John Wilson and Sinfonia of London continue their series of complete recordings of shows from the golden age of Broadway with Frank Loesser’s Guys and Dolls. The show opened in 1950, ran for 1,200 performances, and won the Tony Award for Best Musical. The book is based on short stories by Damon Runyon, written in the 1920s and 1930s. These stories concerned gangsters, gamblers, and other characters of the New York underworld. Runyon was known for the unique comic dialect he employed in his stories; mixing highly formal language, without contractions, and colourful slang.

As in all previous issues in this series, John Wilson has gone back to the original orchestrations of the show’s opening night, and the recording includes every note. In the case of Guys and Dolls, these originals were lost (subsequent productions had used a simplified orchestration calling for fewer players), but have been painstakingly reconstructed by Larry Moore.

Wilson says of his soloists: ‘Casting is so important, choosing singers who not only perform the role but who can make an impression on a record. I keep my eyes peeled and, on every recording, you see new additions, but at the core there is a group of artists who I know can turn up on a Monday morning for the recording and deliver the goods. That extends right through the ensemble which is a collection of the brightest stars in London.’ The notable additions for this recording are Damien Humbley as Nicely-Nicely Johnson and Sir Thomas Allen (persuaded by John to come out of retirement!) in the role of Arvide Abernathy.