I never thought I would be so grateful for the presence of Marina Prior on stage, but thank God the producers were wise enough to include her in this “star cast” production of Guys And Dolls. Her impeccable performance as Miss Adelaide saves what would otherwise be a good but as of yet, not quite good enough re-creation of the Olivier Award winning West End Production.

Guys And Dolls is a great, but essentially old fashioned musical, that succeeds or fails on the ability of the principals to deliver cracking dialogue and set piece musical numbers. Set in the New York of the 1930/40s it falls in to the category of “gangster chic” with its crew of mostly not very bright but lovable sinners. The director of the Donmar Warehouse production, that this run is based upon, talks about Guys And Dolls being an extraordinary play with music. I beg to differ, and feel this run suffers from a surfeit of naturalism when good old music theatre conventions would better serve the piece.

Not that there aren’t some great performances. Lisa McCune’s characterisation of the Salvation Army officer Sarah Brown is consistently perfect, but she often seemed uncomfortable with the singing. Perhaps she could take some coaching from Ms Prior on how to blend her soprano and chest registers – the songs are not kind to the female vocalist in this respect!

As the charismatic Sky Masterson, Ian Stenlake showed what a wonderful singer and mover he is, particularly in the show stopping 'Luck Be A Lady Tonight'. He is very easy on stage, and will hopefully gain through more runs that little extra something that can make this role a star vehicle.

The big surprise of the night was Shane (AKA Kenny) Jacobson who, as Nicely Nicely Johnson, started tentatively, but ended up wowing with the show-stopper 'Sit Down You’re Rockin’ The Boat'. As General Cartwright, theatre veteran Anne Phelan was suitably solid, and seasoned hoofer Wayne Scott Kermond showed us all how it is meant to be done as Benny Southstreet.

Garry McDonald too seemed somewhat unsure about his singing and accent, but brought pathos to his role of the perpetually incompetent Nathan Detroit – again, a little less naturalism and more attention to the conventions of the genre would not go astray. As his long suffering fiancé of 12 years, Adelaide, Marina Prior was always spot on – not only with her singing, but in her detailed attention to the cadences and timing of the dialogue. It was great to see her excel in such a raunchy and funny role – admittedly she gets the best lines and songs – and the rest of cast could gain a lot by just looking and learning from her.

Opening night was marred by poor sound levels at the beginning and a sense of unreadiness in the opening scenes. It really didn’t get going till the fabulous company scene and dance in Havana, and subsequent company production numbers showcased the fantastic choreography and evocative but sparse design. The sparseness made me sometimes feel I was at a Production Company gig (helped in no small part by some familiar faces from those shows), but a few more bodies in the chorus would not go amiss – this is meant to be a blockbuster musical after all.

All in all, though Guys And Dolls is a fun night out, I find it difficult to at this stage to grant a wholehearted recommendation. However, with some attention paid to the pace of the dialogue (pacey does not always mean fast!), and a bit more old fashioned chutzpah from the principals it has the potential to achieve the class of its West End progenitor.