Broadneck Prepares For Emotional Showing of “Guys And Dolls”

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“Guys and Dolls” — a musical about showgirls, missionaries and high-rolling gamblers in 1950s Manhattan — will open at Broadneck High School on February 13.

While the missionaries battle for the gamblers’ souls, the city brings love to two unlikely pairs, a gambler and a Puritan missionary and a showgirl and a crap game manager.

Broadneck students have been working hard to put the show onstage, receiving great advice from director Dylan Roche and musical director Andrew Lincoln. The show is choreographed by Katy Stratchko.

Roche encouraged students to make the characters their own.

“As you go through the script, you sort of figure out purpose and your character's intentions,” said senior Owen Hoggard, who plays gambler Sky Masterson. “It’s always interesting to come up with your own [character].”

Senior Mallory Snodgrass, who plays Sarah Brown, also saw the benefits of this for her character and the show as a whole.

“Them allowing us to be confident onstage, getting to play with our characters, makes every single person, whether it’s a principal role or in the ensemble, everyone feels included and everyone is able to have a part and they get to be expressive and they’re not standing in the background,” Snodgrass said, “so you can look at any person onstage and know kind of who they are and what their role is. It’s really cultivating us into young actors.”

Junior Margot Titgemeyer took the Roche’s advice as well and tried to give her character dimension.

“In the show, typically [my character is] a very ditzy little blond, just kind of all over the place,” said junior Margot Titgemeyer, who plays Miss Adelaide. “I feel like I’ve tried to portray Adelaide as someone who cares and shows emotions and feels things.”

Throughout the process, cast members have supported one another.

“There’s a very tight comradery in the whole cast when you’re all working for the same motive,” Hoggard said. “It's very interesting seeing everyone giving 110 percent.”

The cast has had limited time to prepare, with rehearsals starting in early January, but the students are proud of what they have accomplished.

“It’s been challenging but rewarding already,” Snodgrass said, “and we’re not even at showtime yet.”

The students said that audiences expect a high-quality show, and they will not be disappointed.

“I think [the audience] can expect to have a very fun time,” Snodgrass said. “It’s a super fun show; it’s an intensely emotional show. They will be moved, they’ll laugh. It’s a fun show to watch.”

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