Background: The Algonquin Round Table was a group of New York City writers, critics, actors, and wits. Gathering initially as part of a practical joke, members of "The Vicious Circle", as they dubbed themselves, met for lunch each day at the Algonquin Hotel from 1919 until roughly 1929. At these luncheons they engaged in wisecracks, wordplay, and witticisms that, through the newspaper columns of Round Table members, were disseminated across the country. Daily association with each other, both at the luncheons and outside of them, inspired members of the Circle to collaborate creatively.
Context: Given the literary and theatrical activities of the Round Table members, it was perhaps inevitable that they would write and stage their own revue. No Sirree!, staged for one night only in April 1922, was a take-off of a then-popular European touring revue called La Chauve-Souris, directed by Nikita Balieff.  No Sirree! had its genesis at the studio of Neysa McMein, which served as something of a salon for Round Tablers away from the Algonquin. Acts included: "Opening Chorus" featuring Woollcott, Toohey, Kaufman, Connelly, Adams and Benchley with violinist Jascha Heifetz providing offstage, off-key accompaniment; "He Who Gets Flapped", a musical number featuring the song "The Everlastin' Ingenue Blues" written by Dorothy Parker and performed by Robert Sherwood accompanied by "chorus girls" including Tallulah Bankhead, Helen Hayes, Ruth Gillmore, Lenore Ulric and Mary Brandon; "Zowie, or the Curse of an Akins Heart"; "The Greasy Hag, an O'Neill Play in One Act" with Kaufman, Connelly and Woollcott; and "Mr. Whim Passes By--An A. A. Milne Play."  The only item of note to emerge from No Sirree! was Robert Benchley's contribution, The Treasurer's Report. Benchley's disjointed parody so delighted those in attendance that Irving Berlin hired Benchley in 1923 to deliver the Report as part of Berlin's Music Box Revue for $500 a week. In 1928, Report was later made into a short sound film in the Fox Movietone sound-on-film system by Fox Film Corporation. The film marked the beginning of a second career for Benchley in Hollywood.  With the success of No Sirree! the Round Tablers hoped to duplicate it with an "official" Vicious Circle production open to the public with material performed by professional actors. Kaufman and Connelly funded the revue, named The Forty-niners. The revue opened in November 1922 and was a failure, running for just 15 performances.
Question: Did any parodies do well?
Answer: The Treasurer's Report. Benchley's disjointed parody so delighted those in attendance that Irving Berlin hired Benchley

Background: Guys and Dolls is a musical with music and lyrics by Frank Loesser and book by Jo Swerling and Abe Burrows. It is based on "The Idyll of Miss Sarah Brown" and "Blood Pressure" - two short stories by Damon Runyon - and also borrows characters and plot elements from other Runyon stories - most notably "Pick the Winner". The premiere on Broadway was in 1950. It ran for 1200 performances and won the Tony Award for Best Musical.
Context: The original Broadway production of Guys and Dolls opened to unanimously positive reviews. Critics praised the musical's faithfulness to Damon Runyon's style and characterizations. Richard Watts of the New York Post said "Guys and Dolls is just what it should be to celebrate the Runyon spirit...[it is] filled with the salty characters and richly original language sacred to the memory of the late Master". William Hawkins of the New York World-Telegram & Sun stated, "It recaptures what [Runyon] knew about Broadway, that its wickedness is tinhorn, but its gallantry is as pure and young as Little Eva". Robert Coleman of the New York Daily Mirror declared, "We think Damon would have relished it as much as we did".  The book and score were greatly praised as well; John Chapman of the New York Daily News declared, "The book is a work of easy and delightful humor. Its music and lyrics, by Frank Loesser, are so right for the show and so completely lacking in banality, that they amount to an artistic triumph". Coleman stated, "Frank Loesser has written a score that will get a big play on the juke boxes, over the radio, and in bistros throughout the land. His lyrics are especially notable in that they help Burrows's topical gags to further the plot". In The New York Times, Brooks Atkinson wrote, "Mr. Loesser's lyrics and songs have the same affectionate appreciation of the material as the book, which is funny without being self-conscious or mechanical".  Multiple critics asserted that the work was of great significance to musical theatre. John McClain of the New York Journal American proclaimed, "it is the best and most exciting thing of its kind since Pal Joey. It is a triumph and a delight". Atkinson stated, "we might as well admit that Guys and Dolls is a work of art. It is spontaneous and has form, style, and spirit." Chapman asserted, "In all departments, Guys and Dolls is a perfect musical comedy".
Question: How was it received?
Answer:
The original Broadway production of Guys and Dolls opened to unanimously positive reviews.