This week, justArts spoke with Rafi Diamond ’18, who directed the open-cast musical “Guys and Dolls.”

justArts: How was your experience directing a show for the first time?

Rafi Diamond: It was a lot of work —more work than I could possibly put into words. But it was also more fun than I could possibly imagine — more fulfilling than I could say.

JA: What other theater have you done at Brandeis?

RD: At Brandeis, I assistant-directed “Legally Blonde” last year, the open-cast musical, and I have done some work in the department, and I’m on the e-board for Hillel Theater Group.

JA: What was your favorite part of directing the show?

RD: My favorite part was seeing the cast pull together and producing such an amazing production. It was such a relief and so fulfilling to see them do such a great job. But the entire process, I was with nice people, doing the thing I love, so I enjoyed the whole process.

JA: What was the biggest challenge in directing the show?

RD: The biggest challenge was definitely all the uncertainties that come with directing an open-cast musical — from not knowing what the show is going to be because of the struggle with rights to not knowing who’s going to show up to auditions to people dropping the show to not knowing how talented the cast is going to be.

JA: Why did you direct the show?

RD: I love the open-cast musical; I love that it lets people — who do know how great they are and don’t know how great they are — become better together. I love that it’s in its byline to be inclusive and to care about other people. I think just as important as producing a high-quality production is caring for one another and creating a show in an environment that is loving.

JA: What is your favorite scene in the show?

RD: I have to say that I love the song “Sue Me.” I love that it gets both funny and sad and angry and relaxed, and it has all of the different elements, and our stars are just so good.

JA: What do you hope that the audience got out of watching the show?

RD: I hope the audience laughed; I hope the audience saw that these are people occupying a world similar to our own who are going to break out in song. And I hope that they enjoyed that, and they saw not everyone is what you think of them at face value, and that you can just enjoy the good things that people have to offer.

—Lizzie Grossman