The musical “Guys and Dolls” follow four main characters: high roller Sky Masterson, who falls in love with missionary Sarah Brown, and endearing rapscallion Nathan Detroit, who has been engaged for 14 years to Miss Adelaide, the featured performer at the Hot Box Club. It is a hilarious tale written in the 1950s that has been a beloved classic musical for decades.
The Colorado Mesa University (CMU) theater department will be performing this show in Robinson Theatre from Oct. 20 to 29. Tickets can be found on the website. Students are able to attend this show for free. Non-students will have to pay $24 for adults, $20 for seniors and $10 for youth.
Auditions occurred during the early start week in Aug. The cast members and stage crew have been preparing since the final lineup of actors was announced.
Junior musical theater major Emily Skinner will play Sarah Brown in the production. Brown’s primary goal is to convert all of New York City to Catholicism. However, she discovers throughout the musical that there is more to life than being a missionary and she starts to question her faith.
“It’s really fun. It’s been a lot to learn. There are a lot of big dance numbers, a lot of big songs and scenes and stuff, but it’s coming together really well. This is actually my first mainstage show at CMU,” Skinner said.
Though Skinner has not performed in the once-a-semester productions before, she has done multiple one-acts directed by other students throughout her freshman and sophomore year. Skinner emphasized that students should come to see “Guys and Dolls” to support the theater department and get a great experience.
Senior Brendan Lowry is also a musical theater major and was cast as Sky Masterson, who plays opposite Skinner as Brown’s love interest.
“He’s kind of this gambler, manly man type, or at least he puts that out there. He’s a rough rider with the heart-of-gold archetype, […] if you will. He’s based on this guy called Titanic Thompson, who was a real person that sounds made up with what he did. He grew up on a farm and he didn’t learn how to read or write, but at the same time was ambidextrous, somewhat a mathematical genius and he learned how to count cards and do all these odd betting games and learned how to very skillfully cheat at them,” Lowry said.
Lowry has also performed in Godspell and SpongeBob the Musical during his time at CMU. Lowry stated he was excited about this production because the actors have had more time than usual to practice and he feels that has allowed the cast to delve into their characters and bring them to life. He also wanted to encourage people to look past the age of the musical because it is incredibly funny, even to modern audiences.
“I think the community in Grand Junction has a love for these old shows. ‘Fiddler on the Roof’ was the last golden age show they did and that was the highest selling show they’ve had. It is one that I think the older community will show up for a lot at the beginning. Then I think if younger people start coming to see it by word of mouth, I think more and more people [will] want to come to see it,” Lowry said.
