Easthampton Theater Company presents “Guys and Dolls,” the group’s first musical production, set to open on Saturday June, 21 at 7:30 p.m.
Photo credit: Jared Herman, Easthampton Theater Company
EASTHAMPTON — Luck Be a Lady!
The Easthampton Theater Company is set to run its first musical production from June 21-29, and will be turning the Williston Theater into the high-stakes world of dice-rolling gamblers and dreamy-eyed showgirls with the Broadway classic “Guys and Dolls.”
The classic show brings a blend of romance, wit and memorable music and is the kind of musical that reminds audiences why they fell in love with theater in the first place. Set in the vibrant 1940s New York City, the show features unforgettable characters — from the suave Sky Masterson to the long-suffering Miss Adelaide and clever Nathan Detroit — all accompanied by one of the most celebrated scores in American musical theater.
“‘Guys and Dolls’ is the perfect marriage of great storytelling and show stopping music,” said Director Eva Husson-Stockhamer, who directed a previous Easthampton Theater Company production in 2024’s “The Man Who Came to Dinner.”
“It’s a timeless tale of love, luck and camaraderie that feels fresh, funny, incredibly relevant — especially with the energy our cast brings to it,” she added.
Produced by Michael O. Budnick, with musical direction by Debi Salli, the stage management by Victoria DeCosmo and featuring a talented regional cast and top-tier creative team. Easthampton Theater Company’s production of Guys and Dolls promises to capture the heart, humor and spectacle that made the beloved musical a Tony Award-winning legend.
Opening night is Saturday, June 21 at 7:30 p.m. Following shows will come on Sunday, June 22 at 2 p.m.; Friday, June 27 and Saturday, June 28 at 7:30 p.m.; and the final show coming Sunday, June 29 at 2 p.m. Tickets and more information are available at EasthamptonTheater.com or the Easthampton Theater Company Facebook page.
“This is our first musical as a company, so it was really important for us to come out with something for our first musical that was family friendly, fun,” said Husson-Stockhamer, who also serves as vice president of the theater company’s board.
Husson-Stockhamer said this is the “fourth or fifth” time she has been able to direct this classic Broadway production and added the timeless story has stayed relevant over time for a reason.
“I love this show. It’s my favorite musical to direct because of all those things and more. I love the fact that they’re costumes, not clothes. The Hot Box [performers from the story], they have a couple of changes of costumes as they perform so it’s a show within a show. And it’s exciting to see the glitz of the 1940s and the way their postures were and them wearing these hats and all of that. It’s different from what we do now, but the actors feel like they have costumes, so they feel more like they’re acting,” Husson-Stockhamer explained. “There’s a lot that goes into this one that I adore.”
Husson-Stockhamer is leading choreography as well as the production, which she often does for other productions from Easthampton Theater Company. With another round of her creative control steering a production of “Guys and Dolls,” she added it is important for her to bring on new iterations of the classic story each time.
“Every cast brings its own talent levels. Sometimes the women happen to be fantastic in a production, and the men are good, and sometimes it’s the opposite. And so that’s a challenge, but it’s exciting. I don’t use the same choreography, I may take a little piece of it here or there, but that pulls us into the direction,” said Husson-Stockhamer.
Husson-Stockhamer further explained that for example, every time she has done this production, her Sky Masterson has been about 6’2 in height, while her Nathan Detroit is often between 5’9 and under six foot. This time around, the heights have been flipped between the two, creating a new dynamic for those familiar with the classic, but also a generally different look into the show’s world for any first time viewers.
“It’s a different challenge because audience prospective wise, if you’ve seen it before — and a lot of people have — or if you see the movie, [Marlon] Brando and [Frank] Sinatra are not that far off in height, but Sinatra was definitely shorter. It brings a different and fun element to making it cohesive for the audience aesthetically,” said Husson-Stockhamer.
She added the musicals story and themes are also timeless as it is a story about connection and how love works in different ways for many, as seen through its characters.
“For me, all of it is relevant to now. No matter what love looks like to you — whether it’s a grandfather granddaughter situation, a boyfriend and girlfriend, whatever love looks like to us present day, looks like that then,” said Husson-Stockhamer.
As someone who has been a part of the theater company’s journey, Husson-Stockhamer said the growth seen over the last few years has been a real sign of what has been built for the local arts in Easthampton.
“I think I’ve waited all my life for this type of a theater company and I’m kind of glad it came at a time when I’m a little bit older and I have a little more time to dedicate to it. I’ve lived a life in the field — whether it was directing or teaching or choreography or whatever — and we all kind of know what we don’t want to have in our company. So, we’ve come forward with this real mission to put great theater up of all different types,” Husson-Stockhamer explained.
She continued, “No drama in our drama backstage or amongst us. And for us as a company, we’re very proud Easthampton has embraced theater in this perspective, and that they have continued to come out and support and they like the shows we’re choosing internally to put up. We all know you’re never going to make all the people happy all the time, but if we offer enough diverse things, then we don’t become that company that does just x. We become that company that tries to appeal to everyone, so if you don’t find anything this season, maybe next season something will appeal to you. My hope with this first musical is even for people who don’t love musicals but they’re a little bit intrigued by us, come and see this show, they’ll say ‘you know what, I don’t hate a musical as much as I thought I did,’ and this is a fine place to start.”
