The Ambassador
Theatre Group announced today a new production of Guys
and Dolls to be directed by Des McAnuff, the
Tony Award-Winning director of Jersey Boys.
Previews will begin on February 3, 2009 at Broadway's
Nederlander Theatre (208 West 41st Street) and the
show will open on March 1.
The show will
star Tony Award nominee Oliver Platt as Nathan Detroit,
with additional casting to be announced shortly. McAnuff's
choreographer on Jersey Boys, Sergio Trujillo,
is also on board.
Guys and Dolls features music and lyrics by
Frank Loesser and book by Jo Swerling and Abe Burrows and is
based on "The Idyll of Miss Sarah Brown" and "Blood
Pressure," two short stories by Damon Runyon. It also
borrows characters and plot elements from other Runyon
stories, most notably "Pick the Winner".
The musical
comedy was first produced on Broadway at the 46th Street
Theatre in 1950. The original production was directed by
George S. Kaufman and starred Robert Alda, Sam Levene,
Isabel Bigley and Vivian Blaine. The musical ran
for 1,201 performances, and won five Tony Awards
in 1951, including Best Musical.
(Corey
Scholibo, The Advocate)