Washington Post
- Recommended
"...Old-fashioned as the show’s gender conventions are — call a lawyer and sue me for sounding off, I’m still a fan! — Zambello’s treatment makes another studied nod to the present. This world of high-rollers and big dreamers isn’t a moneyed one: Most everyone appears to be just getting by, so the stakes to win a jackpot, at dice and in love, are appealingly heightened. Rooting for have-nots, regardless how mismatched their marriages may be, is a holiday tradition most people can get behind."
MetroWeekly
- Highly Recommended
"...She may be the artistic director of the Washington National Opera, but she’s clearly got the eye, ear, and vision for a whole different kind of crowd. This is no-holds-barred Golden Age rom-com song-and-dance magic brought fully to life with some serious spectacle. From scenic designer Walt Spangler’s mind-blowing industrial shop space, with all its peeling paint and careworn shop décor, to a live orchestra conducted with complete and utter flair by James Lowe, it’s something to behold."
Talkin Broadway
- Highly Recommended
"...Washington's Shakespeare Theatre Company knows how to handle classic works of drama, and its resplendent production of Guys and Dolls proves that legendary Broadway musicals fit in that category. Director Francesca Zambello, longtime artistic director of the Washington National Opera, and Broadway choreographer Joshua Bergasse have created an eye-filling epic that makes full use of the broad and deep Harman Hall stage."
Washington City Paper
- Highly Recommended
"...The 1950 musical Guys and Dolls is not exactly William Shakespeare, but it’s closer than you think. The grand comedy finds romance in a world of deception and frustration: Prohibition-era Times Square, where high rollers are treated like noblemen and their hangers-on are courtiers and fools. The show’s seedy gamblers even speak their own heightened dialect—not Elizabethan verse, but a “Runyonese” mixture of courtly politeness and brash American slang."
Stage and Cinema
- Recommended
"...Zambello’s production is savvy enough to acknowledge the artifice without apologizing for it, allowing the performers and the music to do what they do best. And what they do best is deliver pleasure. This production settles into its stylized world with confidence, buoyed by Frank Loesser’s indelible score, Walt Spangler’s expansive set, and Joshua Bergasse’s muscular, exuberant choreography. In a world of sinners and saints, showgirls and gamblers, all operating according to the heightened logic of fable rather than psychology, this production delivers where it counts."
MD Theatre Guide
- Highly Recommended
"...Any self respecting theatre goer at one point has heard a song from or attended one of the many intoxicating productions over the years of “Guys and Dolls.” The classic, musical fable of Broadway is renowned as one of, if not, the great American musical. It’s embedded in the DNA of every musical that followed which is precisely why every time it’s revived, audiences clamor as if it’s brand new. Shakespeare Theatre Company’s production of “Guys and Dolls” follows suit and is nothing short of bravo-worthy."
Morris Theatre DC
- Somewhat Recommended
"...STC’s Guys & Dolls is a thoroughly enjoyable event for the holidays that’s stuffed with plenty of excellent talent from the DMV and beyond, but some may feel a little let down by the physical execution that leaves the material rattling around."
The Georgetown Dish
- Highly Recommended
"...Guys and Dolls at Shakespeare Theatre Company, Harman Hall has a brilliant cast, an equally brilliant creative team, in a fast-moving, fun, production of a classic."
BroadwayWorld
- Highly Recommended
"...I have a somewhat embarrassing admission: for a longtime theatre enthusiast, there are a shocking number of evergreen plays, particularly musicals, which I have not seen. Happily, I can now subtract "Guys and Dolls" from that list. Almost exactly 75 years after the show opened on Broadway, the Shakespeare Theatre Company has mounted a thoroughly engaging new production."
K Street Magazine
- Highly Recommended
"...The show’s strongest hand lies in its changing set design, which fluidly reshapes Harman Hall into a New York that is always in motion. Scenes glide seamlessly from streets to missions to Havana hideaways. Like a well-run game, nothing stalls; the visual storytelling constantly nudges the narrative forward, making the set itself an active player in the evening’s success."
DC Theater Arts
- Highly Recommended
"...This Guys and Dolls production — both elegant and earthy — pays homage to mid-20th-century mores, fashions, and social status. In fact, with its culturally diverse cast that looks like Washington or New York today, you can almost believe the 1950s were a kinder, gentler era."
