Field guide A Tool for Teachers, Students, Performers, Designers & Advocates of Live Theatre

Guide Compiled by

Christina Casella, Education & Outreach Director, The Playhouse San Antonio

Show Directed by

Michelle Pietri

To the Educators, Students, Actors, Directors, Designers, and any Art advocate who may find themselves exploring this Field Guide:

Welcome to The Playhouse San Antonio Guys and Dolls Field Guide!

Here at The Playhouse San Antonio our mission is to produce high quality live theatre that inspires, educates, and entertains audiences of all ages. Our passion is

to connect our community to the world at large by telling stories that reveal the truth of the human experience.

In the spirit of this mission, we offer our audiences the opportunity to continue their experience at the theater by providing events and interactive resources like

this Field Guide. Its purpose can function in many ways—in the classroom, as a series of activities, a resource to artists, and a behind the scenes glance into this

amazing, venturesome production.

We suggest exploring the guide both before and after attending The Playhouse production of Guys and Dolls running Thursdays, Fridays, and Saturdays at 8pm,

and Sundays at 3pm from December 6, 2013 to December 22, 2013.

Our Playhouse Education Matinee, Sunday, December 15, 2013, includes a Post Show Discussion and Talk Back. We encourage those attending to apply the

knowledge and information gained from this Field Guide to stimulate and inspire the evening’s discussion.

Additional credit to this guide is due to Guys and Dolls director, Michelle Pietri. We appreciate her dedication to educating both her cast and audience.

Thank you and Enjoy!

Guys and dolls, The Musical

Book by Jo Swerling and Abe Burrows

Music and Lyrics by Frank Loesser

Based on The Idyll of Sarah Brown and characters by Damon Runyon

Set in Damon Runyon's mythical New York City, this oddball romantic comedy - considered by many to be the

perfect musical comedy - soars with the spirit of Broadway as it introduces us to a cast of vivid characters who

have become legends in the canon: Sarah Brown, the upright but uptight "mission doll," out to reform the

evildoers of Time Square; Sky Masterson, the slick, high-rolling gambler who woos her on a bet and ends up

falling in love; Adelaide, the chronically ill nightclub performer whose condition is brought on by the fact she's

been engaged to the same man for 14 years; and Nathan Detroit, her devoted fiance, desperate as always to find

a spot for his infamous floating crap game.

Everything works out in the end, thanks to the machinations of Abe Burrows and Jo Swerling's hilarious, fast-

paced book and Frank Loesser's bright, brassy, immortal score, which takes us from the heart of Times Square to

the cafes of Havana, Cuba, and even into the sewers of New York City. Funny and romantic, Guys and Dolls is

ideal for audiences and performers of any age.

ONE.

Synopsis Courtesy Musical Theatre International

The Characters

TWO.

Sky Masterson Chris Berry

Sarah Brown Caroline Kittrell

Nathan Detroit Miguel Ochoa

Miss Adelaide Paige Blend

Nicely-Nicely Johnson Gerardo Vallejo

Harry the Horse Matthew Lieber

Benny Southstreet J.J. Gonzalez

Arvide Abernathy Shane Noel

Rusty Charlie Benjamin Scharff

Big Jule Robert Moritz

Lt. Brannigan Barry Goettl

Agatha Priscilla Vargas

Calvin Robert Nauman

General Matilda B. Cartwright Mary Brand

Mimi Alison Hinojosa

Girl Dancers Tess Acosta

Courtnie Mercer

Beth Morgan

Laura Michelle Wolfe

Jaclyn Villasenor

Ensemble Ysenia Anais

Alonzo Corona

Luis Garcia, Jr.

Sean Hagdorn

Brian Hodges

Lincoln Korver

Kenneth Lopez

Jose Martinez

Meghan Ollivant

Emily Sanchez

Ramsey Sweatmon

Joshua Torres

Robby Vance

Priscilla Vargas

Photo courtesy Siggi Ragnar

Photo courtesy Siggi Ragnar

background

Three.

Creating guys and dolls

Guys and Dolls producers Ernie Martin and Cy Feuer wanted to create a musical based author’s Damon Runyon’s short story “The Idyll of Miss Sarah Brown.”

The story featured the same characters you see in Guys and Dolls: Sky Masterson, Nathan Detroit, Sarah Brown, and Miss Adelaide.

Frank Loesser wrote the music and lyrics and choreographer Michael Kidd came on, but the pair of producers were plagues with finding a book writer. After

going through 11 writers, Martin and Feuer agreed to hire Hollywood screenwriter Jo Sterling. When Sterling’s efforts didn’t meet the producer’s standards,

Abe Burrows was brought on to replace Sterling.

DID YOU KNOW?

Jo Sterling is still listed as a coauthor as a part of his original contract.

Today’s Guys and Dolls script is all Burrows’, though!

The Broadway debut landed at 46th Street Theatre on November 24, 1950 and ran for over 1,200 performances. The production was directed by the famous

George S. Kaufman and was soon referred to as “The Musical Fable of Broadway.” This will be the fifth time Guys and Dolls has been performed at The

Playhouse. Productions prior were mounted in 1957, 1984, 1994, and 2003.

Abe Burrows

Frank Loesser

Four.

Life in the 1930s

1930s Slang Bank Roll: Literally, a roll of bills. The money one has. Usually used to refer to a large amount.

Barbasol: a brand of shaving cream and aftershave

Bookie: a person who makes a business of accepting the bets of others on the outcome of sports contests, especially of horse races. In this setting, often a

shady character.

Bromo Fizz: a mixture of sodium bicarbonate (antacid) and acetaminophen (Tylenol) that came in tablet form - one would drop it into a glass of water, and the

tablet would fizz (think alka-seltzer). A Bromo Fizz was a popular cold and hangover remedy in the 1920s-50s.

Brooks Brothers: The oldest men's clothing outfitters in the U.S. - known in the Guys & Dolls era as the place where "Rockefellers" and other wealthy folks buy

their suits.

Bundle: One’s wallet, or the amount of money one has.

Canasta: a card game, using two decks, that resembles gin rummy. In this time period, it was a game played mostly by older women.

Frank Loesser

Damon runyon Damon Runyon wrote “The Idyll of Miss Sarah Brown” in 1933.

Runyon believed in the “hero outlaw” and incorporated the concept in most, if not all his writings.

He loved New York and always portrayed his characters as going from “rags to riches.”

Did you Know? The adjective "Runyonesque" refers to this type of character as well as to the type of situations and dialog that Runyon depicted.

Set design five.

Set designer Marcello Martinez

You are a first time set designer at The Playhouse! How has the experience been so far?

This has been one of the smoother design projects I've worked on. Everyone kept enthusiastically supporting my sketches and concepts and color schemes

and visual interpretations. This of course made me instantly skeptical of everything I was doing and worried that I wasn't moving in a good direction.

Fortunately, the clock ran out before I could really get in there and ruin it properly.

What was your concept for your design? Did you work closely with Michelle on creating it?

Michelle stated early on that this musical is a big Broadway show and we were going to do a big fun production. Those themes translate well to a big and fun

visual style. The storyline and its absence of subtext then had some large signposts that I was all too happy to follow.

What is your favorite part of the set's design?

The team at The Playhouse is incredibly talented and dedicated. My favorite bit was getting to work some passionate folks on a fun project. Once my small

contribution is done, I am really looking forward to going to the show and enjoying the integration of all these individual and group efforts. Although I know

a little about how the pieces were made, I won't let that get in the way of my simply enjoying another great Playhouse production!

Marcello Martinez Painted Drop

Marcello’s Design

Costume design six.

Costume designer Samantha Sandifer

“From reading the show, I see it as very much being a colorful, feel good show. For Sarah, I drew her in

the stereotypical band costume, as well as with a long cloak and hat. For the Havana scene, I saw her as

being very sedate and reserved so I drew her in very mute colors so that by contrast she could stand out

from the colorful atmosphere of that scene.

Adelaide I saw as being very feminine and a little further in her fashion than Sarah.

The Hot box girls I drew two outfits, the first is the "Bushel and a Peck" where I saw the girls as being a

variation of a chicken while Adelaide stood out by being in blue checkered board costume reminiscent

of a farm girl. I was thinking of using boas in this scene to represent tail feathers, I'm not sure how this

will work with the choreography.

For the men, I know that we are going to try and pull a lot of these costumes, so I drew mostly the

silhouette instead of focusing on color.”

Did you know? Samantha’s designs changed a lot from her first concepts to the final show’s designs.

What is different about the costumes in the final show, that Samantha had originally stated above?

Samantha’s

Original Design

for Adelaide

Adelaide’s Final

Costume

Photo courtesy

Siggi Ragnar

Samantha

Sandifer