True to its name, American Folklore Theater presents a homespun deer-hunting story in its new musical, Guys and Does. Despite the show’s cornball humor, the often smart and funny musical is wowing audiences throughout Wisconsin as the company takes its first statewide tour. In Milwaukee, the producers wisely decided to rent an intimate theater space with a thrust stage to allow the audience to get close to the action. It works.
Local playwrights who formerly scored big with their well-known Guys on Ice, wrote this show, too. Guys on Ice has been performed in regional theaters across the country. It will be interesting to see if Guys and Does proves to be equally popular.
As the musical begins, we meet Fritz Dingleheimer, a Wisconsin paper-mill worker eager to escape his dull routine. He wears a flannel shirt, jeans and well-worn boots. He heads to the country in his Chevy truck, accompanied by his daughter’s boyfriend, Duane. The two men seem like oil and water. Will Fritz eventually accept Duane, despite Duane’s odd habits such as knitting and reading self-help books? Worse yet, Duane even admits to watching TV’s “Oprah.”
The two men sing “Up Nort’” as they arrive at Fritz’s retreat, a rustic hunting cabin. Fritz is an expert marksman. As expected, Duane isn’t up to the challenge (“I Can’t Kill Bambi’s Brudder”). Thankfully, the unexpected appearance of a talking deer dissuades the men from bagging a trophy deer. The rest of the story evolves predictably.
Guys and Does has plenty of charm and many nice musical moments. The exuberant, tuneful “Huntin’ Day” is followed by a couple of sweet ballads, the best of which is sung by Duane (“Knitting Love Song”). This all might sound girlish, but never fear; the story leans heavily toward the male perspective. Sportsmen will adore it.
The three-person cast consists of Bo Johnson (Fritz), Doug Mancheski (who plays Joe Jimmy and the talking deer), and (co-playwright) Lee Becker (Duane). All three are Equity actors who play their roles with precision. They are decent singers, too.
Mancheski (who also stars in “Guys on Ice”) is typically spot-on as a snobbish, wealthy hunter (Joe Jimmy). When dressed as the male deer, Mancheski makes a convincing transformation. Mancheski (as a deer) and Becker (as a fertile doe) turn their mating dance into a hilarious ballet sequence reminiscent of Swan Lake. The play ends with a positive “message” about man learning from nature.
Sets are far from flashy. The hunting cabin resembles something about as sophisticated as one would expect for a fifth-grade school play. The cabin interior (painted flats) is flanked by stand-up, painted wood trees draped with sheets of camouflage (the forest). Combined with the roughhewn nature of the play, the overall effect is perfect. Even the Chevy truck set piece swivels around to become the cabin’s fireplace. All in all, Guys and Does is a nice theatrical package that is sure to please hunters and theatergoers alike.
