WHAT is it that makes Guys and Dolls currently the most enjoyable theatrical experience in London? Obviously, it is a great musical: an anthology entitled From The American Drama once omitted serious playwrights, such as Eugene O’Neill and Arthur Miller, yet included this particular show. It also helps that Sir Nicholas Hytner’s new production is an immersive spectacle with the action erupting among 420 standing spectators. However, if I had to pin down a reason for this version’s triumph (at the Bridge Theatre), it would be that every aspect of it is pervaded by wit.
The wit is there in every line of the book by Jo Swerling and Abe Burrows, based on the stories of
