‘Guys and Dolls’ a sure bet – again

To use a Damon Runyon locution: More this show could not deliver.

The Coeur d’Alene Summer Theatre’s odds of success are good even before the first toss of the dice. Frank Loesser’s 1950 gambler’s fable, “Guys and Dolls,” is one of the cleverest, savviest, toughest, funniest and most tuneful musicals ever written.

So when you add in a talented cast and a confident director, Roger Welch, this production rakes in the pot.

I must admit that I have never, in more than a half-dozen viewings, seen a bad “Guys and Dolls.” The songs are just too strong – “Luck Be a Lady,” “More I Cannot Wish You” – and the characters are just too much fun – Harry the Horse, Nathan Detroit, Benny Southstreet.

Still, it can be performed at different levels of expertise, especially from a musical standpoint. The quality level is usually obvious during the first song.

That’s because this show has one of the best, and most difficult, opening numbers in musical theater, “Fugue for Tinhorns” (“I’ve got a horse right here, his name is Paul Revere …”). So when Jadd Davis as Nicely Nicely Johnson, Jason Snow as Benny Southstreet and Robbie French as Rusty Charlie nail this number perfectly, we know we’ll be in good hands.

This trio handles the song’s overlapping lyrics with panache. All three – especially Davis – have top-quality voices. All three establish rakish, lovable personas.

What follows is a cascade of well-sung numbers, including:

•”Adelaide’s Lament,” in which the terrific Callie McKinney Cabe sets forth her ditzy theory that thwarted matrimony can cause “the grippe, the postnasal drip.”

•The title song, delivered with Rat Pack swing by Davis and Snow.

•”If I Were a Bell,” in which Andrea Lutchendorf as Sgt. Sarah Brown wraps her classically trained voice around a boozy declaration of rapture, with winning results.

•”Sit Down, You’re Rocking the Boat,” in which Davis and the entire (excellent) ensemble deliver a hand-waving, show-stopping tent revival number.

And this doesn’t even count the big dice-rolling number, “Luck Be a Lady,” performed with swagger by Todd Hermanson as Sky Masterson, or the “Oldest Established (Permanent Floating Crap Game)” performed with flair by the talented Peter Riopelle as Nathan Detroit.

These lead roles are all well-cast, yet once again, the CdA Summer Theatre’s casting depth shines through in many of the smaller characters:

•Lt. Brannigan, played by Stu Cabe as a Dick Tracy-like copper who shoots everybody with both barrels (his fingers).

•Harry the Horse, played by Noel Barbuto, who constantly straightens his tie, adjusts his fedora and shoots his cuffs.

•Big Jule, played by William Rhodes, whose impossibly deep voice lends a sense of comic foreboding to lines like “Let’s shoot craps.”

These vivid portrayals are evidence of good direction, too. With so many characters, the audience needs to be able to quickly sort out each one.

The costuming, by Judith McGiveney, effectively serves the same purpose. Almost everybody wears a suit with broad vertical stripes, yet they all have their own distinctive Lifesavers-candy color schemes.

The 18-piece pit orchestra, under the direction of Steven Dahlke, does full credit to Loesser’s outstanding score.

As I said before, I’m a sucker for “Guys and Dolls.” Yet I’m an especially easy mark when it’s done so well.