Premiere for Guys and Dolls composers' musical

Composer and lyricist Frank Loesser, creator of the Broadway smash Guys and Dolls, has another premiere scheduled – 35 years after his death.

Senor Discretion Himself, left unfinished when Loesser died in 1969, gets its world premiere today at Washington’s Arena Stage.

The script was completed and updated by Latino group Culture Clash.

A largely self-taught musician, Loesser began composing as a member of the US Army Air Force in the Second World War. His Praise the Lord and Pass the Ammunition was one of the most popular songs to come out of the conflict.

Loesser wrote some of the biggest musical hits of the 1950s and 60s, including How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying, which won him a share of a Pulitzer prize.

Senor Discretion Himself is set in a small Mexican town. Loesser based the book on a short story by Budd Schulberg, best known for the novel What Makes Sammy Run.

The musical tells of a poor, illiterate baker whose indignant defence of his young daughter’s virtue brings about a small miracle, rocketing him into prosperity.

“Frank wanted to do something different,” said his widow, Jo Sullivan Loesser. “We listened to Mexican music all day and went to Mexico several times.”

Culture Clash – Richard Montoya, Herbert Siguenza and Ricardo Salinas - adapted the play into 21st century vernacular.

Siguenza said Culture Clash cut Loesser’s script of nearly 300 pages to about 100 because today’s audiences want a faster pace.

Schulberg worked on the script for a study group in New York in 1985, but it has never been staged commercially until now. “Budd’s an old friend of Frank’s and the family and he’s coming down to see it,” Mrs Loesser said.