Guys and Dolls enthralls audiences in Boone County

By Anne Eickstadt

ANNE EICKSTADT PHOTOS Belvidere Republican
Where’s the crap game going to be? The guys can’t wait to play.

Editor

The Main Street Players of Boone County are currently performing the classic show of Guys and Dolls, a musical that mixes idealized gangsters and showgirls with inner-city missionaries and ‘the oldest-established, permanent floating crap game in New York’ vs. police Lieutenant Brannigan who seeks to shut it down.

First performed on Broadway in 1950, Guys and Dolls is an oddball, romantic comedy set in a mythical New York. Gambler Nathan Detroit enlists fellow gambler Sky Masterson to set up the biggest craps game in town while evading the authorities. Meanwhile Nathan’s long-time girlfriend, Adelaide, laments her 14-year engagement and Sky Masterson ends up chasing the straight-laced missionary Sarah Brown.

The movie made in 1955 stars Frank Sinatra and Marlon Brando. The plot, the songs, the show still delights an audience and the Main Street Players put on an awesome performance. New faces and familiar ones mingle on stage at the Community Building Complex, 111 W. 1^st St. as the acts travel from one side of town to another and head south to Havana, Cuba and back again.

Harmony Thornton, who plays Agatha in the Mission Band, I performed with the MSP in ‘Father of the Bride’ ten years ago and then took time off to raise children. I had the itch to perform again so I tried out for ‘Guys and Dolls.’ The cast has some great personalities and a lot of talent. I have been making friends and I hope to use this as a springboard to continue to act. Maybe I will be able to be in the next show, ‘A Farce of Nature’ also.”

Dawn Huff, a familiar MSP face, worked backstage for this show. She said, “It’s nice seeing new faces on stage. We have a lot of new people and they are great. The show was well cast and it has been a pleasure to listen to them as I painted set pieces. I would love to see the new people come back.”

MSP Co-Vice President Ronn Gordon said, “As a board member, I am very excited to have this show produced. The weather has been against us, but, as usual, we are putting on a top-notch production. We have so many new faces gracing our stage. It’s wonderful.”

“It’s been extremely fun,” said Jordan Christopherson who portrays the role of the gangster Nicely-Nicely Johnson. “I have enjoyed it a lot. I have made some really good friends. I am a full-time…

For complete article, pick up the Feb. 14 Belvidere Republican.