Cast List
Sky Masterson: Erik Anderson
Nathan Detroit: Holden Rounds
Sarah Brown: Meg Morrison
Adelaide: Hannah White
Nicely Nicely Johnson: Hayden Stephens
Benny Southstreet: Mitchell Voorhies
Rusty Charlie: Sami Ely
Harry the Horse: Jason Sanchez
Arvide Abernathy: Kelly Palmer
Gen Matilda Cartwright: Keke Chadwick
Lt. Branigan: Caleb Lewis
Big Jule: Madison Gray
Hot Box Dancers: Morgan Case, Naomi Hammond, Paiten Rand
Angie the Ox: Cormac Spiares
Gambler Chorus: William Priest, Ayden Cole
Salvation Army Chorus: Karen Clark, Becky Parker, William Priest
Nathan Detroit: Holden Rounds
Sarah Brown: Meg Morrison
Adelaide: Hannah White
Nicely Nicely Johnson: Hayden Stephens
Benny Southstreet: Mitchell Voorhies
Rusty Charlie: Sami Ely
Harry the Horse: Jason Sanchez
Arvide Abernathy: Kelly Palmer
Gen Matilda Cartwright: Keke Chadwick
Lt. Branigan: Caleb Lewis
Big Jule: Madison Gray
Hot Box Dancers: Morgan Case, Naomi Hammond, Paiten Rand
Angie the Ox: Cormac Spiares
Gambler Chorus: William Priest, Ayden Cole
Salvation Army Chorus: Karen Clark, Becky Parker, William Priest
Costume INspiration
production meeting
Dec. 4, 2024 Wednesday
We talked about telescoping the stage so that it gets smaller as you get closer to the back wall to shrink the space. Auditions are next Monday. Base set is blank stage with portals with one unit and lots of flown in street signs like HOT BOX and Mindy's Diner, that convey NY. Also, a ground row of NY skyline. Maybe using the star curtain from Curious Incident or the Rain curtain to isolate the space. Havana, maybe roll out a long bar with stools. For the sewer, pull in the traveler or mid stage curtain, and having a ladder going down to the stage floor with a tunnel background that's practical with green light and smoke. In terms of costumes the directors like my ideas and just asked for the Havana costumes to be all white so that Sky and Sister Sarah would show up better amidst them.
We talked about telescoping the stage so that it gets smaller as you get closer to the back wall to shrink the space. Auditions are next Monday. Base set is blank stage with portals with one unit and lots of flown in street signs like HOT BOX and Mindy's Diner, that convey NY. Also, a ground row of NY skyline. Maybe using the star curtain from Curious Incident or the Rain curtain to isolate the space. Havana, maybe roll out a long bar with stools. For the sewer, pull in the traveler or mid stage curtain, and having a ladder going down to the stage floor with a tunnel background that's practical with green light and smoke. In terms of costumes the directors like my ideas and just asked for the Havana costumes to be all white so that Sky and Sister Sarah would show up better amidst them.
Scenic Design
costume designs with cost analysis
2nd Production Meeting
Got halfway through crapshooter's ballet at rehearsal last night. There will be platforms for Sewer and Havana, everything else will be flown. Vegetation? for Havana. Coconut glasses for Havana. 2 china spring girls for extra hot box girls. I can start ordering things now. We had go build the Havana pants for the men because I coudn't find anything in the right size and fabric onine. We did that over the course of one weekend.
Fittings
Production Photos
Totals 20 actors wearing 38 costumes for $4601.43
Classical Musical guys and dolls opens on waco stage Feb. 27, 2025
Salvation Army officer Sarah Brown (Meg Morrison) and gambler Sky Masterson (Erik Anderson) find opposites attract in the McLennan Theatre production of "Guys and Dolls" this weekend at McLennan Community College.
McLennan Theatre, provided
--Carl Hoover
Waco theater companies will work on both ends of the familiarity scale in productions this weekend.
On the familiar side is McLennan Community College's production of the 1950 Broadway classic "Guys and Dolls," a romance set in Damon Runyon's slang-heavy world of New York gamblers and Salvation Army volunteers.
On the unfamiliar side is Wild Imaginings' smaller production of "The Art of Martyrdom (a Comedy)," Texas playwright Rita Anderson's contemporary comedy inspired by a 10th-century playwriting nun centuries before Shakespeare.
For McLennan Community College theater instructor and "Guys and Dolls" director Kelly Parker, bringing the musical to the McLennan Theatre stage provided an opportunity for actors to experience one of the standards in American musical theater history.
"It's a classic, a chestnut ... a quintessential musical," he said about Frank Loesser musical, with book by Abe Burrows and Jo Swerling, that MCC last staged in 1995.
As a high school theater student, Parker played the role of gambler Nicely Nicely Johnson. Two years ago, Parker and MCC students on a study trip to England saw an innovative immersive production of "Guys and Dolls" by The Bridge Theater that reminded him of how fun that play was, prompting its selection for McLennan Theatre's current season.
Based on characters created by short story writer and journalist Runyon, "Guys and Dolls" follows a handful of colorful New York gamblers led by Nathan Detroit (Holden Rounds) and Sky Masterson (Erik Anderson) as they try to organize an illegal, after-hours dice game for some high rollers.
Those are the guys. The dolls are Nathan's long-suffering girlfriend Adelaide (Hannah White), a showgirl who has been waiting years for a marriage proposal, and Sarah Brown (Meg Morrison), a Salvation Army officer whose field of ministry happens to be the neighborhood where the gamblers hang out.
She and the suave, successful Sky are opposites, which, of course, will mean they fall for each other as the plot rollicks through show-stopping song and dance numbers like "The Oldest Established," "Adelaide's Lament," "Guys and Dolls" and "Sit Down, You're Rockin’ the Boat."
For the 20-actor cast, the musical serves as a throwback to a golden age of stage musicals, with a comic patter and rhythm shaped by the sketch comedy of its era and a big production integrating a large cast, song, dance and a full orchestra.
Supporting Parker are choreographer Joe Taylor, music director Daniel Farris, costumer Kathleen Laundy and set designer Benjamin Mason.
Thursday night's performance is for the Hearts in the Arts fundraising gala, which is sold out, followed by shows Friday and Saturday night, both of which are approaching sellout status.
Waco theater companies will work on both ends of the familiarity scale in productions this weekend.
On the familiar side is McLennan Community College's production of the 1950 Broadway classic "Guys and Dolls," a romance set in Damon Runyon's slang-heavy world of New York gamblers and Salvation Army volunteers.
On the unfamiliar side is Wild Imaginings' smaller production of "The Art of Martyrdom (a Comedy)," Texas playwright Rita Anderson's contemporary comedy inspired by a 10th-century playwriting nun centuries before Shakespeare.
For McLennan Community College theater instructor and "Guys and Dolls" director Kelly Parker, bringing the musical to the McLennan Theatre stage provided an opportunity for actors to experience one of the standards in American musical theater history.
"It's a classic, a chestnut ... a quintessential musical," he said about Frank Loesser musical, with book by Abe Burrows and Jo Swerling, that MCC last staged in 1995.
As a high school theater student, Parker played the role of gambler Nicely Nicely Johnson. Two years ago, Parker and MCC students on a study trip to England saw an innovative immersive production of "Guys and Dolls" by The Bridge Theater that reminded him of how fun that play was, prompting its selection for McLennan Theatre's current season.
Based on characters created by short story writer and journalist Runyon, "Guys and Dolls" follows a handful of colorful New York gamblers led by Nathan Detroit (Holden Rounds) and Sky Masterson (Erik Anderson) as they try to organize an illegal, after-hours dice game for some high rollers.
Those are the guys. The dolls are Nathan's long-suffering girlfriend Adelaide (Hannah White), a showgirl who has been waiting years for a marriage proposal, and Sarah Brown (Meg Morrison), a Salvation Army officer whose field of ministry happens to be the neighborhood where the gamblers hang out.
She and the suave, successful Sky are opposites, which, of course, will mean they fall for each other as the plot rollicks through show-stopping song and dance numbers like "The Oldest Established," "Adelaide's Lament," "Guys and Dolls" and "Sit Down, You're Rockin’ the Boat."
For the 20-actor cast, the musical serves as a throwback to a golden age of stage musicals, with a comic patter and rhythm shaped by the sketch comedy of its era and a big production integrating a large cast, song, dance and a full orchestra.
Supporting Parker are choreographer Joe Taylor, music director Daniel Farris, costumer Kathleen Laundy and set designer Benjamin Mason.
Thursday night's performance is for the Hearts in the Arts fundraising gala, which is sold out, followed by shows Friday and Saturday night, both of which are approaching sellout status.