"We should all look so good at 50 as Guys and Dolls, the half-century-old Broadway show that closes Bainbridge Performing Arts' theater season this month. Nothing doesn't work, said actor John Ellis, who portrays Nicely Nicely Johnson, and that's a kind of miracle, considering how long ago the show was written.The vitality of Guys and Dolls - the Frank Loesser musical romp through the New York underworld of con-men, hucksters, gamblers and gangsters drawn from Damon Runyan characters - may be credited to a script and score laced with acerbic humor. The Guys and Dolls spirit is established in the first line of the opening number, a paean to bookies sung by Nicely Nicely Johnson (Ellis), Harry the Horse (Tristan Estridge) and Benny Southstreet (Jennifer Jett): I got the horse right here/His name is Paul Revere.The New York setting is very much a presence in Guys and Dolls; the wise-cracking, high-energy characters locate the metropolis as clearly as any map, and Steven Fogell's splashy set of orange-daubed, off-kilter skyscrapers jammed with art deco billboards effectively invokes the raucous energy of Times Square. Guys and Dolls is a complex show to stage, with a cast of 21 dancing and singing in musical numbers so close together they follow nearly back-to-back.Most of the production's actors - even the young ones - have significant theatre background, experience they must call on for this ambitious undertaking. A musical takes more rehearsals than a straight play, director Jerri Lee Young said. It's a huge commitment. You're also talking about people who work all week. Young's empathy for her actors may have roots in her own 20 years of acting experience, and she continues to perform, although Young has directed plays at Fools Cathedral in Seattle and Santa Barbara's Ensemble Theater Project, and been assistant director for Intiman and Broadway productions. For Guys and Dolls, Young happened by chance to gather a production team largely made up of women, including choreographer Renee Kinnear, musical director Betsy Dunlap, stage manager Rosanna Hughes, and costume designer Joanne Keegan.Eleven-year-old Liz Ellis is working the spotlights, illuminating her father and the rest of the cast. Young also placed women in several key male roles, casting actors who gave the best audition without considering gender. Jennifer Jett plays minor hoodlum Benny Southstreet, belting out his songs in a strong alto - although she majored in voice as a soprano. The mustachioed and fedora-topped Jett is so convincing that one does a double-take when she says she's glad she is over her daily morning sickness in time for evening rehearsals.With two small children and another in progress, it would seem that her life would be too complicated to accommodate the four rehearsals a week that this show has demanded since mid-February. Jett, however, thrives on the crammed schedule, crediting what she terms a cooperative husband. Being in this show is actually a relief from the daily demands of motherhood, Jett said, and it's all because my husband is willing to come home from an eight-hour day and take care of kids.Young, who has also directed Our Town and Born Yesterday for BPA, envisions her role as a supporting one.I have the utmost respect for actors, Young said. My job is to be a sort of 'uberaudience' and make sure the play works, viewed through those eyes.Beyond that, my job is to make the actors look good. * * * * *Guys and Dolls, complemented by a Humanities Inquiry exhibit of vintage Broadway show posters in the BPA lobby and sponsored by Town and Country Market, plays at Bainbridge Performing Arts April 20-May 5. Tickets are $18/adults, $15/seniors and students, with a May 3 pay-what-you-can performance. To charge tickets or for information, call 842- 8569. "

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