Sweet Charity (movie): The Roadshow Engagements
Sweet Charity (movie): The Roadshow Engagements
Sweet Charity (movie): The Roadshow Engagements#1
Posted: 2/11/14 at 9:48pm
This is an interesting article/interview about the film version of Sweet Charity and the end of the era for Roadshow Engagements.
For those unfamiliar with this term, a "roadshow engagement" involved advanced screening dates, larger flagship theatres (movie palaces), inflated ticket prices, reserved seating, souvenir programs, better quality image and sound (often 70mm prints with multi-track stereo sound), overtures, intermissions, and exit music.
Sweet Charity: The Roadshow Engagements
blocked: logan2, Diamonds3, Hamilton22
Sweet Charity (movie): The Roadshow Engagements#2
Posted: 2/11/14 at 10:24pm
Thanks for that! I just recently read Mordden's review of the new book that is mentioned there (and the author interviewed) Road Show! (http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10001424052702304020704579276431004897194) but had no idea there was an earlier book from last year. Now I want to read both, this era always fascinates me.
I never assumed Sweet Charity did well enough to play roadshow engagements as long as it did in some locations.
I really wish they'd release SC on Blu-Ray. The DVD is well known to be missing a fairly important several minute long scene, that apparently IS in the HD version that has been showing on some HD movie channels.
Youtube Missing Scene
Sweet Charity (movie): The Roadshow Engagements#2
Posted: 2/11/14 at 11:49pmWow, I remember that scene well (from the VHS release), but for some reason, I never noticed it was missing from the DVD!
blocked: logan2, Diamonds3, Hamilton22
Sweet Charity (movie): The Roadshow Engagements#3
Posted: 2/11/14 at 11:53pmI didn't either until a year or two ago when it was mentioned on some DVD forum thread that I randomly stumbled upon... I've watched my DVD much more than any other copy, but was sure it was included until I actually checked for myself... Bizarre (since otherwise it seems to be the roadshow version...)
Sweet Charity (movie): The Roadshow Engagements#4
Posted: 2/12/14 at 7:06am
Do you think someone at Universal found the scene objectionable. Up until that point all we know is that Charity is a taxi dancer in a ballroom. There is no indication she is sleeping with any of her clients.
It's alluded to a bit in the number "Hey Big Spender" but that could easily just mean a little dance, a drink and some flirtatious conversation.
But when Oscar out and out asks her how many men she has been with and she answers "How far back do you want me to go", then that makes it much clearer that she's been with many men and he can't bear to marry her because of that. If it has just been dancing he wouldn't have objected so.
I don't know. It's just a thought.
I just looked at the back of my copy and the film is rated "G" for General Audiences and upon reviewing original release one sheets for the film it was indeed rated "G" even with that scene intact.
Weird.
Broadway Legend Joined: 3/21/06
Sweet Charity (movie): The Roadshow Engagements#5
Posted: 2/12/14 at 8:31am
I saw,virtually, every roadshow from the mid-50s onward. I was told by many people that I would hate that new book, because it is fill with inaccuracies. So, I haven't bothered to get it. When I first heard about it, I couldn't wait to get it. Disappointing.
They include a ticket stub from The Stanley Theater in Philadelphia, which is exactly where I saw it. I hated it, by the way, and still do.
Updated On: 2/12/14 at 08:31 AM
Sweet Charity (movie): The Roadshow Engagements#6
Posted: 2/12/14 at 8:43am
Carlos, I think you're right. Someone didn't like how close they came to actually discussing her prostitution.
This is a prudish and unnecessary censorship, and the scene should be restored to its original length, intact.
blocked: logan2, Diamonds3, Hamilton22
Sweet Charity (movie): The Roadshow Engagements#7
Posted: 2/12/14 at 9:40am
I agree. It's a really important scene.
I had never seen it before, but it always irked me the way that the movie danced around the issue. I realize they had to go for a G rating, but this one brief scene adds layers of depth that are missing.
Shame they haven't restored it on the DVD.
Sweet Charity (movie): The Roadshow Engagements#8
Posted: 2/12/14 at 9:47am
It not only adds more information about Charity and her past, it shows Oscar in an unflattering light. He "doesn't want to know" yet he seems hell bent on hearing it, plus he is disgusted by what he hears.
I think it exposes more "truth" about Oscar than it does about Charity.
I wonder whose bright idea it was to trim the scene. It would still get a G rating with this scene. There is nothing but "implied" information here. That's not PG material. Not even in today's prudish world.
But somebody got nervous, obviously. So stupid.
By the way, for anyone who hasn't seen the alternate ending, it's so bizarre (and not very good). It's strange to see that they even filmed it. "Oscar comes back and all is forgiven! Yay!"
Weird.
blocked: logan2, Diamonds3, Hamilton22
Sweet Charity (movie): The Roadshow Engagements#9
Posted: 2/12/14 at 9:50am
Yea, that alternate ending is awful.
And I agree it deepens Oscar's character more than Charity's.
Despite hating the alternate ending I still get bummed at the end when she's all alone on the bridge. 
Sweet Charity (movie): The Roadshow Engagements#10
Posted: 2/12/14 at 10:06am
Oh, I do, too!
It's funny how I actually long for an alternate ending where everything works out.
But then when I see it, I hate it.
It's because the true romance and the real hope lies in the longing for things to work out, not in the satisfaction of having it all work out.
blocked: logan2, Diamonds3, Hamilton22
Sweet Charity (movie): The Roadshow Engagements#11
Posted: 2/12/14 at 10:25am
It's because the true romance and the real hope lies in the longing for things to work out, not in the satisfaction of having it all work out.
I wholeheartedly agree with this.
"Sweet Charity" is one of my all time favorite musicals as it possesses one of my all time favorite scores. Every song is a winner and I just love the film.
I remember when the local PBS station here in New York, WNET used to show it. I used to watch it over and over. Funny thing about that is that the print they always showed had "The Rich Man's Frug" sequence's audio out of sync. No one ever bothered to get it replaced. LOL.
A far as that alternate ending is concerned it should not have been considered, much less filmed. It doesn't ring true to the story or to the characters.
Universal needs to restore that cut scene if they ever decide to release it on blu-ray. It obviously hasn't been lost if it's been airing on the HD movie channels.
Oh, and while they're at it Universal can also do me a favor and release "Flower Drum Song" on blu-ray disc as well.
Sweet Charity (movie): The Roadshow Engagements#12
Posted: 2/12/14 at 10:41am
That scene is fascinating. SWEET CHARITY (the revival with Debbie Allen) was the first Broadway show I ever saw. I was 12, and it was sensational. Maybe as a nearly 40-year-old, I would no longer think so...but damn if it didn't imprint on me in a way that has charted the way for the rest of my artistic life. I even got to play Oscar in my Catholic high school's production, which...I mean...bizarre.
I distinctly remember this scene between Allen and Michael Rupert. When she got to the line, 'How far back do you want me to go?' it brought the house down. But the exact same line in the movie version is devastating. One of the reasons the movie is nearly impossible for me to watch is that MacLaine is almost too real as Charity. I don't have the distance needed to enjoy the piece as a musical comedy. It cuts too close to the bone, and hurts a little too much to watch.
Broadway Legend Joined: 3/21/06
Sweet Charity (movie): The Roadshow Engagements#13
Posted: 2/12/14 at 10:49am
I saw the original show, and loved it. The film is what I didn't like.
Yes, to a Blu-ray of FLOWER DRUM SONG.
Sweet Charity (movie): The Roadshow Engagements#14
Posted: 2/12/14 at 10:50am
MacLaine is almost too real as Charity. I don't have the distance needed to enjoy the piece as a musical comedy. It cuts too close to the bone, and hurts a little too much to watch.
She *is*, but at that point she had perfected playing "the bad girl with the heart of gold" beginning with her Oscar nominated performance in "Some Came Running". Out of any actress working in Hollywood with box office clout at that time she was really the only one who could do the part justice, especially when you consider her dance background *and* her history with Bob Fosse, it just made perfect sense.
It's a marvelous performance one that many did not get to fully appreciate in it's time but that now is fully acknowledged as a touchstone in her legendary career.
At the time many predicted an Oscar nod, sadly she was denied one and some attribute that to the film's failure as well.
Sweet Charity (movie): The Roadshow Engagements#15
Posted: 2/12/14 at 11:20am
It truly is one those rare scores where every single song is a keeper.
Well, Too Many Tomorrows is not a fave, but it's easily overlooked amongst all the other gems.
Sweet Charity (movie): The Roadshow Engagements#16
Posted: 2/12/14 at 11:24amTrue. But Too Many Tomorrows is still a lovely little song that provides the perfect counterpoint to the absolute hilarity that is happening inside the closet. It's such a wonderful bit of juxtaposition.
Sweet Charity (movie): The Roadshow Engagements#17
Posted: 2/12/14 at 12:13pm
"Sweet Charity" on stage and "Sweet Charity" the film take a completely different approach with the material.
The stage version was written by Neil Simon (adapted from Fellini's "Nights of Cabiria", but you knew that) and it was definitely a comedy - - - even the ending is proof of that.
The film, however was much more moody and melancholy as adapted by Peter Stone.
Sweet Charity (movie): The Roadshow Engagements#18
Posted: 2/12/14 at 3:31pm
For what it's worth, I remember (but of course now can't find) that in the forum where I first read about this missing scene, someone either suggested, or even got a reply from the DVD company, that this was the best print they had at the time (they didn't do a restoration.) Nobody noticed. So I guess it's possible that somewhere the roadshow version was shown with this scene sliced (it could have even been done by the theatre itself -- I've heard of other edits happening that way.)
It's good to know the HD remaster does have the scene -- now we just have to get it on DVD. I'm sure it would sell better than some of those other BluRay on Demands out there (I mean surely more than Lost Horizon, for example.)
In the link Besty posted, I love how all three people have such different opinions (the one woman, Hall?, even seems to think that the film did show briefly with the alternate ending but I believe the others that it never actually did.) I mostly agree with her opinion, BTW. She loves the film, and thinks it's one of Shirley's best. She also admits that the later half dragged when she showed it to her film students -- I agree, but I still love it. Perhaps with an actual intermission as they showed it, that would be less the case. While I never want to see it, I'd be curious to know what exactly was cut for the 15 minute shorter general release version.
I also agree with those who say it's a bit of an odd choice for a roadshow musical. It's not a family film (though I loved it as a kid) and has a downbeat ending. But they make a good point that at that time nobody probably would have made such an expensive musical for general release, so we're lucky they did.
Carlos makes great points about the stage vs screen version. Honestly, I do think it works better on stage. I've seen two different "live recordings" of the 80s revival, one with Debbie and the other with Donna McKechnie, I believe on tour. Since it largely was a recreation of the original, it has to be said the way the show flows is just amazing -- that set that works almost like a camera iris opening and closing on different parts of the stage, the choreographed transitions, just absolutely spectacular. I wish someone would just do a revival with Fosse's staging again -- as unpopular an opinion as it is among many theatre people to recreate earlier productions. Certainly in the last Broadway production it seemed foolish to even try to do a new Rich Man's Frug, etc. (Although I have grown to love the film version of the title song, however, on stage as used in the Fosse revival I think the original would work better. The revival's Bravest Individual is a bit odd too.)
But I do deeply love the film--knowing it's flawed probably just makes me love it more.
Sweet Charity (movie): The Roadshow Engagements#20
Posted: 2/12/14 at 4:00pmYou are much more clever than I am :P Haven't gone through the thread yet, but yeah I think that's where I read it some years back. Thanks!
Sweet Charity (movie): The Roadshow Engagements#21
Posted: 2/12/14 at 5:04pmI never got to see Gwen Verdon do Charity on stage, but I'm so glad she did "If They Could See Me Now" and "I'm a Brass Band" on the Ed Sullivan show. The former is especially wonderful, and it sadly shows that Fosse had to simplify the choreography for Shirley MacLaine.
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