I just finished watching my way through Guys and Dolls (I had started it on Saturday and made it nearly to the end). This now seems a rather uneven musical. There are some fantastically memorable songs (sit down you’re rockin’ the boat, luck be a lady etc) as well as some lengthy and terrifically forgettable numbers. It’s also not paced very well – or perhaps it is that the balance is not quite right between dialogue and song. Very lengthy scenes with a short song at the end. And some of the songs are almost incidental in terms of furthering the understanding of character or narrative. Still, the good songs are great and it’s a treat to see the young Frank Sinatra and Marlon Brando singing away. One thing I did wonder – do New York gangsters have an objection to the apostrophe or contraction. All their dialogue was “I do not think” I would not see…” rather than “I don’t” and “I wouldn’t”. It had an artifical formality – clearly the librettist was looking for a particular tone to set the gangster milieu, but it seems peculiarly dated now.