene Phillips with James Cousins) from the talented supporting actors is super sharp. I loved the rowdy carrot routine from the showgirls in the Hot Box club. The gamblers in the crap game routines are totally committed even on narrow stage blocks, and the hat-ography is impressive.

Guys and Dolls is known for being the epitome of the comic musical, and the jokes here are mined expertly by the able cast. There is great physicality throughout from all characters, especially the anchor of the piece, Owain Arthur as Nathan Detroit. Timmika Ramsay also has perfect comic timing as Miss Adelaide, the aspiring wife and showgirl, intent on reforming her fiance. Ramsay is wonderful in the role; her voice is powerful and rich, even when singing sitting down, and with a cold!

“This refreshed cast does their material justice, and then some”

As a foil to this couple, Celinde Schoenmaker is excellent as the uptight Sarah, leader of the Mission for Lost Souls. She has an incredibly easy high register, and is able to inject character into her songs as well as excellent vocals. Watching her lose all abandon in Havana is a sight to behold – very reminiscent of having one too many drinks at a wedding. George Ioannides completes the quad at the centre of the story, again excellent vocally. He embodies the smoothness of a professional gambler, but with enough heart that his love story makes sense.

The supporting cast were also excellent, especially Jonathan Andrew Hume as Nicely Nicely Johnson. He leads the rollicking number Sit Down, You’re Rocking the Boat which is the biggest song and rightly gets multiple reprises.

As in previous immersive shows at the Bridge, blocks rise and fall through different scenes and all these potential hazards are well shepherded by stage hands dressed as cops. They get a well-deserved ovation for calmly co-ordinating the standing audience through the piece, as well as managing props and creating runways to the stage blocks for actors. Even watching the stage hands’ work up close doesn’t break the focus: it’s not often that you get to feel like you’re standing in the wings.

Nicholas Hytner’s strong direction combined with the amazing set and choreography bring out the very best of Damon Runyon’s characters and Frank Loesser’s much-loved music and lyrics. This refreshed cast does their material justice, and then some. In fact, Guys and Dolls could only be improved by serving up every audience member a mid-show dulce de leche, but in every other way, this is a captivating, energetic show that you’d bet on to run and run.

GUYS & DOLLS at the Bridge Theatre

Reviewed on 11th March 2024

by Rosie Thomas

Photography by Manuel Harlan

More five-star reviews:

LUCY AND FRIENDS | ★★★★★ | Soho Theatre | February 2024

STANDING AT THE SKY’S EDGE | ★★★★★ | Gillian Lynne Theatre | February 2024

THE BIG LIFE | ★★★★★ | Theatre Royal Stratford East | February 2024

HADESTOWN | ★★★★★ | Lyric Theatre | February 2024

NELKEN | ★★★★★ | Sadler’s Wells Theatre | February 2024

WHEN YOU PASS OVER MY TOMB | ★★★★★ | Arcola Theatre | February 2024

HILLS OF CALIFORNIA | ★★★★★ | Harold Pinter Theatre | February 2024

SELF-RAISING | ★★★★★ | Soho Theatre | February 2024

JEFFREY BERNARD IS UNWELL | ★★★★★ | The Coach & Horses | February 2024

COWBOIS | ★★★★★ | Royal Court Theatre | January 2024

GUYS & DOLLS

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LUCY AND FRIENDS at the Soho Theatre

★★★★★

“You will leave gasping for air, and an urgent desire to wash your hands.”

Lucy McCormick returns to the Soho Theatre with another outrageous, audacious, and electrifying show that keeps the audience on the edge of their seats, and with an umbrella to hand.

Is it cabaret? Is it comedy? Is it a comment on the precarious basis of artistic endeavour in 2024’s Britain? Is it, McCormick asks whilst downing a bottle of red wine, art? The answer to all of these has to be emphatically yes.

If you have come to McCormick through her galvanising performance in Emma Rice’s Wuthering Heights, or as part of the RSC’s Cowbois ensemble, you may have a shock. McCormick’s shows are loosely based on cabarets in that they contain several semi-distinct performances. She sings and dances to a professional level. There is often a throughline: previous shows have looked at women through history, and the New Testament. But then she will dial the subversive elements to eleven.

While the audience is still filing in for this show, McCormick can be seen dashing around them, dressed as a Christmas tree, handing out props to select audience members. You’re left darting your eyes between her and the stage, set up in classic cabaret style. There’s a glitter curtain backdrop, fairy lights framing that, and metal rigging surround it all like a proscenium arch. Centre stage is a pole. So far, so conventional, so Bethnal Green Working Men’s Club.

“Though some performances push the boundaries of what’s acceptable in theatres, underpinning them all is McCormick’s phenomenal talent”

Then the lights go down, McCormick takes a microphone, and immediately upends multiple theatrical conventions, taking the audience on an emotional rollercoaster. The concept behind Lucy and Friends is that having developed much of this material in the aftermath of the pandemic, there was not enough funding to support other performers. This is therefore McCormick’s first solo show, and she needs help from the audience to be her friends, community, and fellow performers.

It is hard to describe much else that happens without ruining the jokes that emerge from the unwinding of set ups. In brief then, highlights included the act with the pole, a reinterpretation of Norah Jones’ “Don’t Know Why”, a cat impression, and a reminder of 2016’s viral Bottle Flipping craze.

Though some performances push the boundaries of what’s acceptable in theatres, underpinning them all is McCormick’s phenomenal talent. Even the most absurd situations, that have the audience somewhere between being in stitches and shock, she is utterly in control of both herself and them. Her voice is strong, tackling big songs that juxtapose what else is happening visually. Audience members who are called upon to participate are at her beck and call. It is worth saying there is a sizable amount of nudity and sexual content, so maybe not worth seeing with family… unless you are the audience member designated to play McCormick’s mother.

Another audience member is assigned to be a critic, and McCormick narrates her own review for them, much more articulately than I have managed here. However for all the concept, callbacks and motifs, Lucy and Friends is still desperately funny. You will leave gasping for air, and an urgent desire to wash your hands.

GUYS & DOLLS at the Bridge Theatre

★★★★★

“a captivating, energetic show that you’d bet on to run and run.”

“This refreshed cast does their material justice, and then some”

GUYS & DOLLS at the Bridge Theatre

Reviewed on 11th March 2024

by Rosie Thomas

Photography by Manuel Harlan

More five-star reviews:

GUYS & DOLLS

GUYS & DOLLS

LUCY AND FRIENDS at the Soho Theatre

★★★★★

“You will leave gasping for air, and an urgent desire to wash your hands.”

“Though some performances push the boundaries of what’s acceptable in theatres, underpinning them all is McCormick’s phenomenal talent”

LUCY AND FRIENDS at the Soho Theatre

Reviewed on 29th February 2024

by Rosie Thomas

Photography by Jonny Ruff

Previously reviewed at this venue:

LUCY AND FRIENDS

LUCY AND FRIENDS