Here are two more numbers from Guys and Dolls but neither is the one you're sick of. First is "The Oldest Established," which is sung near the top of the show by all the gamblers including Nathan Detroit, played here by Nathan Lane in the 1992 Broadway revival directed by Jerry Zaks. I saw this production and it was really good. In fact, years later I saw a touring company of it in Las Vegas with Frank Gorshin (!) as Nathan Detroit and Jack Jones (!!) as Sky Masterson and it was still really good, although Nathan Detroit kept lapsing into impressions.
In this video, you may also recognize the gent in the purple suit playing Benny Southstreet. That's J.K. Simmons.
Here's the thing about Guys and Dolls that some of you may not know. When the show was first being assembled in 1950, the first actor signed — before the script and songs were even completed — was Sam Levene as Nathan Detroit. Mr. Levene was then a huge star on Broadway and it was a major coup to get him…though they soon found there was one big problem: He couldn't sing. Quite a few musical numbers were written for his character and quite a few musical numbers were then either dropped or reassigned to other characters because Levene couldn't perform them.
They were still glad to have him because he was (reportedly) very funny in the role — so much so that when Levene finally left the show, Abe Burrows — who wrote the book — found it necessary to add some more jokes to Detroit's part to compensate. But Levene wound up with only one number in the show when it premiered — "Sue Me." For the other numbers he was in, like this one, he was given no solo lines and was ordered to mouth the words but not sing.
Over the years, people who could sing have played the part — Frank Sinatra in the movie, of course — and they're given a little more to vocalize. Here, Nathan Lane gets to sing a bit of "The Oldest Established." Sometimes, Mr. Detroit is added in inappropriately when they sing the title song. Sometimes, a stage production will include "Adelaide," a song written by composer Frank Loesser for the movie. But it can be a frustrating role for someone who can sing. I was told by a performer in that Las Vegas production that when Frank Gorshin was approached, he initially refused to sign unless Nathan Detroit was given the "Sit Down, You're Rockin' the Boat" number but signed anyway when the producers refused.
Here's our first number from that 1992 revival…
And now here from the recording session for the cast album, Nathan Lane sings "Sue Me" with Faith Price, who played Adelaide. And you'll see a little of Jerry Zaks, the director…