Empire Theatre, Eden Court, Inverness, 21 March 2012

TELL ME! How is a guy meant to be able to get to sleep at night after being exposed to nearly three hours of the sort of songs that go round and round in the brain, and you can’t get them to go away!

NOT THAT you necessarily want them to go away, for Frank Loesser’s classic musical Guys and Dolls is a non-stop journey of catchy tunes and hilarious situations, all based on the characters and stories of that archetype American journalist, Damon Runyon. And Inverness Opera Company has done the show proud!

Guys and Dolls is one of Inverness Opera's best productions

From the opening notes from the pit band of select musicians under the direction of Fiona Stuart with an overture of highlights from the score, it was obvious that the well-filled Empire Theatre was in for a good night. Of course, it helps when you have five strong performers in the principal roles of Nicely-Nicely Johnson, Sergeant Sarah Brown, Sky Masterson, Miss Adelaide and Nathan Detroit.

Support from the secondary roles and the chorus of night club dolls and gambling guys was accomplished and well conceived, although there were a few occasions when there was a little too much reliance on the microphone at the expense of clear enunciation.

Guys and Dolls has one of the most difficult opening numbers of any musical, requiring Nicely, Benny Southstreet and Rusty Charlie to come on cold and sing the complex ‘Fugue For Tinhorns’. Douglas Yule, in the role made famous by the great Stubby Kaye, Malcolm Cumming and Pete Bullock McKie pulled it off with style, and set the marker for the whole evening.

Inverness Opera stalwart Des Devine plays Nathan Detroit, desperate to find a new venue for his renowned peripatetic crap game, has been engaged for fourteen years to permanently ill night club singer Miss Adelaide, played by Nicola Macaskill. To raise the cash to get the use of a garage for the crap game, Nathan bets with the smooth high roller Sky Masterson, played by the equally smooth James Twigg, that he cannot successfully woo the attractive but upright and uptight Save-a-Soul Mission Sergeant, Sarah Brown, played convincingly by Lea Brereton.

The twists and turns in the lives of these four characters form the crux of the story as the two women both try to turn their men away from the addiction and the danger of the gamblers’ life. And it is the catalogue of songs that illuminates the story – the list goes on and on: ‘I’ll Know’, ‘A Bushel and a Peck’, ‘Adelaide’s Lament’, ‘Guys and Dolls’, ‘If I Were a Bell’, ‘I’ve Never Been in Love Before,’ ‘Luck Be a Lady’ and the show-stopping ‘Sit Down You’re Rockin’ the Boat ‘, lead by Nicely-Nicely Johnson.

This is a professional production, great singing, great choreography, great costumes. OK, so the sets are hired in, but they do the job well even if they do not have all the razzmatazz of Broadway or the West End. A great show – one of Inverness Opera’s best.

Guys and Dolls runs until 24 March.

© James Munro, 2012

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