The lights in the Shapiro Campus Center Theater go off. The sound of the orchestra playing “A Bushel and a Peck” resonates throughout the theater. Jessica Plante ’16 walks onto the stage, “drunkenly” falls over and lies down while other characters walk on. Within the next few minutes, the entire cast has made its way across the stage, from the crapshooters wearing suspenders and hats to the Mission members docked head to toe in red.

This was the opening of Hillel Theater Group’s production of the Broadway Musical “Guys and Dolls.” Directed by Rafi Diamond ’18, the show was held from Thursday through Sunday and attracted a large audience, from the Brandeis community to families of cast members, all eager to see the three months of hard work the cast members had put into the production.

“Guys and Dolls,” written by Frank Loesser, takes place in New York City in the late 1930s. Nathan Detroit, in this production played by Bryan McNamara ’19, runs an illegal “crap game” but has trouble finding a place to host the game due to the strict laws enforced by Lieutenant Brannigan (Sarah Salinger-Mullen ’19). The only place he can find to hold the game is the Biltmore Garage, for which he must pay a $1,000 deposit. Unable to afford this fee, he makes a bet with gambler Sky Masterson (Gabe Walker ’19) that Sky must convince a woman, whom he terms a “doll,” to accompany him to dinner in Havana, Cuba. Agreeing on the bet, Sky chooses the head of the Save-a-Soul mission, Sergeant Sarah Brown (Jessie Eichinger ’17), and enters the mission, declaring that he has committed a sin and wants to be saved. Meanwhile, Miss Adelaide (Leah Sherin ’19), Nathan’s fiancée of 14 years, loses interest in Nathan when she finds out that he is still running the crap game. The story revolves around Sky and Nathan both trying to win over their respective “dolls.”

The casting of the lead roles was absolutely phenomenal. Sherin completely stole the show with her portrayal of Adelaide. Her imitation of a New York accent was perfect, and she brought Adelaide’s personality to life every time she was on stage. She especially shone during her solo musical number “Adelaide’s Lament,” in which she sings about the cold she has had for many years with the realization, gained from reading a book on psychosomatic illness, that it is most likely due to Nathan’s longtime delay in marrying her. Her impeccable accent, genuine emotions and added coughs and sniffles to the song made it by far one of the most memorable numbers of the show.

Another notable star of the show was Eichinger, with her portrayal of Sarah. Eichinger brought a sweet and lovable personality to her character, fulfilling her role as a Sergeant extremely well. In addition, she possessed an absolutely beautiful singing voice. Eichinger and Walker demonstrated amazing chemistry on stage, from their long-lasting kisses to their melodious harmonies. One of my favorite parts in the show was at the end of their duet number “I’ve Never Been in Love Before,” in which the audience could hear their voices at the same time. Eichinger’s dainty and high-pitched voice combined with Walker’s voice, which was low and dramatic, provided an amazing and memorable contrast, both emphasizing the differences of the actors’ voices while also weaving their roles together as a couple.

Another standout was Saadiah McIntosh ’17 with his depiction of gambler Nicely-Nicely Johnson. McIntosh definitely made his character memorable, contributing an amazing singing voice and charming sense of humor, making himself stand out every time he appeared on stage.

All of the musical numbers were good, but my personal favorite was “Sit Down, You’re Rockin the Boat,” which took place in the mission toward the end of the show. The number incorporated the entire cast and was led by the very talented McIntosh. Besides the fun, upbeat nature of the song and the collaboration of the whole cast, what made the number extremely impressive was the dancing, courtesy of choreographer Mikah Atkind ’16. The choreography consisted of cast members standing up from and sitting down on their chairs in complex patterns — for example, during the chorus, in which “Sit down, sit down you’re rocking the boat” is repeated, cast members sat down row by row during the chanting of “sit down.” Despite the fact that the 30 cast members were all performing at once, the choreography was unbelievably coordinated and perfectly complemented the song.

There were definitely some aspects of HTG’s production “Guys and Dolls” that may have presented some challenges for the cast and crew. For one, the cast was fairly small for an open-cast musical, and with the abundance of lead roles, this resulted in very small ensembles. In addition, there were only five male actors — which required female actors to play male characters like Benny Southstreet (Sarah Ackerman ’17) and Big Jule (Laura Goemann ’19). Arvide Abernathy (Ruby Macsai-Goren ’18), traditionally a male role, was actually turned into a female role for this production. However, I loved how the smaller-than-usual cast offered nearly every member, including ensemble members, a chance to shine, and the lack of males did not hinder the show at all. Macsai-Goren’s transformation of her traditional male role into a female was wonderful—she made it hard for me to picture Abernathy ever having been a male role.

Despite a few imperfections, mostly involving production aspects, the cast was unquestionably outstanding, and their performances made the small errors barely even noticeable. “Guys and Dolls” was overall an absolutely fantastic production. With the amazing acting and singing by the actors, I felt like I could have been watching a real live Broadway performance. Although the show was much longer than most, clocking in at around three hours, almost every second of it was absolutely delightful to watch. As Diamond says in his Director’s Note, “The Beauty of old school musical comedies, like Guys and Dolls is that they make a deal with the audience. It promises to deliver great music, clever lines and a wedding, all the audience has to deliver is a hearty laugh.”

—Editor’s note: Anna Stern ’18, who was both the music director for the show and played a Hotbox girl, is a writer for the Justice.