Broadway in Portland / Submitted photo“Guys & Dolls” will be presented by Broadway in Portland at Keller Auditorium March 10-15. The legendary musical is also running at Ashland’s Oregon Shakespeare Festival through Nov. 1.

This spring there will be two opportunities to experience “Guys & Dolls,” the legendary musical fable of Broadway, here in Oregon.

The Broadway in Portland series will present the legendary musical fable March 10-15 at Keller Auditorium, and the play is already on stage as part of the Oregon Shakespeare Festival in Ashland, where it will run through Nov. 1.

Considered by some to be the perfect musical comedy, “Guys & Dolls” is based on Damon Runyon’s 1933 short story “The Idyll of Miss Sarah Brown.” Set in a mythical New York City, the story follows Nathan Detroit, organizer of the oldest established permanent floating crap game in New York, and his bet with Sky Masterson that Sky can’t get goody two-shoes Miss Sarah Brown to fall in love with him.

The oddball romantic comedy moves from the heart of Times Square to the cafés of Havana, Cuba, and into the sewers of New York City, introducing the audience to gamblers, gangsters and racy showgirls all while boasting what is considered one of the greatest musical scores in the history of American theater.

Composer and lyricist Frank Loesser (“The Most Happy Fella,” “The Music Man,” “How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying”) created the musical numbers for the production. Theater critic Brooks Atkinson, who The New York Times called theater’s most influential reviewer of his time, said of a 1970s performance: “There was not a commonplace or superfluous song in the score.”

“Guys & Dolls” opened on Broadway in 1950 and ran for 1,200 performances. It won five Tony Awards in 1951, including Best New Musical, and four in 1992, including Best Revival of a Musical. A film version was released in 1955 starring Marlon Brando, Vivian Blaine, Frank Sinatra and Jean Simmons. In 1976, a revival featuring Robert Guillaume and an all-black cast ran for 239 performances, and the 1992 revival with Peter Gallagher, Nathan Lane and Faith Prince ran almost as long as the original.

For more information on the Broadway in Portland’s March 10-15 “Guys & Dolls” run, visit www.portlandopera.org/broadway. For more on the OSF’s production, visit www.osfashland.org.

— Reporter: 541-383-0350, kmccool@bendbulletin.com