THEATER REVIEWS : Near Misses and Failures Cast Shadow on PAC ‘Guys and Dolls’

To director Sheryl Donchey’s credit, her treatment of “Guys and Dolls” at Rancho Santiago College leaves this classic in recognizable form.

It’s not that the Frank Loesser musical is shoddily done by the college’s Professional Actors Conservatory. The stage is fixed up in a Cubist style that serves to excite the eye in a confetti swirl of color and silhouetted forms. This effectively captures the vibrancy of a crowded city street scene. It’s also a clever idea to have the band positioned above the stage, as if it’s playing on a rooftop.

But as good an idea as is this placement, the band’s music stands obstruct the view of the silhouetted background buildings. This is the problem with much of the show: Innovative treatments are offset, if not canceled entirely, by lack of follow-through or poor execution.

The story revolves around a couple of gambling guys, Nathan Detroit (James Rice) and Sky Masterson (Richard G. Rodgers), who, against all odds, land two dolls, Miss Adelaide (Dionysius Burbano) and Sarah Brown (Cathi Marie Bacigalupi). The story wends its way between the sin of gambling and the moral advances of sin’s archenemy, the Salvation Army.

Rice is serviceable as Nathan Detroit, proud of running the oldest established crap game in town. But Bacigalupi doesn’t really play a convincing Sarah Brown, the Salvation Army spinster who eventually finds love. Her drunk dancing scene in “Havana” was good, but most of her songs don’t effectively convey the image of a starry-eyed girl on the verge of romance. A large production number, “Havana” also helped mask the poor chemistry between and Rodgers and Bacigalupi.

Burbano is a good Miss Adelaide, patiently engaged for 14 years to Nathan Detroit. She swaggers when she dances, and her two “Laments” and, especially, “Take Back Your Mink” pick up a lot of the flagging action.

Rodgers is a little stiff as Sky Masterson, a gambler whose tough-but-smooth reputation would benefit from a more suave interpretation. His singing works occasionally, as with “Luck Be a Lady,” but mostly he doesn’t connect with the action around him, either in solos--”My Time of Day”--or in duet with Sarah.

Dan Cole brought a smooth demeanor to his portrayal of Lt. Brannigan and especially of Jim Linde as Arvide Abernathy, a Salvation Army worker whose Irish rendition of “More I Cannot Wish You” is one of the high points of the show.

All things considered, this production holds up because the original is so solid. But so many near misses and downright failures in production and execution serve to overshadow moments of competence.

‘GUYS AND DOLLS’

A Rancho Santiago College PAC Theater Company production of Frank Loesser musical. Book by Jo Swerling and Abe Burrows. Based on a story and characters by Damon Runyon. Directed by Sheryl Donchey. With Steven Jay Warner, Mark Allen Bollinger, Todd Terry, Cathi Marie Bacigalupi, Jim Linde, Davida Bourland, Jeff Hutcherson, Kimberly Joan Shivers, Sheldon Owen, Dan Cole, James Rice, Robert G. Doherty, Dionysius Burbano, Richard G. Rodgers, Christopher Arnold, Ashaki Noni, Karen Anne Razler, Barth L. Maher, Mark Moyer, J. Michael King, Michelle Archer, Melisa Halfmann, Rachel Malkenhorst, Traci Pennington, Saidell Leneice Preston, Terra Shelman. Musical Director: Michael MacMullen. Scenic design: E. Scott Shaffer. Lighting design: David C. Palmer. Costume design: Karen J. Weller. Sound and makeup design: Gary Christensen. Technical director: Kristan Clark. Production stage manager: Eldon Cline. Plays Thursday, Friday and Saturday, 8 p.m., Sunday 3 p.m. Through March 3. Phillips Hall Theater, 17th and Bristol streets, Santa Ana. Tickets $10 and $6. (714) 564-5661.