Doors open tonight for Palmerton Area High School Drama Club's first performance of "Guys & Dolls." The musical begins at 7 o'clock with performances on Friday and Saturday. The cost is $5 for students and $8 for adults.

The musical takes place in New York City around 1940. Notorious gamblers Nathan Detroit and Sky Masterson make a bet. Sky bets Nathan $1,000 that he can take any "doll" in the city to Havana with him on a date. The catch is that Nathan gets to pick the girl, and he chooses Sarah Brown, who runs the Save-A-Soul Mission. He figures this girl will not be so easy for Sky to win over. Nathan also struggles to find a place to hold his illegal craps game, while hiding his gambling activities from his fiancee of 14 years, Adelaide. Of course, she has a few tales of her own.Drama club adviser Brent Harris said the cast began working on the musical in early January. There are about 50 students between the Drama Club and Stage Crew pulling together to make the show a success.Harris chose "Guys & Dolls" because "we were looking for a fun, upbeat, classic show that we felt fit the personality of our current cast."The show has several main characters who each have an important part of telling the story."With the number of students we have looking for larger roles, this seemed like a great fit for us," Harris said. "The songs are catchy and well-known and have also played an important part in bringing life to the production."Like art, real life has its own challenges. Harris said this production has several dance scenes and three full-size backdrops, which has been something for the cast to get used to using. In past productions, they have used stationary backdrops made out of lumber and rarely moved. The large, fabric backdrops are interchangeable throughout the production."Using them has really helped to bring life to the show, but they are a new experience for us," Harris said.Harris said the cast and crew worked cohesively."They work and work for weeks and the payoff all takes place in just one weekend," he said. "To have students bring as much commitment to the club as these students have has inspired me year after year, and it has been a wonderful experience to work with them."Harris said one of the things he loves about theater is how it can help people escape reality for a few hours."When our audiences take their seats, we hope to sweep them off into a fun world of gangsters, dolls, missionaries and gamblers. We hope that they get caught up in the story, laugh along with the shows comedic elements, and maybe even tear up a little," he said. "If all goes well, they'll be singing the music of 'Guys and Dolls' when they head home for the evening."The cast includes: Jaelyn Rehm as Sky Masterson, Sean Hall as Nathan Detroit, Sydney Geist as Sarah Brown, Emel Rasim as Adelaide, Matthew Binder as Nicely Nicely Johnson, Mitchell Hourt as Benny Southstreet, Alex Crispo as Abigail Abernathy, Brayden Kline as Rusty Charlie, Dylan Rodrigues as Big Jule, Zeke Himmelwright as Harry the Horse, Owen Mendes as Lt. Brannigan, Jonathan Hillanbrand as Angie the Ox, Mitchell Hourt as Joey Biltmore and Billy Drake as Calvin, Caitlyn Bloss as General Matilda Cartwright, Krystal Salter as Agatha, Devyn Hauser as Martha, Sierra Hahn as Mimi and Victoria Alvarez as Waiter.Additional crapshooters include: Victoria Young, Erica Messics, Bailey Moyer and Mikayla Wilkins. The Hot Box Girls are: Victoria Bruer, Riley Zelienka, Senia Smith, Cheyenne Green, Lindsay Fronheiser, Gianna Crispo and Sarah George.The Mission Band includes: Kayleigh Snyder, Timmy Hillanbrand, and Katelyn Rehatchek. Extras are: Karissa Nenscel, Bailey Moyer, Faith Szena, Devin Rivera, Maddy Serio, Mikayla Wilkins, Molly Campbell, Victoria Young and Erica Messics.