TV REVIEWS : A Paean to Loesser’s ‘Guys and Dolls’

It may address itself to an audience that has a vested interest in American musical comedy, but “Guys and Dolls Off the Record” (on “Great Performances” at 10 tonight, KCET-TV Channel 28) will make anyone who hasn’t seen the 1992 award-winning Broadway revival want to hop a plane for Manhattan pronto.

If an airline ticket isn’t in the cards, the album is. And this behind-the-scenes special on the recording of the cast album is a sure-fire way to make you want to run out and buy it.

First come smart titles that cleverly introduce each performer. For the uninitiated, an audience-friendly plot outline flashes across the screen. The camera’s slow pan focuses on artists at work: artists questioning, defining, refining, articulating, fearing and loving what they do. Everywhere there is the impish face of musical director Edward Strauss relishing this activity. Now and then we see director Jerry Zaks soberly surveying all that he has wrought.

But glorious music and song are what best characterize these 90 minutes. The performers, directors and musicians in this otherwise traditional documentary of a recording session are visibly passionate about their work. They articulate subtle feelings and make a spectacular case for those lip-smacking Frank Loesser songs.

Among the many we hear are “Adelaide’s Lament” sung to a squeaky fare-thee-well by the irresistible Faith Prince. You can see why she won a Tony. You can’t see why dashing Peter Gallagher (as Sky Masterson, “Luck Be a Lady Tonight”) wasn’t even nominated.

As a sampler of the show, the best numbers are vividly there, from “The Oldest Established” you-know-what to Sarah Brown’s silvery “If I Were a Bell” (sung with great polish by Josie de Guzman), her “I’ve Never Been in Love Before” duet with Sky, and Prince’s delicious marriage duet “Sue Me,” with the sheepish Nathan Detroit played like the Cowardly Lion by Nathan Lane.

There’s an attempt at serious commentary by record producer Jay David Saks as he differentiates between orchestrating for stage or album, and some inadvertent self-advertising for BMG Studios (where the record was made). But this is most of all a paean to a high-flying Broadway show and its tip-top cast. Television just doesn’t get much better than that.