Scott Bakula in Guys and Dolls
By admin ~ August 8th, 2009. Filed under: Scott Bakula.
I arrived Thursday and met up with Sharon and her daughter, Jenna, at the airport. They were my roommates for the weekend. We had a rented car and drove to the Comfort Inn, which was a couple of blocks from the Hollywood Bowl and well within walking distance. That was nice. The hotel was indeed comfortable and the staff was lovely. The one negative was that they couldn’t print out my boarding pass for the return flight as their system wasn’t responding, so I had to print the boarding pass at the airport.
Speaking of airports, from the looks of both LAX and MCO, people are traveling again in droves. Both airports were jam packed. Delta still has only 2 or 3 security checkpoints at LAX so the line to get through security spews out into the hallway and along the wall. Then the line skews again on the other side of the corridor for the machine scans. At MCO, the check-in process is much quicker, but at the arrival gate, there were masses of folks waiting to board planes to the point it was difficult to deplane.
I wish I had stayed longer. My return flight was for Sunday morning so I missed an opportunity to meet with Scott at the stage door Saturday night. Friday night, Scott was rushed and merely waved to the crowd before rushing off. But I am told he spent time with fans Saturday night.
Our first dress rehearsal was Friday morning. We had learned from Gail that dress rehearsals were open to the public, free of charge, and on a first come first served basis. We were warned about it being hot. Even with sunscreen, we baked, but seating was open so we were up closer to the stage in one of the garden boxes. I didn’t think I’d need binoculars from that distance. However, they still would have been nice.
The news from Scott Saturday night is that this is probably the last show he will be doing for awhile. He thinks that “Men of a Certain Age” will keep him tied up. He’s not sure there will even be time for another “Chuck” (sure hope so!) this season.
As to the show itself, like any show, opening night was rougher than the later performance. The Friday night performance was tightened a bit from the dress rehearsal. At the end of the show, when the leading characters marry, bouquets are thrown down to the stage from above and then the couples “appear” on stage for their bows in wedding attire. This scene was dropped from the Saturday night show, possibly to give the leads more time to get into their change of clothes. The scene leading up to the close was also shortened.
Brian Stokes Mitchell as Sky Masterson was a beautiful baritone voice that had no difficulty projecting into the large audience (over 17,000!). I thought I saw Brian Stokes Mitchell when I saw Ragtime on Broadway, but my playbill lists another actor.
Ellen Greene (from “Pushing Daisies” and “Little Shop of Horrors”) had a thick NY accent for her part. The sound system, at least in the center of the Bowl, was excellent and I didn’t miss a single word of dialogue. Ellen’s Adelaide was sort of a whiny character. Ken Page reprised his role as Nicely Nicely and his final number, “Sit Down You’re Rocking the Boat,” was a rousing one.
Jessica Biel surprised everyone with her voice. She really can sing. She borders on soprano. There wasn’t a whole lot of depth to her interpretation of Sarah Brown, but then, it was hard to show much in facial expression for so large a venue, although Scott did. He was the only lead, IMO, who did show a variety of facial expressions. Brian spent most of the show with his hands in his pockets.
As to Scott’s voice, it was soft compared to Brian’s belting baritone. Friday night, the mic was too low for him. It was better Saturday night but I still thought it could have been up even more. I think they also changed the key for him on “The Oldest Established.” It was a bit low during dress rehearsal and although Scott reached those notes, he seemed to be struggling.
There were a few stand out numbers. “Adelaide’s Lament” - a person can develop a cold - bemoans Adelaide’s attempts to marry Nathan Detroit (Scott) and being a fiancee for 14 years! Very cute number.
The scene in Havana with Sky and Sarah is wonderfully done both nights. The dancing is great and the love scene plays well between the two. Jessica does a wonderful “If I Were a Bell I’d Be Ringing.”
The standout number for Scott is “Sue Me.” He and Ellen use the precipice (I may have the wrong word here - a runway that stands out away from the stage - there’s seating between it and the stage) to argue through the song as Nathan professes his love for Adelaide even as she rejects him. In interviews, Scott was so pleased he got to sing the Frank Sinatra part of “Adelaide’s Lament” and he’s the only other singer besides Sinatra to get to do this. Apparently, that part of the song was dropped from all stage performances.
Scott appeared in a black and white striped zootsuit through most of the show with a few exceptions. During a phone call to set up his floating crap game, he was in the same outfit, sans the jacket, but still wearing the Fedora. At the end of act II, before the wedding dress, he appears in a white shirt with the sleeves rolled up, the tuxedo pants (for the wedding scene) and a dark green apron (think grocery store). The Fedora is still in place. Whenever the hat was off, there was definitely a “hat hair” line distinctly seen through binoculars. The mustache he wore was homegrown for the part.
Saturday night’s performance was the tightest yet and played the best. But Friday night, Scott waved to us after the performance. I think he knew we were there. He waved for a long time. Saturday night it was a quick wave.
Chelsea Field, who appeared as a Hot Box girl, was a knockout! Even among the Hot Box Girls, she stood out. In the very first number, she came out in a white, form-fitting dress, wrapped in white mink, with a blonde wig looking like Marilyn Monroe. In one number, she was in a black corset with black mesh stockings. I’m suspicious that “Nathan” was watching her when he was supposed to be watching Adelaide. 
Some of the tunes have already become an ear worm and most of the reviews have been positive. It was great to see the birth of this show from rehearsal to Saturday’s performance.
