Madeline Trumble and Charlie Clark Photo by Dan Norman

I mention Kiss Me, Kate and Guys and Dolls in tandem because they are two shining examples of Golden Age musicals at their best, recipients, respectively, of the first and third ever Tony Awards for Best Musical (South Pacific, no slouch either, was wedged between them). Of course, not all great musicals trace their pedigree to that Golden Age. There are numerous master works among contemporary musicals, and plenty of Golden Age musicals fell far short of greatness.

But there was something magical about the best shows of that era, which is most often framed as the two decades between Oklahoma! in 1943 and Fiddler on the Roof in 1964 (give or take). The best of these shows soared with confidence and polish that wowed audiences with songs primed to enter the Great American Songbook, spirited dancing, robust performances, and engaging stories that triggered abundant laughter, tears, or both. Some of those elements can appear dated now, but when mounted with sincerity and love for the form, along with gallons of talent, they can still entertain the pants off an audience. That's just what Guys and Dolls is doing eight times a week at Chanhassen Dinner Theatres.

I wasn't around in 1920s and 1930s Times Square in which the Damon Runyon stories on which Guys and Dolls is based are set, but I'm fairly sure there was never a New York peopled by such gaudily attired guys (Rich Hamson's fabulous costumes draw from every color of the rainbow) speaking with hilariously formal diction as if to negate their street-hustling ways, but Runyon's imagination, as interpreted by Abe Burrows and Jo Swerling's book, is our gain.

The two principal guys in question are Nathan Detroit, operator of the "Oldest establish permanent floating crap game in New York," and Sky Masterson, a gambler with a golden touch, always hunting for the next big score. The heat is on with Lieutenant Brannigan breathing down Nathan's neck, making it hard for him to find a site available for a wholesome, illegal game of craps. Joey Biltmore wants $1,000 to use his garage. Desperate to get it, Nathan strikes up a bet with Sky, one he's sure he can't lose.

Nathan's "doll" is the Hot Box nightclub's star performer, Miss Adelaide, who is celebrating her and Nathan's fourteenth anniversary–not of marriage, but of engagement. She is itching to climb to the next step and tie the knot. Nathan claims that he wants to, but first there is always another game or a horse race. Sky is a natural ladies' man who likes being unattached. However, the bet Nathan makes with him involves scoring a date with Sarah Brown, leader of a storefront mission who marches down Broadway with her mission band, quoting the bible and singing hymns from beneath a starched bonnet. She is the most unlikely match for Sky you can imagine. This being a golden age musical means you can guess they'll end up in each other's arms.

All this makes for heaps of fun. Frank Loesser's dazzling score issues a couple of Adelaide's silly Hot Box numbers backed by a bevy of squealy-voiced chorines, an impromptu trip to Havana accompanied by Latin rhythms, musical numbers for the two couples (comical for Nathan and Adelaide, romantic for Sky and Sarah), wistful advice from Sarah's surrogate father-figure, a thrillingly danced craps game (in a sewer, no less), and a prayer meeting sung and danced with fervent spirit by an assemblage of those adorably bad guys and dolls, led by their very own, Nicely Nicely Johnson.

Shad Hanley is a handsome and suave leading man as Sky, believably cool in his first encounter with Nathan and convincing in his progression from deceiver to actually falling for prim Sarah Brown. Hanley sings with the yearning voice of a crooner, mastering "My Time of Day," "Luck Be a Lady," and, with Sara Masterson as Sarah Brown, "I'll Know" and the swoon-worthy "I've Never Been in Love Before." Masterson is well matched with Hanley. Her prickly primness makes her not as charitable in her judgements of others as her mission teaching would suggest, making her character all the more interesting. She sings "If I Were a Bell" with clarion gusto, and brings a beautiful soprano voice to her duets with Hanley.

Charlie Clark is right on the mark as bedraggled Nathan Detroit, nervously racing about to balance the search for a safe place for the game, keeping Adelaide on the hook, dodging the cops, and staying in the good graces of a heavy-hitting, heat-carrying gambler just in from Chicago. The role of Nathan Detroit was written with actor Sam Levene in mind, and Levene was no singer. Thus, he has only one song with a solo part, but it's a honey: "Sue Me," a duet with Adelaide in which Nathan conveys his undying love for his long-suffering fiancée even if he hasn't ever come through for her.

Trumble's Adelaide has what is probably the show's most potent and memorable solo turn, "Adelaide's Lament," which humorously melds medical diagnosis with advice to the lovelorn. She delivers her two numbers, "A Bushel and a Peck" and "Take Back Your Mink," at the Hot Box with sass and gusto, and is a torrent of complaints circling Nathan's steady center in "Sue Me."

As Nicely-Nicely Johnson, Matthew Hall brings a wonderfully full voice to the gospel parody "Sit Down, You're Rockin' the Boat," and partners well with Ryan London Levin as Benny Southstreet and Tommy McCarthy as Rusty Charlie, both in song ("Fugue for Tinhorns," "The Oldest Established," and the buoyant title song) and in comedic banter as Nathan's aides des camp. Jon Andrew Hegge brings a charming Irish brogue to the role of Lieutenant Brannigan, Andre Shoals is aptly threatening as Chicago gangster Big Jule, and Tod Peterson as the mission elder conveys warm protectiveness for Sarah, beautifully singing the tender "More I Cannot Wish You." With so many great songs in the score, this charmer is often shortchanged, but not here. Others in the cast who hit their mark are Mark King as Harry the Horse, Cynthia Jones-Taylor as the mission's General Cartwright (but she goes too far over the top as the Hot Box emcee).

The show contain two pairs of featured dancers. Abby Magalee and Rush Benson raise heat as dancers in Havana, and Andrea Mislan and Kyle Weiler's swell dance sequences serve as a coda for the previous scene while covering set transitions. The choreography for the abundance of dance in Guys and Dolls is choreographed by Tamara Kangas Erickson and Linda Talcott Lee. All of the dancing is brightly devised and robustly delivered by a strong ensemble who seem to thoroughly enjoy entertaining us. With its muscularity, the choreography seems a nod to the great Michael Kidd, who choreographed both the 1950 original and its 1955 movie adaptation.

Tamara Kangas Erickson is not only co-choreographer, but director of the production. Erickson is a long-time associate of Chanhassen Dinner Theatres who stepped up as its artistic director and president after Michael Brindisi, who long served in those roles, died suddenly last year. This is Erickson's first time out as director of a production on Chanhassen's main stage, and she clearly knows the job, pulling together all the ingredients with smooth timing and a consistent tone to make the show a great success.

In recent years, the scenic concept for Chanhassen's main stage shows has relied on the use of connected platforms of varying heights to suggest different locations, abetted by lighting and minimal additional scenic elements. For this production, scenic designer Nayna Ramey created traditional set pieces that provide a closer physical approximation of the location, with a particularly inventive take on the sewer in which Sky Masterson makes the bet of his life in a game of craps. Sue Ellen Berger's lighting design works in tandem with the sets to establish both location and mood for each scene.

If you want something edgy, Guys and Dolls is probably not for you, but if you want old-fashioned, good-hearted, laugh-happy entertainment that leaves its audience smiling from ear to ear, and almost certainly humming its tunes as they leave the theater, grab your tickets now.

Guys and Dolls runs through September 26, 2026, at Chanhassen Dinner Theatres, 501 West 78th Street, Chanhassen MN. For tickets and information, please call 952-934-1525, toll-free 1-800-362-3515, or visit www.chanhassendt.com.

Music and Lyrics: Frank Loesser; Book: Jo Swerling and Abe Burrows, based on a story and characters created by Damon Runyon; Director: Tamara Kangas Erickson; Co-Choreographers: Tamara Kangas Erickson and Linda Talcott Lee; Music Director: Andy Kust; Set Design: Nayna Ramey; Costume Ellen Berger; Sound Design: Russ Haynes; Hair and Makeup Design: Lex Patton and Tray Swenson; Properties Director: Abbee Warmboe; Intimacy and Violence Director: Mason Tyer; Technical Director: Logan Jambik; Production Stage Manager: Phil Gold; Assistant Stage Manager: Jack Speltz.

Cast: Rush Benson (Joey Biltmore/Havana dancer/ensemble), Tommy Benson (ensemble), Thomas Bevan (Society Max), Serena Brook (Martha/ensemble), Charlie Clark (Nathan Detroit), Shannon Dancler (ensemble), Kaia T. Fitzgerald (ensemble), Michael Gruber (Calvin/ensemble), Matthew Hall (Nicely Nicely Johnson), Shad Hanley (Sky Masterson), Jon Andrew Hegge (Lieutenant Brannigan), Delaney Hunter (swing), Cynthia Jones-Taylor (General Cartwright/Hot Box Emcee), Mark King (Harry the Horse), Ryan London Levin (Benny Southstreet), Abby Magalee (Havana dancer/ensemble), Sara Masterson (Sarah Brown), Tommy McCarthy (Rusty Charlie), Jaclyn McDonald (ensemble), Danny McHugh (Lovin' Lips Louie), Andrea Mislan (featured dancer/ensemble), Kym Chambers Otto (ensemble), Tod Petersen (Arvide Abernathy), Daysha Ramsey (ensemble), Armando Harlow Ronconi (waiter/ensemble), Andre Shoals (Big Jule), Danny Tran (swing), Madeline Trumble (Miss Adelaide), Tony Vierling (Angie the Ox), Kyle Weiler (featured dancer/ensemble).