Complete Cast Announced for Shakespeare Theatre Company's GUYS AND DOLLS

Shakespeare Theatre Company has shared casting for its holiday presentation of Guys and Dolls. In addition to previously announced Broadway stars, the cast includes both local favorites and fresh talents to the STC stage. Directed by Washington National Opera Artistic Director Francesca Zambello (Porgy and Bess, Turandot, West Side Story) and choreographed by Joshua Bergasse (Smash, Bull Durham).

The oldest established permanent floating crap game in New York just got busted, and Nathan Detroit needs cold, hard cash to get it up and running again. Enter high-roller Sky Masterson, who Nathan wagers can’t get a date with the straightlaced Sarah Brown, a Salvation Army missionary trying to save them all from sin. Dance the night away to “Luck Be a Lady,” “Sit Down, You’re Rockin’ the Boat,” “A Bushel and a Peck,” and more classic tunes in the must-see show of the holiday season.

As previously announced, a lineup of Broadway and musical theatre talent headlines the cast. In the role of the mannered and conservative Sarah Brown is Julie Benko, most recently from an acclaimed run in the Broadway production of Funny Girl (named New York Times 2022 Breakout Star in Theatre), and Barry Manilow’s Harmony. Jacob Dickey (Old Friends with Bernadette Peters, Aladdin, Company) will play opposite her as the suave gambler Sky Masterson. Playing the noncommittal Nathan Detroit will be Rob Colletti (Almost Famous, original Dewey Finn in the School of Rock National Tour), and as his on-again, off-again girlfriend Adelaide is Hayley Podschun, whose Broadway credits include Wicked (Glinda, National Tour); Hello, Dolly!; Something Rotten!; and more. She was last seen in D.C. in a Helen Hayes-nominated turn in Catch Me If You Can at Arena Stage.

Several D.C. actors familiar to STC audiences join the cast, including Holly Twyford (Our Town, Old Times) as General Matilda B. Cartwright; Todd Scofield (King Lear, Our Town, others) as Lt. Brannigan; Lawrence Redmond (Our Town, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, others) as Arvide Abernathy; Ahmad Kamal (Babbitt, Everybody, Richard III) as Big Jule; Calvin McCullough (Peter Pan and Wendy) as Benny Southstreet; and Katherine Riddle (Matchbox Magic Flute, Secret Garden) as Agatha.

Other local actors appearing in the musical include Graciela Rey (Signature Theatre, Folger Theatre, GALA Hispanic), Chivas Merchant-Buckman (Washington National Opera), and John Sygar (Olney Theatre, Round House, Arena Stage/Broadway's Swept Away).

Joining the merry gang of gamblers are Kyle Taylor Parker (Kinky Boots on Broadway and National Tour) as Nicely-Nicely Johnson, Elliott Mattox (Broadway’s Tammy Faye, Beetlejuice) as Harry the Horse, Tommy Gedrich (Pirates! The Penzance Musical) as Rusty Charlie, and Lamont Brown (Funny Girl, Mean Girls National Tours) as Joey Biltmore.

Also making their STC debuts in Guys and Dolls are Nick Alvino, Brandon Block, Landry Champlin, Brendon Chan, Aria Christina Evans, Caroline Kane, Drew Minard, Jessie Peltier, Jimena Flores Sanchez, and Jack Sippel.