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A cast of characters from the seamy side of the city, their lives surrounded by clandestine card games and rolling crap shoots, reveal life in 1950s New York in the Broadway hit Guys and Dolls.
Foothill Music Theatre presents Frank Loesser and Abe Burrows' binge through the underworld of New York City and pre-embargo Cuba July 31 through Aug. 10 at Foothill College's Smithwick Theatre.
Seasoned Bay Area performers head up the cast. C.J. Blankenship plays gambler Sky Masterson, and Keite David is Sarah, the do-gooder missionary Sky works to win over. Tim Reynolds is Nathan Detroit, Sky's sidekick, and Karen DeHart plays his long-suffering fiancée of 14 years, Adelaide.
Audience-pleasing songs like "Luck Be a Lady Tonight" and "Sit Down, You're Rockin' the Boat" helped catapult this show to the height of Broadway in 1950, winning it 15 Tony awards. The 1956 film version, which starred Frank Sinatra, Marlon Brando, Jean Simmons and Vivian Blaine, was nominated for several Golden Globe and Academy Awards.
The story of perpetual gamblers and the "dolls" who love them but could do without their less desirable habits quickly turns into a love story. When Sarah discovers her mission is at risk of closing its doors because of a lack of clients, Sky offers a solution that only a gentleman of his standing could afford ... with one catch: an IOU promising 12 sinners to her mission in exchange for a dinner date at his favorite restaurant, which just happens to be in Havana.
Singing and dancing keeps this comedy moving toward an unavoidable happy ending, with both disapproving leading ladies agreeing to concentrate on their upcoming nuptials and worry about changing the boys' gambling ways later.
"Guys and Dolls" runs July 31 through Aug. 10 at the Smithwick Theatre at Foothill College, 12345 El Monte Road, in Los Altos. Tickets are $10 to $22. To purchase tickets, call the box office at 650.949.7360.
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