Arts & Leisure

New interpretations bring depth to ‘Guys and Dolls’

THE FOUR PROTAGONISTS of “Guys and Dolls” are, pictured from left to right, Nathan Bernazzani (Nathan Detroit), Luna Simone-Gonzales (Miss Adelaide), Kate Ryan (Sarah Brown) and Matthew Johnson (Sky Masterson). Photo / David Devine

Anyone else feel like everything has frozen over and we’re moving at a glacial pace through these five weeks of January? Like every morning you wake up and it’s dark, it’s cold… and it’s still January?

But not everyone shares these winter doldrums; especially not the cast, orchestra and crew of the Middlebury College J-Term musical production of “Guys and Dolls,” which is coming to the stage of the Town Hall Theater in Middlebury beginning Saturday, Jan. 25. For those folks, January is whizzing by!

“I think we have a total of about nine rehearsals,” said Craig Maravich, who joins the Winter-Term musical team for the first time this year as its director. His local credits include Artistic Director of Courageous Stage, Artist and Faculty member of the Acting Ensemble at Bread Loaf, and Program Director of Middlebury College’s Beyond the Page program.

“It’s two weeks and five days,” clarified Cole Newman, a Middlebury student who is the lead stage manager for the production.

Right, that’s definitely not a lot of time to rehearse and produce a full-length musical.

This rendition will be an “imaginative and fresh take on one of the greatest and most enduring musicals of all time: ‘Guys and Dolls: A Musical Fable of Broadway,’” reads the Town Hall Theater’s description of the show. “Set in bustling 1950s New York, this joyful and comedic romance follows down-on-their-luck gamblers, night club performers and a pious missionary in a story that celebrates the ways love transforms and connects the most unlikely of people.”

STUDENTS IN MIDDLEBURY College’s J-Term musical class rehearse in the Doug and Debbie Anderson Studio in the new wing of the Town Hall Theater with choreographer Christal Brown. The student cast and crew will present four performances of “Guys and Dolls” at the Town Hall Theater beginning Jan. 25.
Photo / Craig Maravich

The four protagonists are played by Middlebury students Nathan Bernazzani (Nathan Detroit), Luna Simone-Gonzales (Miss Adelaide), Kate Ryan (Sarah Brown) and Matthew Johnson (Sky Masterson).

“I’ve done a lot of ‘Golden Age’ productions like this,” said Bernazzani before a morning rehearsal on Tuesday. “It’s so fun to put on these kinds of characters and transport back in time… it really makes it feel like theater.”

“‘Guys and Dolls’ has very exaggerated characters,” said Simone-Gonzales, who is originally from New York City, where she said that she “sees a lot of characters.” “But there’s a lot going on for each character; there are strong themes presented through comedic expression.”

Yes, there’s no doubt that “Guys and Dolls” is full of vivid characters, memorable music and exciting dance.

Performers began working on the music with Musical Director Carol Christensen in the fall.

“We rehearsed about five hours a week,” Christensen explained. “And we had all the music memorized by the first day of rehearsals.”

“It was helpful that Carol had given the students the singing language,” chimed in Associate Professor of Dance at Middlebury College and choreographer Christal Brown. “That way the students could take it all in, layer by layer.”

Brown said she aimed to keep the choreography simple.

“It’s about embodied learning; not ‘what I am or what I am not’… I say let’s just fail!” Brown continued. “That opens us up to an increased capacity of understanding and changes how we see ourselves and what we’re capable of.”

The interests of the class to expand expression flows through every aspect of the show — from interpretations of the text, to “jazzing up some of the rhythms” in the music, Christensen added.

“Acting as Adelaide, it’s about understanding what the words say, but also what do we want to say?” wondered Simone-Gonzales aloud. “How do we find the grey? How can we 360 these characters more? And will the audience get that?”

“Oh, I think they will,” complimented Maravich. “The four main characters tap into tropes that existed in the 1950s… but for this show to sustain for 75 years means that the characters have the great areas too.

DIRECTOR CRAIG MARAVICH rehearses with the cast and crew of this year’s J-Term musical class.
Photo / Andy Mitchell

“We made a lot of our own choices in our interpretations, but the text gives us the space to do that,” Maravich continued. “We spent a lot of time on certain parts to fit the vocabulary to our time.”

“We’re bending the binary a bit,” Bernazzani agreed. “I feel like the character is me, but it’s me and my interpretation, and that adds more depth to the character.”

“We are doing this with all of the characters,” Newman noted, asking “how do we queer these characters, and bring in more nuance?”

Because, for sure, Maravich added, “these possibilities were all true back then.”

The performers will be supported on stage by a pit orchestra of 14 students, led by conductor and pianist Ronnie Romano.

“The pit is sounding great,” Romano promised. “They got their music a few months ago, but we just began rehearsing in earnest at the start of J-Term.”

It’s not to be forgotten that the purpose of this production is first and firmest “a class,” reminded Maravich.

“This imaginative, joyous and vibrant production will be the work of nearly 50 students, faculty, and artists at Middlebury College,” he said. “People are collaborating across the disciplines of music, theater, and dance with a full student cast, dancers, and orchestra. Students are learning and helping lead this work as stage managers, costume design support, and production. It’s the culminating production of the January term course: ‘Making a Musical: Process and Performance.’”

“THT is overjoyed to partner with Middlebury College on the January term musical with Director Craig Maravich at the helm,” said Lisa Mitchell, THT’s Executive and Artistic Director. “This year’s show builds on a successful 15-year tradition, previously led by Director Doug Anderson and Stage Manager Mary Longey. This year’s musical is also the first use of Town Hall Theater’s new wing, which has come alive with song and dance through vibrant rehearsals.”

Want to speed up these last few weeks of January? This show will do it! Enjoy a modern take on an oldie that will scratch that nostalgic itch, and leave you wondering: What is under the surface?

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Shows are open to all and will take the stage at Town Hall Theater in Middlebury on three evenings — Saturday, Jan. 25; Wednesday, the 29th; and Thursday, the 30th, at 7:30 p.m. — with a matinee on Sunday, Jan. 26, at 2 p.m. Tickets and more details are available at townhalltheater.org.

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