I’m not sure if I first heard it as part of an advert, or if I downloaded it straight from the collective unconscious, but I feel fairly certain that “Luck Be a Lady” was the first musical theatre song I knew any of the words to. By the time I was born in the cough cough seventies, Guys and Dolls had been around so long it was practically in the cultural water supply. My seven-year-old self had no idea what the words “the oldest established floating crap game in New York” meant, but I knew the tune, and my primary school Summer Spectacular Musical Revue (a show I am sure scintillated the hundreds of parents crammed into a muggy sports hall in June) included a jazzy rendition of “A Bushel and a Peck” complete with choreography. Yet last night at the Joseph Rowntree Theatre was the first time I actually sat down and had the pleasure of watching the songs come straight from the source. And what a source it is.

Before I can get into last night’s charming performance, I want to take a moment to talk about the producing theatre itself, as its long tradition of serving community theatre in York is part of what makes performances like this so special. Born from the Rowntree family’s philanthropic legacy, the Joseph Rowntree Theatre has stood since 1935, when it was built by the Rowntree family so the workers at their chocolate factory would have somewhere to sing. Today, it is a volunteer-run charity that can easily be described as the beating heart of York’s thriving cultural scene. If you got your start in theatre in or around York, there is a near certainty that your experience intersected with the JRT, and its legacy is what keeps amateur theatre performances, such as last night’s Guys and Dolls and York Light Opera Company’s recent Die Fledermaus, among the best tickets in town. For the last eight years, the theatre has staged fundraiser musicals in February, but this year it has added a summer slot and, with Guys and Dolls, rolled the dice to winning effect.

If Family Fortunes asked the question, “What is the quintessential golden-age musical?”, Guys and Dolls would surely be at the top of the board. Frank Loesser’s score and the book by Jo Swerling and Abe Burrows have been doing the rounds since 1950, when the show opened on Broadway before going on to win the Tony for Best Musical the following year. Built from Damon Runyon’s short stories about Broadway gamblers and grifters, and spoken in an invented slang that feels like New York’s own Cockney, the story follows Nathan Detroit, organiser of the oldest established floating crap game in New York. Desperate for money to secure a venue, Nathan bets fellow gambler Sky Masterson that he can’t take the buttoned-up mission worker Sarah Brown to Havana for a romantic night on the town. Sky takes the bet, falls for her properly, and finds himself reconsidering who he actually wants to be, while Nathan spends the entire show dodging marriage to his long-suffering fiancée, nightclub singer Miss Adelaide.

To see my full review, please visit Northern Arts Review

See you in the shadows my loves,

Sean x