Luck is a lady at Perseverance Theatre’s March production

Jordan Lewis, UAS WHALESONG

“Guys and Dolls,” Perseverance Theatre’s next production, runs March 15 to April 14, with a special UAS night on April 10.

The production is adapted from the 1950s Broadway musical production of the same name. It has seen historical success, with multiple revivals and a film after its original run. Guys and Dolls has received critical acclaim throughout the years at the Tony awards. Frank Sinatra starred as leading man Nathan Detroit in the 1955 film adaptation of “Guys and Dolls.”

Perseverance Theatre’s Pay as You Can performance for UAS students, faculty, staff, and Alumni and Friends is Wednesday, April 10.

The general plot follows Nathan Detroit, owner of an illegal floating craps game, as well as another gambler by the name of Sky Masterson. Detroit has recently gone broke and in order to get his money back makes a bet with Masterson to take a woman of his choosing to Havana, Cuba. Both men end up falling in love and reforming their ways.

The story follows characters within the hustle and bustle of 1920s New York. The music in the production was composed to match the time period, and focuses on vocals and classical band instruments such as trumpets, trombones, and horns. The style of music is different than modern day and gives off a different feeling.

“It’s fun, it’s got a good energy to it. The show that Perseverance is doing is going for that ’30’s feel. So it’s got a lot of that good jazzy-ness vibe to it with some fun music elements,” cast member Felix Thillet said.

“It has that East Coast type of energy per se in that old New York feel with elements of that underworld and the mischief that comes with it,” he said. Thillet is also UAS Student Activities administrative assistant.

Director of Outreach and Engagement Julie Coppens said university students will connect to the show.

“The music of ‘Guys and Dolls’ comes from the Golden Age of American popular song (early to mid-20th century), when pop music was what pretty much everybody was listening to,” Coppens said.

“These are songs that make you want to get up and move, or to reach out and hold someone’s hand. I think UAS students will relate strongly to the music of ‘Guys And Dolls’ and will surprise themselves by humming a lot of these tunes on their way out of the theatre,” Coppens said.

The Perseverance show will differ from the original production, especially in cast numbers. The original show had a cast up to 30 people while the Perseverance production “will have a cast of 15 people,” Thillet said.  This means that actors will be playing multiple roles.

Coppens talked about other ways the play differs. “Whenever Perseverance takes on a “classic” — such as the Thornton Wilder drama ‘Our Town’ earlier this season, we do our best to re-imagine the piece under a contemporary Alaskan lens,” Coppens said.

Perseverance Theatre’s Pay as You Can performance for UAS students, faculty, staff, and Alumni and Friends is Wednesday, April 10. According to a UAS / Perseverance Theatre Memorandum of Agreement, UAS Campus Life will coordinate transportation from campus to the downtown Douglas theatre.

More information on the show can be found on the Perseverance website, www.ptalaska.org

Check out Perseverance Theatre’s previous production Whale Song.