Guys and Dolls at the Liverpool Empire Review
Guys and Dolls
Liverpool Empire
16-19 March 2016
Reviewed by Louise Turton
Always a warm welcome awaits at the Liverpool Empire and tonight was no exception. From the collection of our tickets to the interval drinks, we were greeted by polite, friendly and courteous staff.
Guys and Dolls until this evening is a story that I personally was not familiar with so was unsure what to expect in this new production.
Guys and Dolls transports us back in time to a seedy underworld gambling section of Broadway, set in the 1950’s. This lead me to believe that the show would be a dark gritty affair – how wrong I could be – what followed was a fun, humorous production liberally sprinkled with fabulous song and dance routines throughout.
At the heart of the tale is an old fashioned tale of love between two couples, Nathan Detroit (Maxwell Caulfield) a notorious gambler trying to organise a high stakes illegal crap game and his long suffering fiancée of fourteen years Miss Adelaide, played superbly and hilariously by Louise Dearman. The other couple being the charismatic, womanising gambler Sky Masterson, again played wonderfully by Richard Fleeshman, much matured since his Coronation street days who falls for the prim and proper missionary Sarah Brown (Anna O’Byrne) after initially trying to woo her following a bet with Nathan.
The show flows along nicely with fantastic performances throughout from the whole cast, although personally I loved Jack Edwards’ portrayal of Nicely-Nicely Johnson. He was truly superb and he also featured strongly in the standout musical number of the evening ‘Sit Down, You’re Rockin’ The Boat’ A rip-roaring song that was enjoyed by all.
This was a great performance that was enjoyed immensely by myself and my friend. The only thing that marred the whole experience was inconsiderate members of the audience who insisted on talking throughout the performance. Full marks to the theatre who made an announcement at the interval for consideration to the cast and asked for quiet, but unfortunately this was ignored.
Rating: 5/5 
Tickets cost from £10 to £47.50 (plus £2.85 transaction fee).
Guys and Dolls is at the Liverpool Empire until 19 March 2016. For more information or to book tickets click here or call the box office on 0844 8713017.
Liverpool Empire Theatre, Lime Street, Liverpool, Merseyside, L1 1JE | 0844 8713017
