The Play (Guys and Dolls)

I live in a very small town, which you know.  What you may not know is that small towns are rife with traditions.  We always celebrate Founder’s Day.  Founder’s Day always starts with the firing of the anvil.  There’s always a pancake breakfast.  On Christmas Eve night, Main Street is always lined with luminaries and it’s so beautiful I tear up every time I drive by them.  There’s hay rides and parties and casseroles and neighbors and a real sense of community.

At the heart of the community is the school.  Our little town operates around the school schedule: the Friday night football games, the awards assemblies, Homecoming Week, and the concerts.  Once a year, the high school auditorium will fill with town folk for one reason: The Play.

The Play is a sound tradition in our school and town.  It doesn’t matter if The Play is a play that’s been done before.  The actors are different!  It doesn’t matter if lines are forgotten, dance steps are missed, or actors walk into the wall and hit their head square on a fake telephone as they try to exit the stage (Dayna).  All that matters is our kids get the chance to shine, and they deserve it.  I took part in four plays, one every year of my high school career.

Bye, Bye Birdie (I was on the sound crew)

Crazy For You (I was Patsy and for the life of me can’t find the pictures from that play)

Lil’ Abner (I was Mammie, my very favorite roll)

That’s me with our foreign exchange student, Mitch.

Meet Me in St. Louis (I was Rose)

That’s me on the left with Erin.
And here’s some of the cast:

I have so many great memories of those plays. The late rehearsals, the smell of the dressing rooms, the make-up, the piano, the adrenaline rush that comes when you hear your cue.

Well happy days are here again:

It’s time for The Play!
This year they’re performing Guys n’ Dolls under the direction of Kyle Gardner.
Read:

The Joseph City High School Music Department presents the timeless musical comedy “Guys and Dolls” in a special three-performance run, April 7-9, 7:00 p.m. Performances are at the B.G. Bennett Auditorium, located at 4629 East 2nd North Joseph City, AZ on the High School Campus. The show is directed by Kyle Gardner. General Admission tickets are $5 and sold at the door so get there early.

Set in Depression-era Times Square, Guys and Dolls is about a couple of big city gamblers and the women who love them. It tells the overlapping stories of high-roller Sky Masterson (Dallin Baldwin), who falls in love with mission worker Sarah Brown (Mackenzie Fields), and lovable rapscallion Nathan Detroit (Austin Gardner), engaged for 14 years to Miss Adelaide (Malisa Farnes), a headliner at the Hot Box Club. Nathan runs a famous floating crap game, and an ongoing plot line involves his quest for a safe place for the game as Adelaide continues her quest to convince him to marry her. Meanwhile, Sarah, mistakenly believing that Sky set up an illegal game at the mission, tries to fight her affection for the charismatic crapshooter.

Considered one of the finest musical comedies ever written, Guys and Dolls is packed with one unforgettable song after another—not to mention loads of romance and charm to spare. With beloved tunes such as “A Bushel and a Peck,” “Sit Down, You’re Rockin’ the Boat,” “Luck Be a Lady,” and “The Oldest Established,” there is plenty of toe-tapping to be had. If you are the betting type, you should know that Guys and Dolls is the odds-on favorite to ride to the winners’ circle of your greatest Broadway loves. These gents and dames have an irresistible mix of naughty, nice and hilarious.