Guys and Dolls - Synopsis

Act 1

Guys and Dolls opens by introducing us to 'Runyonland' - the first musical number is purely orchestral and shows us some of the characters we will meet in Damon Runyon's world of Broadway guys and dolls.

Three guys - Nicely-Nicely Johnson, Benny Southstreet and Rusty Charlie - are looking over the day's scratch sheets and deciding which horse to bet on today ('Fugue of Tinhorns'). The band from the local Save-A-Soul mission passes by, trying to preach their message of deliverance from the sins of gambling, drinking and petty crime ('Follow the Fold').

The guys are rather taken with Miss Sarah Brown, the Sergeant from the Mission, who preaches totally unsuccessfully to the passers-by on Broadway, but are more interested in picking a winning horse and helping their boss, Nathan Detroit, to run his floating crap game.

Nathan has a problem at the moment. The police department, and most especially Lieutenant Brannigan, are keeping a very close eye on him these days and trying to stop him finding a place to run his crap game. Nicely-Nicely, Benny and Nathan run through the list of possible venues, but none are any good except perhaps the Biltmore Garage. The only problem is that Joey Biltmore wants a thousand dollars in cash up-front to agree to host the game ('The Oldest Established Permanent Floating Crap-Game in New York').

Nathan is even more unhappy about his prospects when he learns that Sky Masterson, the highest gambler of them all, is in town.

At this point, along comes Miss Adelaide, who is Nathan's doll and his fiancee of 14 years. Miss Adelaide is the lead singer at the Hot Box nightclub, and has come to find Nathan on her break from rehearsals. Much though Nathan loves her, he needs to get her out of the way so he can concentrate on arranging the next crap game - even though he has promised Adelaide faithfully that he has given up running the crap game. So Nathan tells Nicely and Benny to whisk Adelaide off to the drugstore.

Nathan has had a stroke of inspiration: he will try and find a sure-fire bet to make against Sky Masterson that will win him the thousand dollars he needs for Joey Biltmore. However, Sky has not been such a successful gambler without learning to spot a trick coming. In the end, desperation forces Nathan to make an unusual bet with Sky. He bets the one thousand dollars that Sky cannot take Miss Sarah to Havana for dinner the next day. Nathan is quite sure he has the bet won.

However, Nathan has not allowed for how seriously Sky takes his gambling, and we see immediately setting about winning his bet. Sky starts by visiting the Save-A-Soul mission, where he introduces himself to Miss Sarah, and her kindly Aunt, Arvide Abernathy. Sky claims to be a reformed sinner and asks for Miss Sarah's help, before trying to ask her out for dinner. She turns him down flat. Of course Sky does not give up: he offers her one dozen sinners for her midnight prayer meeting on Thursday in return for a date at El Cafe Cubano, Havana.

Sarah turns him down again and describes the sort of man she is looking for ('I'll Know'). He in turn sings of how he would expect to meet his true love and finishes by kissing her. She takes just a little too long to get around to slapping him, before he takes his leave.

Meanwhile, Miss Adelaide and the other dolls are performing at the Hot Box ('Bushel and a Peck'). After the show, Adelaide meets with Nathan, and as usual, the subject turns to their non-forthcoming marriage. She confesses that she has told her mother that they are already married, complete with children, and asks Nathan if they can really get married now, right away. But he must concentrate on getting the crap game together and disappears off, leaving Adelaide to sing about the psychosomatic cold that delays to their wedding always bring on ('Adelaide's Lament').

Nathan makes a telephone call to Joey Biltmore, but Joey will not budge: It is a thousand dollars cash or no crap game at the garage.

Nicely and Benny have noticed that Sky is not being successful in his attentions to Miss Sarah, even though he is following her around all day. This means the crap game is likely to be on, even though Nathan does get distracted by his own doll, as guys do the world over ('Guys and Dolls').

Things are not going so well for Miss Sarah and the Save-A-Soul mission, as they still have no repentant sinners. At this moment the head of the Mission, General Matilda B. Cartwright calls in unexpectedly. The General has bad news for them: This branch of the Mission is to be closed.

Sky is still hanging around Sarah, and hears this threat to close the Mission. He suggests that the General should visit the big prayer meeting on Thursday. Sky again asks Sarah to take the 'marker' he wrote for her - his IOU for one dozen genuine sinners. Sarah struggles with her conscience, but does accept Sky's proposition: She will go to Havana with him.

The crap shooters are gathering from far and wide to take part in Nathan's floating crap game. But the venue is not booked yet, as Nathan has not received his one thousand dollars from Sky.

At this moment, Lieutenant Brannigan passes by and recognises most of the gathered guys as big-spending gamblers from round and about. But one face is unfamiliar to Brannigan and he is introduced to Big Jule from Illinois, clearly not the most savoury of characters.

Brannigan is naturally very suspicious of this gathering, but a bit of quick thinking follows, and the guys claim that this is a bachelor dinner for Nathan, who they say is finally getting married. Who should overhear the news but Adelaide herself, who is overjoyed and persuades Nathan that they should elope together the next night, straight after the show at the Hot Box.

All they need now is the bet money from Sky, but at this moment the Mission Band passes by, with the noticeable absence of Miss Sarah.

Sarah and Sky are in Havana and she is dragging him around all the sightseeing spots. He is exhausted and eventually persuades her into a cafe for a drink.

Of course, Sarah only wants a soft drink, and finds the milkshakes very much to her liking. She has quite a view and, since the 'flavouring' in the milkshake is that local speciality Bacardi, she starts to relax and is soon rather tipsy. In fact she loses enough of her inhibitions to join in the Cuban dancing and, to Sky's horror, ends up starting a brawl! He carrier her away from the trouble and she kisses him and tells him how she really feels for him ('If I Were a Bell').

Although Sarah wants to stay in Havana, Sky is a true gentleman and takes her safely back to New York. They arrive in the early hours of the morning, with Sarah in a much more sober state, and they meet Adelaide returning with the Hot Box dolls, who have given her a kitchen shower.

Sarah has never been up this late before, but Sky is very much used to Broadway in the hours before dawn ('My Time of Day'). Sarah agrees that this is a special time of day; they both realise they are in love ('I've Never Been in Love Before').

The happiness is sadly short-lived. They meet Arvide and the Mission Band returning from a successful all-night campaign. They are interrupted by the blaring of police sirens as the crap shooters burst out of the mission, where Nathan has been holding his crap game while Sarah was in Havana and the Mission workers were out. Sarah blames Sky - and herself for going with him to Cuba - and returns sadly to the Mission alone.

Act 2

It is the next night and Miss Adelaide and her Hot Box dolls are performing again ('Take Back Your Mink'). Nathan cannot meet Adelaide for the planned elopement, so sends Nicely along with a totally unconvincing excuse. Adelaide sees straight through it and starts sneezing again ('Adelaide's Second Lament').

Sarah is also unhappy. There is unlikely to be anyone at the big prayer meeting and the Mission will close. But Arvide knows that the real problem is that Sarah is in love with Sky and she tells Sarah that she would follow her true love, even if he is a gambler ('More I Cannot Wish You').

Meanwhile, Sky knows that Sarah holds her marker for twelve sinners. He decides to visit the crap shooters, who have been playing non-stop for a whole day in Nathan's new venue: The Sewers ('Crap Shooters Dance'). Big Jule has been losing badly, but with the help of his gun, he persuades Nathan and the other guys to start and bet, using his special dice with the invisible spots.

Sky arrives and tries to persuade them to go to the prayer meeting at the Mission, but not surprisingly, he has no takers. A chance remark gives him the idea that he will bet for their souls: a thousand dollars to each of them if he loses, but they must each turn up at the Mission is he wins. Sky calls for luck and throws ('Luck Be a Lady').

Sky wins his bet and the guys head for the mission. Adelaide catches Nathan, but he cannot elope with her now as he must go to the prayer meeting. In spite of Nathan's protestations of innocence, Adelaide is sure he is lying and storms off ('Sue Me').

Meanwhile, at the Mission, no-one has turned up for the prayer meeting and Sarah is about to give up, when the crap shooters burst into the room. The General is very impressed at this array of unsavoury sinners and at the testimonies given by them, especially Nicely Nicely Johnson ('Sit Down, You're Rocking the Boat').

Lieutenant Brannigan appears and asks Sarah to identify the guys as the players from last night's illegal crap game. She calmly denies seeing any of them before. She then learns from Nathan that Sky told him that he had not taken her to Havana and she runs off in confusion and distress.

Sarah bumps into Adelaide ('Sarah Meets Adelaide') and they sit and discuss the shortcomings of their respective men. By chance, Sarah mentions the crap shooters at the prayer meeting and Adelaide discovers that Nathan was telling the truth after all. They both have to admit they love their men, in spite of the aforementioned shortcomings, so they agree to get on with it ('Marry The Man Today').

In the final scene, Sarah and Sky have already been married at the Mission and it is the day for Adelaide and Nathan's wedding. Nathan has forgotten to book a venue for the wedding, but it is fine for them to be married at the Mission. It is a happy ending all round, even if Nathan has caught Adelaide's psychosomatic cold ('Guys and Dolls - Reprise').

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