About the work
Guys and Dolls is a musical by Frank Loesser (music and lyrics) with a book by Jo Swerling and Abe Burrows, premiered on Broadway in 1950. Based on short stories by Damon Runyon, it is a sparkling, witty declaration of love to the colourful underworld of New York's Broadway in the 1930s.
Plot
Nathan Detroit urgently needs money to host his illegal craps game, perpetually hunted by the police. He bets the elegant gambler Sky Masterson that he cannot persuade the strait-laced Salvation Army missionary Sarah Brown to come to dinner in Havana. Sky wins the bet — but loses his heart to Sarah in the process. In parallel, Nathan's fiancée Adelaide, a nightclub showgirl, wears him down with her wish for the wedding postponed for fourteen years. After complications, a craps game in the sewers and a mass conversion at the mission, both couples come together.
Cultural significance
Guys and Dolls is regarded by many as the "perfect musical" and combines Loesser's brilliant, versatile score — from "Luck Be a Lady" to "Sit Down, You're Rockin' the Boat" — with one of the wittiest books in Broadway history. The work won numerous Tony Awards, was filmed in 1955 with Marlon Brando and Frank Sinatra, and remains one of the most-performed musicals worldwide.