Cabrillo Stage’s new producer brings back an old favorite with ‘Guys and Dolls’
BY JENNIE TEZAK

June 22, 2006

The Cabrillo College Theater will soon be filled with petty criminals, showgirls, missionaries and professional gamblers.

Cabrillo Stage will celebrate its 25th anniversary with the musical “Guys and Dolls” at the Cabrillo College Theater in Aptos, beginning on July 7. The production has a professional and varied cast and crew, along with a 25-piece full pit orchestra.

“We’ve been around for 25 years now,” said Jana Marcus, director of marketing and public relations at CS. “We have a new producer, which is exciting for us.”
Jon Nordgren, the new producing artistic director for “Guys and Dolls,” is also musical director and conductor. Nordgren is a native of Aptos and a professional musician who has been an orchestra member in previous CS productions.

“It’s going very well and I’m very excited about our production,” he said. “It’s kind of like being on a roller coaster, there’s a lot of frenzied work but I’m enjoying myself immensely. Our cast is honored to be in this production.”

Based on Damon Runyon’s collection of short stories, “Guys and Dolls” takes place in New York City in the 1940s. It is a romantic comedy, telling the story of slick gambler Sky Masterson, who takes a bet from another gambler, Nathan Detroit, to try to get Save-A-Soul missionary Sarah Brown to go to dinner with him in Havana, Cuba. Masterson poses as a sinner to try to lure Brown into his clutches and ends up falling in love. Meanwhile, Detroit’s girlfriend, Adelaide, a showgirl who has been engaged to Detroit for 14 years, is trying to get him on the straight and narrow path of no gambling and blissful wedlock.

David Curley, as Detroit, plays the comedic leading male role. Curley is a professionally paid actor and won the 2005 Critic Circle’s Choice Award for Best Actor in the Bay Area. He also does voiceover and commercial work.

“I grew up watching the movie on TV so I was familiar with the flavoring and rhythm of it,” Curley said. “The stage show is very different from the movie and Nathan Detroit is a bigger character in the stage version.”

Curley, who has been an equity actor for the past two-and-a-half years, said he feels lucky to be a paid actor.

“It’s work, but it’s very social, “ Curley said. “You have to be social to communicate. It’s really fun to get to know a group of people and laugh, but work at the same time.”

Curley said he loves the camaraderie of the theater and feels lucky to have a job like this.
“When I started theater I thought it was outstanding because in what other profession does everyone applaud themselves at the end of the day?” he said. “In a corporate office that would never happen.”

Curley also believes that theater work is very rewarding.
“That is magic to me, you can work really, really hard and not feel like your soul is being sucked out of you.” he said.

Janie Scott is the director and choreographer for the show. Scott has been involved with professional theater for years. She has worked with Stephen Sondheim and acted in several Broadway shows. She has worked as a director and choreographer in other CS productions and is returning to CS after two years away.

“We went through a number of different ideas before we ended up with ‘Guys and Dolls’” Scott said. “I wanted to do something I had never done. Although it’s a standard musical, I had never touched it before.”

Scott said she was excited about the production and thinks it is a good pick for CS and its audience.
“We have a great creative staff,” she said. “They are a very talented and positive group of people so that makes the experience wonderful.”

Scott says that the production is visually appealing.
“It’s like one big explosion from the stage,” she said. “There’s lots of color and energy. I’ve worked in L.A. and Chicago and New York and I would hold this up to any of those productions. The cast are working their rear ends off. We’re doing justice to the 25th anniversary.”

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“Guys and Dolls” plays at The Cabrillo College Theater at 6500 Soquel Drive in Aptos from July 7 to August 13. Tickets and information are available by calling 479-6154 or by visiting www.cabrillostage.com.