Guys and Dolls

Guys and Dolls premiered in mid-April at Texas State University. The musical design was very united together. All of the designs helped put together the story of two separate love stories. I loved the different techniques they put with the buildings to make it appear taller and more intimidating. Having a trap door disguised as a sewer lid was very smart in transitioning to a different scene underground. Most of the costume designs were the nightclub dancers. I loved how they all had the same design but were in all different colors to highlight different features the dancers had. The lighting was very specific with the different moods and emotions it portrayed. It also had very contrasting intensity between scenes. Overall, all of the design elements and principles were very well collaborated and worked well together.

The scenery in the show had two-dimensional buildings. To make the buildings have dimension and look taller, the scaffoldings were slanted to the side to appear more intimidating and exaggerated. The different signs labeling the buildings had specific colors such as reds and yellows to make it pop out of the gray, scaffolding building. In one scene, the actors have to go underground. The scenic designers used a trapdoor disguised as a sewer lid for the actors to go down inside. The scenic designers also had very exaggerated, bright colored signs to go with the gray outlining of the buildings. The gray outlines of the New York City buildings had very sharp, two-dimensional, flat lines to give the whole scene and background more texture to highlight the height of the buildings.

The lighting of the musical was outstanding. The lighting designers used very high intensity whenever the setting was in the streets of New York City. Whenever they transitioned from the big city to very intimate scenes such as the missionary or the underground gambling room, they had lower, soft, lighting to direct the focus to the specific actors instead of the background. The gambling scenes gave a sense of secrecy and shadiness with the limited, yellow lighting they used in the scene. They also often used bright, saturated blues and pinks whenever the scene was in the night clubs to give the scene a more theatrical mood. They only used other lighting when the spotlight was on Adelaide because she was the lead dancer in the scene. When they transitioned to the streets of New York City, they used very bright, sharp blue colors to heighten the energy of the story. The lighting of the musical gave the story a more dense, bright look to show the busy people of New York City.

The costumes of the show highlighted each character's personality. The missionaries, including one of the main characters Sarah Brown, wore solid blue with a hint of gold colors. Their outfits were very rhythmic by each of the missionaries having the same color palette so they all had unity among them. Although the gamblers all had different color palettes, they were very specific, muted colors to show how professional they were at gambling. The skirts the night club dancers wore had the same design but in all different bright, neon colors. Each of the characters had their own variety of colors but kept the same, rhythmic pattern the other ensemble characters had. For example, the main character, Nathan Detroit, had a muted orange jacket on that slightly separated him from the other characters. It was to highlight his importance to the plot of the musical.

The lighting, scenery, and costume designs all come together to make this story take place in the bright lights of New York City. The lighting helps tell the mood and emotion of the story with the different intensity of the action and intimate scenes. The scenery helps give a visual image of where the story takes place. It helps visually put in perspective how dense and compact the buildings of New York City are. The costumes help show where the characters all come from. They had specific costumes for the night club dancers, the gamblers, and the missionaries. These design elements and principles all help the story create a visual memory of the different scenes, emotions, and heightened stakes in the show.