Just Your Luck

The British seem to love the Frank Loesser musical, Guys & Dolls (which is okay by me, since I do, too).  In 1971, Sir. Laurence Olivier even got so far as beginning rehearsals to star in a production at the National Theatre.  Unfortunately, poor health caused him to drop out and the production never opened.  A decade later, the National Theatre did finally mount a revival in 1982, which I saw, and it was terrific -- made all the better because playing the role of 'Nathan Detroit' (Frank Sinatra in the movie) was an up-and-coming actor Bob Hoskins.  (He'd done a lot of TV work and was known even in the U.S. from some BBC mini-series, and had just made The Long Good Friday, but his movie career hadn't broken big yet.)  The original London production was in 1953, and they revived it again on the West End in 1996, as well.  

And the show got yet another London production in 2016, that one with Rebel Wilson as 'Miss Adelaide.'  But even that wasn't the most recent because this year there was an all-Black production on the West End. (For those with a scorecard keeping track, there had been an all-Black revival of the show on Broadway in 1976, and that one had Robert Guillaume starring.)

But as I said, the British really love Guys & Dolls, and there was still another a West End revival thrown into the mix in 2005.  Despite all these other productions, it was a big hit, but then that's not surprising given that it starred Ewan McGregor as 'Sky Masterson.'  Here he is from that production, singing "Luck Be a Lady."  The video and sound are a touch shaky, but still pretty good.  And he, not surprisingly, is very good.