Capstone Cultural Event 2: Guys and Dolls

The "Guys and Dolls" set

     Last weekend I had the opportunity to attend the musical "Guys and Dolls" at Penn Trafford High School in Pennsylvania.  While I was visiting with my family, two of my younger cousins asked me to attend a play that they had worked incredibly hard to put together.  They were members of the "tech team" and contributed to the behind the scenes aspect of the play, from set design, lighting, customer design, and all of the other miscellaneous things it takes to create a play.  I always enjoy watching musicals and I could not resist seeing the handiwork of my younger cousins, so it was with an eager and proud heart that I attended the play.  Because it was a high school play, I assumed it would be conservative and safe.  I had never heard of "Guys and Dolls" before, but I was basing my assumption off of all of the plays I watched at my own high school.  (However college is an entirely different story and the plays tend to be racy and provocative!)  Once students reach a college age, they are considered adults and can understand the more provocative type of play, whereas high schoolers are still teenagers.  Although this musical was not extremely provocative or over the top, it did not exactly follow my expectations of a high school play.

     The play was set in New York, filled with gamblers.  One of the main characters, Nathan, tries to win money to save his floating crap game by betting Sky that he cannot get Sarah, a church goer who works at the local mission, to travel to Havanna, Cuba with him.  After several tricks and a hint of luck, Sky convinces Sarah to go to Cuba with him.  While there, Sarah becomes very friendly with Sky and even acts jealous when he dances with another woman.  Feeling guilty, he reveals the bet to Sarah and takes her back to New York.  Once back in New York, Sarah's mission is about to shut down from lack of support.  So, Sky follows the gamblers and individually bets them all that if he wins, they have to go to the mission to repent their sins.  In the end, the mission is saved and two of the other main characters marry at the mission, now run by Sarah and Sky.

     Although the musical is somewhat cliche, I enjoyed watching it.  I felt myself routing for Sarah and her mission and the ending was happy and satisfying, yet predictable.  Ending any other way may have left me feeling unsatisfied.  The play was very enjoyable and I enjoyed being exposed to it.  The crew did a great job of bringing everything together.  Had I never went to visit my family this past weekend, I would have never heard about this musical.