A MUSICAL FABLE FOR THEN — AND NOW

A cornerstone of the American musical theater canon.
Corny and sexist? Undeniably.
But it’s still thrilling, still brassy, still Broadway.

Guys and Dolls bills itself as “a musical fable of Broadway,” and that framing matters. Based on the stories of Damon Runyon, the 1950 show doesn’t aim for realism so much as a heightened, candy-colored fantasy of New York — a mythical mid-century city populated by gamblers with flowery slang, showgirls with hearts of gold, and unlikely romances that unfold as if preordained. With a book by Jo Swerling and Abe Burrows, this is not a documentary portrait of postwar Manhattan, but a larger-than-life fairy tale set somewhere between the 1930s and 1950s, where vice is charming, love is inevitable, and redemption arrives on a swell of brass.

Kyle Taylor Parker and Calvin McCulloughLawrence Redmond, John Syger, Julie Benko, Jimena Flores Sanchez, Katherine Riddle

Francesca Zambello, who is visiting from her usual home as the Artistic Director of the Washington National Opera, leans into that elasticity of time at Shakespeare Theatre Company’s Harman Hall. The evening opens in a present-day nonprofit thrift store before sliding backward into Runyon’s Broadway, a framing device meant to connect contemporary economic precarity with the hustlers and dreamers of an earlier era. Seen in that light, Guys and Dolls is easy to enjoy — until, inevitably, it isn’t. Viewed through a modern, feminist lens, its gender politics can still chafe. The men get the freedom, the bets, and the bravado; the women wait, plead, or reform them. That tension is baked into the show’s DNA, and no amount of charm can entirely smooth it away.

And yet.

 The cast

Zambello’s production is savvy enough to acknowledge the artifice without apologizing for it, allowing the performers and the music to do what they do best. And what they do best is deliver pleasure. This production settles into its stylized world with confidence, buoyed by Frank Loesser’s indelible score, Walt Spangler’s expansive set, and Joshua Bergasse’s muscular, exuberant choreography. In a world of sinners and saints, showgirls and gamblers, all operating according to the heightened logic of fable rather than psychology, this production delivers where it counts.

Hayley Podschun and Rob Colletti

The story revolves around two mismatched couples. Nathan Detroit (Rob Colletti) runs New York’s oldest floating crap game and has been engaged to nightclub performer Miss Adelaide (Hayley Rodschun) for fourteen years — a fact that Adelaide’s psychosomatic cold gleefully refuses to ignore. Meanwhile, high-rolling gambler Sky Masterson (Jacob Dickey) accepts a wager that leads him to pursue the prim and principled Sarah Brown (Julie Benko), a missionary with Save-a-Soul — a setup that sounds worse the longer you think about it. (Benko is joining Broadway’s Ragtime as Emma Goldman, so Emma Flynn will step in for the final week.)

 Nick Alvino, Tommy Gedrich, and the castJacob Dickey and the cast

Under the musical direction of James Lowe, the score swings, shimmers, and seduces. During the show-stopping “Luck Be a Lady” number the crapshooters’ dice game turns into an awe-inspiring, muscular ballet, complete with pirouettes, leaps, and backflips. Other hit songs like Miss Adelaide and the Hot Box Girls’ “A Bushel and a Peck” and Sarah’s “If I Were a Bell” — my favorite; Dinah Washington’s version is tops — land with buoyant delight, reminding us why this show has endured for 75 years.

Graciela Rey, Aria Christina Evans, Hayley Podschun, Jessie Peltier, and Jimena Flores Sanchez Jacob Dickey and Julie Benko

Yes, Guys and Dolls is a relic of another era. Its gender politics are dated, its stereotypes blunt. But when performed with this level of craft, clarity, and joy by a cast of triple-threats, it becomes hard to resist. Shakespeare Theatre Company’s production doesn’t ask us to rethink the musical so much as to revel in it — flaws and all. This is a polished, high-energy revival that understands exactly what this show does best and delivers it with panache. Not a bad choice to lift your spirits on a cold, wintry day during this holiday madness.

Hayley Podschun and Julie Benko

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photos by Teresa Castracane Photography

Guys and Dolls
Shakespeare Theatre Company
Harman Hall, 610 F St. NW
Tue–Sat at 7:30; Sat and Sun at 2 (performance dates and times vary)
ends on January 8, 2026
for tickets ($39+), call 202.547.1122 or visit Shakespeare Theatre

for more shows, visit Theatre in DC

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