So here's the thing, my #TCTheater friends.
The Guthrie Theater's production of the 1950 classic musical Guys and Dolls is spectacular. The cast is brilliantly talented, the dance numbers are phenomenal, the music is familiar, fun, and lively, and every element of design is spot-on gorgeous. But even all of that wonderfulness can't overcome the fact that
Guys and Dolls is a dated, misogynist story that we don't need to tell anymore. Calling women "dolls," and all of the gender stereotypes wrapped up in that, is just not cute in 2019.
I've seen the show several times in the past, and I've loved it in the past, but each time I see it I love it a little less. The world is changing, I'm changing, but
Guys and Dolls remains rooted in gender stereotypes from the title to the lyrics, dialogue, and story. To their credit, the Guthrie has made a number of changes that make the show a little more palatable to a modern audience, but there's only so much they can do. Ever since they announced their season last year, I couldn't understand why they would choose to do this show now, except that it's a crowd-pleaser that will sell lots of tickets. The good news is that their other summer show is a world premiere of
a new play that the Guthrie commissioned from Lynn Nottage, a two-time Pulitzer Prize-winning African American female playwright. If doing dated old musicals that have been done a million times is the price we have to pay to support new work from too often unheard voices, well, as Stephen Sondheim wrote in the Pulitzer Prize winning musical
Sunday in the Park with George (
seen at the Guthrie two summers ago in a stunning production), "that is the state of the art, my friends." And don't get me wrong, it is a super fun show and audiences are going to have a great time.
I had a great time. But I'm also disappointed that we keep telling these old stories instead of discovering new ones.
