The story goes something like this: Nathan Detroit runs a floating crap game which is highly illegal. "The heat is on" and finding a place where they can do their gambling is a real problem. The only available venue demands $1000 in advance. All of Nathan's friends are counting on him. he has a reputation to hold up. And all the big gamblers are in town loaded with dough and looking of action. We learn all this in some colorful dialog between Nathan and some of his henchmen (including 'Nicely Nicely' Johnson who is my favorite) and a song sang by the local gamblers "The Oldest Established"
By the way, it's Nathan's anniversary. The anniversary of his engagement to Adelaide, a night club singer star. They've been engaged to be married for several years... fourteen, actually. Nathan wants to wait till he's in the money and Adelaide wants him to get a steady job that doesn't involve breaking the law. Adelaide is putting on the pressure for Nathan to marry her already. All the waiting around has given Adelaide a terrible cold. Her song Adelaide's Lament is comic genius. Nathan is considerably stressed out about his dice game as it is and it doesn't help that he has to hide his involvement in the game from her.
But the answer to that dilemma is coming into town. A famous gambler named Sky Masterson has come into New York looking for some action. Sky has a reputation for taking very unusual bets at very high stakes. But he's also not a "chump." (Gambler lingo for a gullible sucker.) Nathan tries to get him to stake a thousand bucks on a rigged bet. Sky doesn't fall for it but they get to talking. They talk about women. There is a difference of opinion because Nathan firmly believes that Adelaide is something special but Sky is pretty sure that all women are the same. He could find a doll this afternoon, take her to Havana tonight and get rid of her tomorrow when he comes back.
Would you put money on that? Say one thousand dollars?
Sure, name the doll.
And who should walk by just then but Sarah Brown.
That one!
Sarah is a Salvation Army missionary who is determined to convert the sinners of New York. Or she was, but she has been coming up against some road blocks. She hasn't converted a single sinner since she came here. Her mission is in danger of being closed. Then in walks Sky Masterson. He is a very successful gambler who has come to repent and be saved. He is very eager in fact. Sarah is suspicious of him from the start. Why would a successful gambler feel the need to amend his life anyway? And it unnerves her that he knows the Bible better than she does. She has serious doubts about his sincerity.
Sky is getting no where with his 'all dolls are pretty much the same' theory. Sarah wont be swept off her feet. She's a mission doll. She has a very firm idea of what the man who sweeps her off her feet will be like. And he will NOT be a gambler. "I'll Know" Sarah sings
"for I've imagined every bit of him, from his strong moral fiber to the wisdom in his head"Sky says this is ridiculous.
"What are you picking, a guy or a horse?"But we find out something interesting about Sky; in front of Nathan he says that doll are things to have around only when they are useful "like cough drops" but with Sarah he betrays his longing for perfect love. He is waiting for someone special too. He doesn't have a list a qualities that this girl will posses but like Sarah he is certain he will know her with she comes along.
This is a musical and at the end of a long song, even if it's not a lover singing to his love, there has to be a kiss. Sky thinks he's made some progress with that but she changes his mind with a solid slap across the face.
So he switches to gambler business mode. If Sarah come to Havana with him, he will bring her a dozen sinners to convert and therefor save her mission. After much deliberation she agrees to go with him for the sake of the mission.
Nathan is waiting for Nicely and the others to bring him the news of Sarah and Sky. All the gamblers are assembled in a diner and ready to shoot crap. They are wearing carnations as a ticket to get into the place. Nathan's luck is never very good, but it's especially bad today. Both the police and Adelaide catch him here and want to know what's going on. It looks pretty suspicious, all those known gamblers together, just hanging out. Thinking fast, one of his buddies helpfully tells Adelaide and the cop that they are celebrating a bachelor party for Nathan who is eloping that night. That satisfies the cop for now, and thrills Adelaide of course. And both leave without knowing that the game is still on. But then the other guys get back to tell Nathan that Sky and Sarah are on a plane to Havana. This throws Nathan into a panic. He's lost the bet. He now owes Sky $1,000 and he still has no place to shoot crap! But, at Sky's suggestion, the other missionaries at the Salvation Army have gone on a crusade in the dead of night leaving their mission empty and unguarded. Perfect.
In Havana Sarah finds that she is having a good time... a very good time. Okay, Sky gets her a little tipsy and than doesn't stop her from getting a little drunk. What a jerk. But this is a musical and in musicals when the prudish girl is finally forced out of her shell she finds that she was made to love and be loved. Suddenly she feels more alive than ever before, something is very right. "If I Were a Bell I'd be ringing"
Sky has run up against a little problem. He's in love with her. He wasn't going to fall for that. Now he's caught the epidemic that has been sweeping the nation. As Nicely and Benny (Nathan's henchmen) observed when discussing Nathan's devotion to Adelaide in the title song
"Love is the thing that has licked 'em"and Sky has joined Nathan on the list of victims. He finds that he wants to share things with her that he has never told anyone. His real name, he confides to Sarah, is Obedia Masterson. He takes her back to New York and shows her the streets at night. "My time of day" is about a minute long and it's high on my favorite song list. I don't really know why. Something about the accompaniment.... I like it.
There are two other love songs both of which I really like. I've Never Been in Love Before is in the live play and comes just after My Time of Day. Surprisingly, it is Sky (or Obedia) who first professes this. The one in the movie is Eyes of a Woman in Love. It bugs me in the movie that they overuse the tune so much that by the time they actually sing the words you're really sick of it. The movie bugs me in general. And I'm not a fan of Sinatra in musicals. It's a very pretty song. Both are kind of quiet; two people observing mildly that they are in love with each other and it's a very new feeling or both of them. I love duets.
Unfortunately the mood is completely broken when Sky walks Sarah back to the mission just in time to see Nathan and his gamblers running out as fast as they can to avoid the police. This looks VERY bad. The missionaries left at the suggestion of a gambler only so that the very sin against which they fight can be committed in the mission! Sarah is furious. Sky is determined to make it up to her. He can't convince her that he had nothing to do with bringing the crap shooters to the mission. He still has to hold up his end of the deal. He leaves to find a dozen or more sinners to bring back to her.
Where does he find the gamblers? Well, he has to do a little searching. He goes to the theater where Adelaide works to find Nathan. He finds Nicely there waiting to break it to Adelaide that she will not be getting married tonight. They are still shooting crap and don't show any signs of stopping. Adelaide is heart broken that Nathan is running the game behind her back and, of course that she will have to wait, yet again, for her plain little band of gold.
Sky leave her in tears and goes to find Nathan. Where? In the sewer. Where else would you shoot crap. The problem is, there is this gambler named Big Jule. He has money to gamble away and he's a terrible bully. While they were playing in the mission he was loosing... badly. So he wont let anyone leave or stop playing until he has won some back. He starts playing on credit. Then he pulls out his own dice... with no dots on them. But don't worry, he remembers where they were. No one would stand for this but he's a great big guy and no one wants to stand up to him. Using his blank dice, he starts to roll away the money Nathan has been making on the game. Just then Sky shows up. He plays a few rounds (with real dice) and his luck is looking good. Then he give them the real deal. He stakes some big money against the souls of the gamblers. If he wins, they have to go to a prayer meeting at the Salvation Army mission. Since the gamblers don't value their souls so much anyway, they have no objection. Sky, on the other hand has everything to loose. This is where he sings Luck be a Lady.
Classically, the lights go down just as Sky throws the dice. But we have very little doubt that he wins the roll. The next thing we see is Nathan coming up out of the sewer only to meet Adelaide. She wants to elope. NOW. Nathan, always trying to get out of tying the knot, manages his best excuse yet "I gotta go to a prayer meeting!" The one time he is actually telling the truth and does she believe him? Of course not! Nathan going to a prayer meeting? Filthy lier! Cheers for rant songs! Adelaide rants at him and good! She has a lot of complaints to unload. And when she runs out of breath Nathan comes in humbly singing "Call a lawyer sue me, sue me, what can you do me? I love you!" What an aggravating man. She launches into another round of frustrations and again he comes back "Sue me, sue me." The fact remains. Nathan loves her. And Adelaide loves him. What are you gonna do?
The prayer meeting has started and it looks as if Sarah's mission is saved. Nathan shows up a little late. Sky is not there but he has told Nathan that Sarah did not actually go with him to Havana and therefore Nathan has won the bet. Nathan feels the need to apologize to Sarah for their illegal activities in her mission. He tells her the truth. The whole truth. The fact that the whole trip to Havana was for the sake of a bet does not sound well in Sky's favor but the fact that he isn't making Nathan pay seems hopeful. Then the police show up. Someone reported that the gamblers were seen leaving the mission. Can the missionaries please identify the men that were there? The moment or truth.
No, officer, I have never seen these men before.
The Gamblers are starting to enjoy the prayer meeting. Nicely gives his testimony "Sit Down You're Rocking the Boat" and everyone is having a rollicking good time.
Sarah slips out to think a bit, humming I've Never Been in Love Before slowly. She finds Adelaide outside too. She's muttering a reprise to her Lament. Cool, how those two songs fit together. They compare notes briefly. There may be a solution to their dilemma. A plot is formed: get commitment now, get reform later. Okay, I think it's a stupid idea but I love this song so I will forgive the bad judgment on the part of the poor frustrated ladies. Marry the Man Today reminds me, strangely enough, of Cruella de Vil. It's the evil plot song. That evil plot drum beat. I don't know, it's really fun. They get so excited
"Give him your hand today and save the fist for after."
So the next thing poor Nathan and Sky know, their married to their dolls and starting to live respectable lives.
That was long and I even skipped some songs. I found the opening song, Fugue for Tinhorn, so that's on the playlist. I wish I could put some others on there.
Why is this one of my favorite shows? It has something to do with the craziness of the story, the jazzy, big band, big city sound of the music, the comedy of the characters and I feel uplifted at the end when Nathan catches a cold at his wedding. Sarah actually succeeds in converting Sky and he joins the missionaries. That's a big deal and a very happy ending. You don't get stories where the sinners actually give up their evil ways much anymore. Sky decides that virtue and being married to a beautiful virtuous girl is more fun than living in hotels and gambling every night. I guess it all comes down to the fact that I love to sing the songs, and I care about the characters.
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