Considered by many to be the perfect musical comedy, “Guys and Dolls” ran for 1,200 performances when it opened on Broadway in 1950.

Fast-forward almost three-quarters of a century, and the blockbuster show will have a limited engagement this month at Murray High School.

As their opening show for the season, the high school thespians will perform “Guys and Dolls” at 7 p.m., Nov. 15-16 and again, Nov. 18-19 at Murray High’s stage, 5440 S. State St. There also will be a 1 p.m., Nov. 16 matinee. Tickets will be $8 in advance and available on the school website, mhs.murrayschools.org, or $10 at the door.

Directed by theatre teacher Alexie Shaffer, the show will involve about 50 actors, 18 dancers, 20 musicians and 20 tech crew members. 

“I love ‘Guys and Dolls,’” she said. “It’s a light-hearted story with characters who live in New York and it’s about how they come together. It has classic songs like, ‘Sit Down, You’re Rockin’ the Boat,’ ‘A Bushel and a Peck’ and ‘Luck Be a Lady’ and watching our students sing these Broadway classics has been fun. They’ve really been pushed on their harmonies this year in learning some of that music.”

Shaffer said the production will be a fun show for patrons as well.

“The music of the jazz era is going to draw people to want to come see it,” she said. “The music style is in the late ’40s and ’50s, and we’ll have lots of bright, fun colors. We want everyone to come and just have a good time at the theatre.”

Following that show will be “The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee,” where quirky middle school students are competing to be a fictional spelling bee’s champion.

“This show is more modern, and the cast will get to portray younger characters. Since there are so many parts, it’s almost as every part is like a lead; it gives a lot of opportunity for people to be a lead on stage,” she said.

The show will be at 7 p.m., Feb. 20-22, 2025, and again, Feb. 24 in the school’s Little Theatre. There also will be a 1 p.m. matinee on Feb. 22.

At Murray High, the show will be directed by students, with Shaffer overseeing the production.

“The student directing team will audition the kids, they’ll design the set, they’ll decide on costumes, they’ll direct, and music direct, they’ll choreograph, and I will help them learn how to direct the show,” she said. “This is a great opportunity for them to try their hand at another part of theatre. A lot of the kids discover they like being backstage, so this just provides that opportunity to learn those skills.”

Following this show, students will compete with a one-act and individual events at region in March. State competition is in April.

In May, the thespians will perform “Puffs” or “Seven Increasingly Eventful Years at a Certain School of Magic and Magic.” The 2015 play written by New York playwright Matt Cox is a parody of the Harry Potter book series by J. K. Rowling, but from the perspective of the “Puffs,” Shaffer said.

“When I saw it performed by West Valley Arts a couple years ago, I could not stop thinking about how much fun students would have with this show. The wizarding world has become part of our culture so it’s fun for them and again, it has a ton of parts, and that gives a lot of opportunity for our students,” she said.

The show will be at 7 p.m., May 7-10, 2025 and again, May 12 in the Little Theatre.

The season kicked off with competing in the 48th annual Utah Shakespeare High School Festival in Cedar City, where 14 students performed a scene from “Hamlet” and then individual students competed in three monologues and performed two scenes. The team took fifth place.

Eighteen Dance Company members joined the thespians, performing a piece based on “King Lear” and took first place.

In addition to the shows, the school’s 25-member improv team will host 6 p.m., Dec. 6 and March 7, 2025 improv nights in the Little Theatre.  

They also will host the SLAAP Festival, where local high school teams will be coached and judged on their performance and then, together, they’ll put on a 7 p.m., May 16, 2025 evening performance. Tickets for all improv nights are $4.

The improv team captain is senior Jonas Stone and the 40-member drama club’s president is senior Izzy Mills, who helped decide this year’s theme: “Super!”

“The idea is that everybody is super, and everybody has something to offer,” Shaffer said. “Our drama club wanted to focus on celebrating everybody. I’m proud of them for that because it’s hard when you don’t get the part you want, but for them to say, ‘We want everybody in our program to know we think they’re super; they have superpowers to offer,’ is amazing.” λ