Photo of Dusty Lucas as Sky Masterson
and Sheri Masters as Sarah Brown by MaryAnn Luedtke
HIGH POINT -- Nightclub singer Miss Adelaide might be the fun and flashy female character in "Guys and Dolls," but actress Sheri Masters wouldn't trade the role of the subdued do-gooder Sarah Brown for all Miss Adelaide's minks and pearls.
Masters plays Save-a-Soul Mission gal Miss Sarah Brown in the High Point Community Theatre production opening March 6. It's just the latest in a series of "good girl" roles tackled by Masters, including strait-laced Marian the librarian in "The Music Man" and beloved wife Lily in "The Secret Garden."
"I like to think I'm a good girl with a naughty streak," Masters says. "I like to play these young women learning about life. They're not coming of age, but they're seeing that life isn't just in black and white. They're seeing colors in other people and themselves."
Most of that "broader understanding" in these fictional worlds comes via men, and Sarah is no exception. She falls under the spell of gambler Sky Masterson.
"Sarah has lived a sheltered life," Masters says. "She loves what she does, but she sees people from a distance. Sky shows her different views of life and gives her a richer perception of people. She's a more complete person at the end of the musical."
"Guys and Dolls" is based on the short stories of Damon Runyon , notably "The Idyll of Miss Sarah Brown." Jo Swerling and Abe Burrows adapted the stories for the book, while Frank Loesser provided the songs. The 1950 musical ran for 1,201 performances on Broadway, picking up five Tony Awards, including Best Musical.
Set in a colorful, if slightly shady New York City, the musical follows Nathan Detroit, a small-time gambler trying to set up an illegal high-stakes craps game. Sky Masterson is a more sophisticated professional gambler. Miss Adelaide is a nightclub singer who can't quite get Nathan to the altar.
Since Masters is a director as well, she might be excused for being more used to offering advice than taking it. But she says she is able to leave her director's hat at home and has enjoyed working with director Bobby Bodford to develop Sarah's character.
"He has helped me find the humor in Sarah," she says. "I tend to be awfully earnest and serious, and it's really nice to find those silly little moments. I think it makes the character more real and accessible."
Playing Sarah also has given Masters a chance to sing some of her favorite songs from when she was growing up, including the tipsy "If I Were a Bell" and her duet with Sky, "I've Never Been in Love Before."
"The lyrics are very witty and the progressional notes are fun to sing," she says. "The language is delicious; the script reads just like the stories."
Masters says that unlike most popular musicals, "Guys and Dolls" celebrates a piece of the American story. Only in a few well-known musicals, such as "The Music Man" and "Showboat," is the setting tied to a United States location. The cast has even had a dialect coach come in to help establish convincing New York accents.
But in the end, Masters thinks it all comes down to the music.
"It's a fun story. It's not Shakespearean tragedy," she says. "When you leave 'Guys and Dolls,' you feel good. Listening to the cast recording makes me happy. It's a fun story with great characters, but it's glorious music."
Leslie Mizell has been covering the Triad's theater scene for more than a decade. Her column runs weekly in Go Triad. Contact her at LAMizell@aol.com.
