Guys, Dolls, Family and Cardiff

Rave reviews for Nick Hytner's new Guys and Dolls at the Bridge Theatre. (Five stars in the Evening Standard (here)  par exemple, chosen at random from the galumph of what sounds like deserved fawning. Fellow Illtydian Tony O'Donnell is in it (Icons passim).

Peter - family, Illtydian, director etc. - was taken to the first UK production, he tells me, in London in 1953, as a treat do rare and special it was almost "combined Christmas and birthday present."

My impersonation of Marlon Brando in the film is unsurpassed.

I last saw Guys and Dolls on my birthday in 2005 (Icons passim).  Ewan McGregor as "Sky Masterson", Jane Krakowski as "Miss Adelaide", Douglas Hodge as "Nathan Detroit" and Jenna Russell as" Sarah Brown."

The time before that was in 1983 at the National. My brother Vince and his friend and Anthony Brookman visited me in London and we went along to a Sat Mat. Paul Jones as "Sky Masterson", Imelda Staunton as "Miss Adelaide", Trevor Peacock as "Nathan Detroit" and Fiona Hendley as "Sarah Brown." as I recall. Don't quote me.

Was I too hasty yesterday (passim) ruling out more theatre until after Streetcar? It is good to get along to a fresh take on "Guys and Dolls" every twenty years or so don't you think?