Alumnus stars in ‘Guys and Dolls’ at Fresno Pacific University

Guys and Dolls, a beloved musical from the 1950’s, was recently performed by Fresno Pacific University’s Theater Program along with other various actors. The play featured 23 musical numbers, all enthralling in their own right.

The musical is based off multiple of Damon Runyon’s short stories. Runyon’s stories were mainly focused on the New York Broadway scene and this continues within Guys and Dolls. One of the lead roles was played by FCS alumni and FPU junior Robbie Hill. The musical was directed by Brooke Aiello.

The play revolves around two stories, one of which is about Sky Masterson (Hill) and Sarah Brown (Taylor Delgado). The other focus is on Nathan Detroit (Dylan Hardcastle) and Miss Adelaide (Annelise Escobedo). Sky and Nathan are some of the ‘Guys’, Miss Adelaide is the main ‘Doll’ and Sarah is one of the ‘Save a Soul’ missionaries in New York.

Nathan operates an illegal crap game for the gamblers in the town and is always is on the lookout for a new location. Sky Masterson is in town when Nathan is looking for a place for his game. In order to get the money, he needs to rent a location. Eventually he makes a deal with Sky. If Sky convinces Sarah to go to Havana with him, he gets $1,000, and if not, Nathan gets the money.

Along the way Sky and Sarah fall in love and get married. Nathan finally marries Adelaide after 14 years of engagement.

After seeing numerous plays performed by various casts and directors, I can say by far this one is the best. The singing, acting and choreography exceeded my expectations and flowed together to create one seamless performance.

The singing was exceptional, all the actors had some of the best voices I’ve heard. Out of all the actors I would have to say that Adelaide’s was the best. She delivered her lines clearly and the numbers involving her were some of my favorites.

The following tweet features and article that highlights similarities and differences between the performance and movie.

Don’t miss our review of “Guys and Dolls” presented by Fresno Pacific University / @fpu at the @SelmaArtsCenter https://t.co/WnSkfdy9XI #theatre #Selma #musical

— Kings River Life Mag (@KingsRiverLife) April 13, 2018

The play was also accompanied by an orchestra conducted by Erik Leung. The orchestra was not really anything special, but it was definitely better then having recorded tracks playing. It was a nice addition, but not crucial to the performance.I also thought the set was very appropriate for the time period and musical. It didn’t distract from the actual actors and changed to match each scene even if the actors just moved to opposite ends of the stage. The set changes were not awkward at all, which is something I have usually seen with most performances. The lights weren’t dimmed too much and the people moving the set were comedic along the way. The set overflowed onto the walls and it was placed at various heights in the front of the room.

Another one of my favorite parts of the play were the costumes. They were extravagant and changed with the scenes especially for the ladies. They were over the top and added a lot to the performance.

Guys and Dolls also didn’t feature an excessive cast with too many extras and actors with non-speaking parts. The musical wasn’t excessively long and kept out a lot of extra fluff.

Overall, the musical is the best I have ever seen. All the aspects of the play surmounted any expectations and no details were ignored. The actors stayed true to

their parts and maintained amazing personalities which shined through on stage. Although Guys and Dolls was an all around great performance it was not something necessarily appropriate for younger kids.

Although Guys and Dolls just finished it’s last performances, Fresno Pacific University will be hosting the Youth Engage Shakespeare Summer Camp in June.

For the prelude to this article about Robbie Hill, read Profile: Alumnus Robbie Hill Finds Success In Theater.

For another theatre review, read The Phantom Of The Opera Draws In Audience. For more articles, read Brother to Brother and Sister to Sister Accepting Applications.

Vijay Stephen can be reached via Twitter and via email.