Musical theater can be a roll of the dice. A good show can have a bad performance, one actor can be upstaged by another, the sets could stink even though the lighting is great, etcetera etcetera. You never know.

The production of "Guys & Dolls" now onstage at the Maltz Jupiter Theatre is one of those rare instances wherein everything works together seamlessly. Energetic, colorful, tuneful and funny, the venerable musical theater warhorse comes alive on the Maltz stage. It is, in this reviewer's opinion, the most enjoyable show the 2-year-old theater has yet produced.

With the book by Jo Swerling and Abe Burrows, and music by the great Frank Loesser, "Guys & Dolls" is based on the hard-boiled writings of New Yorker Damon Runyon. It's about a bunch of back-street lowlifes who follow a floating, and very illegal, game of craps operated by con artist Nathan Detroit. Runyon's rat-a-tat dialogue lends itself to comedy — the script is sharp and pointed without veering into silly caricature — and the songs punctuate the story without dragging it down into stagey set pieces.

With their bright gangster suits and google-eyed mugs, these gamblers are cartoons come to life.

The professional cast — mostly from New York — does the material proud. Each of the actors can also sing, and dance (triple threats!) and together they make a whole that's greater than the sum of the parts. This is ensemble work at its finest.

One of the most exuberant scenes comes in Act II, in which the gamblin' guys are conned into attending a prayer meeting at the Salvation Army mission (I'm not going to spoil the plot by revealing how all this works together). Nicely-Nicely Johnson, the gang's simpleton, gets filled with the passion of the moment and sings a gospel-tinged song, "Sit Down, You're Rocking the Boat." In time, the entire cast is singing and moving as one. It's a breathtaking sequence.

Johnson is played by Richard Ruiz, who's a ringer for actor James Coco (he also looks a lot like Stubby Kaye, who originated the role of Nicely-Nicely on Broadway). He is a comic wonder, the guy to follow throughout the entire play.

Another standout is Tia Speros, as Detroit's long-suffering "doll" Miss Adelaide. This is the serio-comic role that Zazu Pitts or Carol Burnett would have played — and Speros is more than up to the challenge. Her scenes in the Hot Box (the club where she works as a dancer) are elaborately staged to showcase her elastic facial expressions and comedic flair.

During this production of "Guys & Dolls," it's possible to get completely caught up in the story, the characters and the flawless production.

That, of course, is pure entertainment. And you can bet on it.

Talkback session: Lyric Theatre Executive Director John Loesser, son of "Guys & Dolls" composer Frank Loesser, will join the cast onstage for a discussion of the play following Friday's performance.

main Guys and Dolls page