Yet getting the part of Sarah was hardly a cinch. There were many obstacles, beginning when she tried to audition for it. "First they wouldn't see me. They felt I wasn't right for the part," de Guzman says.
Meanwhile, she was cast as Maria in another Broadway play, NICK AND NORA, but was fired two weeks into previews.
Why? She says she was a scapegoat. "The official excuse was that I was miscast, but the response I got from the audience was very warm. I honestly think that (the producers) panicked," she says. Regardless, NICK AND NORA closed after only a week on Broadway.
After being fired, de Guzman thought she would become a producers' pariah, but surprisingly, GUYS AND DOLLS called. They would now see her.
"I had three weeks where they would call me back every week. And then they decided not to go with me. And I was heartbroken, because I felt that part was mi-i-i-i-ne!" she emphasizes, raising clenched fists. "I thought about it. I really wanted to work with (director) Jerry Zaks and I wanted to be associated with the project, and who knows, maybe I could do the national tour. And that's where I set my goal to keep my sanity, on the national tour."
Two weeks into previews, a decision was made to replace Carolyn Mignini with de Guzman.
"And I came in and it worked for me. It is a dream come true," she says. "This is my greatest accomplishment because of the way I came into the show. I had one very short rehearsal with the director, very short, and then another and I was on. GUYS AND DOLLS is very refreshing and exciting because everybody in it is really good. So it makes the work easy and you look forward to going to work. We're all actors, together in a venture."
