"Guys and Dolls" Preview Gamblers, missionaries - must be 'Guys and Dolls'  Sunday, January 08, 2006 BY JENN MCKEE  News Arts Writer  Caitlin Frankel has waited an awfully long time to play Adelaide - the ditsy nightclub singer who pines to marry her commitment-phobic, gambling boyfriend Nathan Detroit - in "Guys and Dolls.'' For not only did Frankel's grandmother sing "Bushel and a Peck'' (one of Adelaide's songs) as a lullaby, but Frankel saw the show in London on her 13th birthday and again last year, while on her honeymoon.  "You know how every girl dreams of their perfect wedding?'' said Frankel. "I dreamed of Adelaide.''  Who wouldn't? One of the most coveted, fun and fabulous female roles in musical theater, Adelaide comes with a to-die-for score (by Frank Loesser) and numerous funny lines (by Jo Swerling and Abe Burrows), which she tosses off while navigating mobsters and do-gooders struggling to coexist in a mythical New York of yesteryear.  Frankel's dream will come true this week with the Ann Arbor Civic Theatre's revival of "Guys'' at the Mendelssohn Theater.  "I like that she knows what she wants,'' said Frankel of Adelaide. "She's willing to do what it takes to get that, which is basically lie to get Nathan to finally marry her. But she also has some vulnerability, too. She has some humanity to her, and I think that the balance of the vulnerability and the drive is what makes her so fun.''  Another performer who's pleased to be spending time in the world created by Damon Runyon - who wrote the original collection of stories that was the basis for the show - is Jeff DiFranco, an associate professor of mathematics at U-M, who is getting a second chance to play Sky Masterson. His first opportunity came in high school, more than 10 years ago.  "(Sky)'s a fun character because he gets to be very suave, but at the same time, he's very smart and knows what's going on, so he gets to play with people a little bit,'' said DiFranco.  And although a key, eleventh hour cast change could have easily rocked "Guys''' boat, co-director Brian E. Buckner says that everything has worked out nicely-nicely. "We have someone who is very capable and we're really, really excited to have Leo Babcock in the role of Nathan Detroit,'' said Buckner. "He's brand new to the show, but he had relationships with several other cast members, and he has played this role before in another production.''  Buckner, a music student at U-M, is co-directing "Guys'' with Natalie Malotke, another student who specializes in choreography. "To a degree, (Buckner and Malotke) are each emphasizing different things, but they have a really great working relationship with each other,'' said Frankel. "Without even speaking to each other, they're both on the exact same page as far as what notes they want to give and what direction they want to take a certain scene.''  The guiding vision for Buckner and Malotke, though, emphasized "the excitement and fun of this magical world that is Runyon-land,'' said Buckner. "It's a very comic book type of story. ... Natalie and I went back and forth with this idea of having the audience feel like they were looking through a snow globe. You know, the kind of involvement where you can clearly see everything that's going on, but you're just an observer taking it all in.''  Reach Jenn McKee at 734-994-6841 or jmckee@annarbornews.com.