Runyonland

The latest Broadway revival of Guys And Dolls, starring Craig Bierko, Oliver Platt and Lauen Graham, opens today. As far as I'm concerned, the show should always be running on Broadway. Previous revivals had to live in the long shadow cast by the original 1950 production, but the Nathan Lane/Faith Prince revival of 1992 was such a smash that the latest will probably be compared to that.

In related news, The New Yorker has a decent (if a little too sure of itself) overview of Damon Runyon's oeuvre by Adam Gopnik. Gopnik gets one thing right--Guys And Dolls the musical is an adaptation of Runyon that improves on the source. Too bad Runyon didn't live long enough to see it.