An afternoon at Sweet Charity
An afternoon at Sweet Charity
itstheM
Featured Actor Joined: 10/17/03
#0An afternoon at Sweet Charity
Posted: 6/22/05 at 7:42pm
I got rush tickets at 12:30 for the 2pm show, the seats were in row K side orchestra, the view was fine. For anyone interested, they are selling the new and old cast recording in the theater. The show is very good. Applegate does not have a great voice, but she has incredible energy and is a great comedienne. The overture was really cool and they blast it so it puts and energy in the theater before the show actually starts. In the beginning all I kept stealing glances at the foot, but later I fogot all about it and was able to focus. Denis O'Hare is the VIP of this show. He is histerical and so great, you should go just for his performance. (Also a really nice stage door encounter...in the rain) Rob Bartlett is enjoyable but in his words, "It's the same part as in Little Shop, a funny, old man with a mustache." The costumes were nice, but William Ivey Long has done better. Choreography was simple, but very sharp and fun to watch. It's a lot of wrist twirling and low kicks. Big Brass Band was especially fun: drum sticks and hats! (I call it an ode to Fosse) For a Wednesday matinee, the audience was packed and I was glad to see it.
Trying to compare this with the other revival, La Cage is difficult. The choregraphy in La Cage is certainly better, but I like Charity more as a show. (I felt La Cage should have been the Bird Cage with the only musical numbers being for Les Cagelles.) They're very different productions and it's hard to choose which one is better.
So reasons to see Sweet Charity are: Cy Coleman music, Denis O'Hare, the comic stylings of Christina Applegate, and the way Janine LaManna and Kyra Da Costa work well with each other as Nickie and Helene.
PS-For those of you wondering, Christina naps between shows and doesn't come out to sign.
Baby, dream your dream
Close your eyes and try it!
#1re: An afternoon at Sweet Charity
Posted: 6/22/05 at 7:49pm
Anoter reviewer pleased with Charity 
I'm very glad you enjoyed it.
Updated On: 6/22/05 at 07:49 PM
#2re: An afternoon at Sweet Charity
Posted: 6/22/05 at 7:59pmdid William Ivey Long really do the costumes?? cause i saw pics (im an aspiring designer) and i was appalled, and i love WIL. im so dissappointed, i didnt even realize it was him. for shame, for shame.
you may know what you need but to get what you want better see that you keep what you have
#3re: An afternoon at Sweet Charity
Posted: 6/22/05 at 8:20pmthanks for the review. i can't wait to see it.
A dancer might dream to see her name in lights and mean it,
but all she really dreams is to make someone
else feel the way she did when she first saw a dancer.
And that is so beautiful-Anonymous
BwayBaby18
Broadway Legend Joined: 2/19/05
#4re: An afternoon at Sweet Charity
Posted: 6/23/05 at 12:17pmarishmoof, WIL did those designs but maybe that isn't what he wanted..... remmber the director tells you what he wants.... I have a feeling Walter Bobbie was like "i want cartoon dumb fun 60's costumes".....and they weren't all THAT horrible
MasterLcZ
Broadway Legend Joined: 5/12/03
#5re: An afternoon at Sweet Charity
Posted: 6/23/05 at 12:25pmI enjoyed CHARITY, but think Long could have done a lot better with the costumes. Not representative of his best work.
"Christ, Bette Davis?!?!"
#6re: An afternoon at Sweet Charity
Posted: 6/23/05 at 12:37pm
Thanks for another great review of this show! Amazing how many people actually ENJOY this show, isn't it?
All I have to say about the costumes is....PINK Band costumes? With a red dress?
"My dreams, watching me said, one to the other...this life has let us down."
SamIAm
Broadway Legend Joined: 5/18/04
#7re: An afternoon at Sweet Charity
Posted: 6/23/05 at 12:41pm
From what I've seen they were pretty standard for Charity...but then WIL could have phoned in the designs, they were so simplistic.
Not sure that costumes are all that important to the piece but I do love his work and would have liked to have seen something more creative. Frogs was INCREDIBLY good. Had hoped he would have gotten something for that.
"Life is a lesson in humility"
MasterLcZ
Broadway Legend Joined: 5/12/03
#8re: An afternoon at Sweet Charity
Posted: 6/23/05 at 1:03pmAs funny and winning as Christina is in CHARITY, the combo of Christina & Denis is what really makes this show sparkle. One falls in love with Oscar as much as Charity, so much so that the revised ending seems ESPECIALLY cruelly unsatisfying and unconvincing.
"Christ, Bette Davis?!?!"
#9re: An afternoon at Sweet Charity
Posted: 6/23/05 at 1:21pm
I really don't mind the new ending. I LOVE how they end with the ITBI Reprise - it's a beautiful reprise, and Christina does it wonderfully.
I am more heartbroken at the end of the movie version of Charity, than I was at the end of the revival. But I think the revivals ending was good.
Am I the only one who wasn't ALL that crazy about Denis? I think he is very good. But I think I am partial to John McMartin and his take on the role.
WiCkEDrOcKS
Broadway Legend Joined: 6/13/04
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