“Luck be a lady tonight!” Guys and Dolls right here

Con men, gamblers, floating crap games, five thousand “potatoes”, whiskey joints, and “Nicely-Nicely Johnson”.

This is the whole, strange world that Kinross Wolaroi drama students have learnt for this year’s production of “Guys and Dolls”.

Playing at Orange Civic Theatre next weekend, this classic 1950s musical requires the cast to studiously perfect the tortured Bugs Bunny-esque Brooklyn accents of a mythical, wiseacre New York city of punters and hustlers.

Rehearsing the show during the recent school holidays, director Alex Dunkley says the cast have found it surprisingly easy to immerse themselves in the fantasy-comedy set around Damon Runyon’s iconic short-story characters.

“It’s a classic, with really catchy and memorable songs,” Alex says.

“It also requires a large cast, making it ideal for school productions, and the characters are very much caricatures.”

She said that this requires the cast to learn about a non-PC world of dames and dolls, “Galahads” and guys. 

“It’s a really good play to develop their acting skills; the language and its embroidery are great,” she said, adding that getting the inflections and rapid-fire speech right, is essential.

“Absolutely, accents can make or break a production, and there’s so much terminology, ‘crap game, ‘welch on a moula’ they’re all new terms.”

The play’s light-hearted style, spirit, and mood also make it ideal for these times, she said.

“It’s a romantic comedy, very tongue-in-cheek, it’s incredibly vibrant and fun.

“There’s a lot of musical numbers and it’s not at all dark or grim,” she added.

Having started preparing for the play in Term Four of last year with auditions in Term One of this, the annual shows take up a fair chunk of her school life as a drama teacher.

“It’s worth it, it’s so much fun.”

Year 10 student Niamh Webster, who plays the perpetually put-off romantic lead “Miss Adelaide” — engaged 14 years and counting — said the unfamiliar setting of the play is part of its appeal.

“I didn’t even know what a ‘crap game’ (gambling fixture played with two dice) meant. It’s a whole different world,” she said.

Despite its old-style romantic entanglements with Miss Adelaide pressing Nathan to marry her after more than a decade affianced, she sees her character as a hero.

“She may be Nathan’s long-suffering fianceé, but she has fighting spirit, she’s very loyal and positive.”

With one of the broadest of Brooklyn accents in the show, she says that getting it down, is largely a matter of being in the right frame of mind.

“Once you start speaking like that, it becomes quite easy, and it’s so fun watching the other performers do it as well.”

Miss Adelaide’s reluctant fiancé, Nathan Detroit, is played by Year 11 student, Oscar McLaughlin who said that getting into the character is about practice.

“It was a bit difficult at first, getting into the mind of a gambler and criminal. Now it’s really easy to switch in and out.

“When we went into the auditions, I was quite jaunty, but it’s been a really good experience,” he said.

Year 10 student, Scarlett Gee, playing the Salvation Army missionary, Sarah Brown who falls in love while trying to save the gamblers and crooks from eternal damnation, has a more-refined intonation that, she said, was easier to master.

“My character doesn’t have quite the same accent as some of the gambling characters, so I found it not too hard.

“It’s basically a play about two very different love stories… and I do love musicals,” she enthused.

Year 11 student Max Bloomfield who plays the fourth lead, Sky Masterson, said the fictional world in which the play is set, is part of its charm.

“It’s very foreign, that’s a part of its appeal. It’s so immersive because it’s so different. Everyone’s so over-the-top,” he added.

Like most drama students, the interaction with the audience, is the greatest reward of live performing.

“It’s the energy, the connection with the audience.

 “Just the buzz you get from that, it’s like a big puzzle which you have to sort through,” he concluded.

Guys & Dolls, Orange Civic Theatre Friday, July 22 time 7.30pm. Saturday July 23, 1pm and 7.30pm.

For more information, call 6393 8111.