Guys and Dolls, Directed by Des McAnuff, Headed for Broadway

The classic musical Guys and Dolls is headed back to Broadway in a revival to be directed by Des McAnuff and choreographed by Sergio Trujillo, who collaborated on the smash hit musical Jersey Boys. The production will open in spring 2009 at a Nederlander theater to be announced. No casting has been set.

Featuring Frank Loesser classics such as "Fugue for Tinhorns," "A Bushel and a Peck," "Adelaide's Lament," "I'll Know," "Guys and Dolls," "More I Cannot Wish You," "Luck Be A Lady," and "Sit Down, You're Rockin' the Boat," Guys and Dolls includes a book by Jo Swerling and Abe Burrows, based on short stories by Damon Runyon. First produced on Broadway at the 46th Street Theatre, the musical opened on November 24, 1950, directed by George S. Kaufman and starring Robert Alda, Sam Levene, Isabel Bigley and Vivian Blaine. It won five Tony Awards in 1951, including Best Musical, and ran for 1,201 performances. A big screen adaptation was released in 1955 starring Marlon Brando, Frank Sinatra, Jean Simmons and Blaine.

Guys and Dolls was most recently revived on Broadway in 1992 in a production starring Peter Gallagher, Josie de Guzman, Nathan Lane and Faith Prince, directed by Jerry Zaks. That revival ran for almost three years, closing on January 8, 1995.

As recently as a year ago, Michael Grandage's London production of Guys and Dolls, which opened in 2005 and starred Ewan McGregor, Jenna Russell and Jane Krakowski, had been expected to transfer to Broadway. The McAnuff production is being produced by Howard Panter for Ambassador Theatre Group and co-producers Tulchin/Bartner and Darren Bagert with the support of the Loesser family.

"I couldn't be more delighted that, after the longest period ever between Broadway productions of Guys and Dolls, Des McAnuff has agreed to direct this brand new production," Jo Sullivan Loesser, Frank Loesser's widow, said in a statement. "This is the first reunion of Des with Frank's work since his brilliant production of How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying, which I absolutely adored."

McAnuff, who directed the 1995 revival of How to Succeed starring Matthew Broderick, was recently named Artistic Director of the Stratford Shakespeare Festival, where he is currently directing Romeo and Juliet and Caesar and Cleopatra starring Christopher Plummer. "Guys and Dolls may well be the greatest musical of all time; it is inarguably one of them," McAnuff said in a statement. "I consider it a tremendous responsibility and a wonderful opportunity to direct it on Broadway. It has been a career-long goal of mine."