Look, I'm not trying to open up a can of worms or bash Applegate, but millions of people out there take hours and hours of dance classes every week in every town, large and small, in this country and around the world. And despite all the classes and all the training, perhaps .000001% of them ever have and develop the gift and accomplishment of a Verdon, Rivera, Reinking, Neuwirth, Debbie Allen, Donna McKechnie, Helen Gallagher, Juliet Prowse, D'Amboise and a few others. It'san extremely unique gift that, even with thousands of hours of training over decades, just doesn't come along very often.
Charity is one of the most elite dance roles in all of musical theatre. Only the greatest of the great have ever tackled it on Broadway or on major national tours -- until now. It's a killer role that taxed even the legendary stamina of Gwen Verdon. And even with the much simplified choreography of Wayne Cilento, Applegate clearly demonstrated that she wasn't remotely in the elite company of the ladies who have made their names and reputations in this role in the last 39 years. I mean that as no insult whatsoever to her -- she's absolutely CHARMING in the role, but the show (which is heavily flawed and obviously doesn't have the strongest book) only really works at ALL when there's a stunningly talented virtuoso at its center to help smooth over the weaknesses and make you forget that, at its core, this isn't really a great show. It's a vehicle for a GREAT dancer and comedienne and while Applegate scores occasionally as the latter, she simply doesn't have the brilliance to pull off the former. Yes, she tries hard, but the truly great dancers never let you see that.
I wasn't around for Verdon (though I have seen clips of her from the Ed Sullivan Show which were amazing), but I did see Allen and Reinking, as well as Maclaine in the movie. In each, there was an electricity and effortless panache that went even beyond pure technique (which was formidable) even when they simply walked across the stage, let alone when they exploded in dance. I'm sorry, but THAT'S what I EXPECT when I see someone do the role of Charity. While Applegate has decent enough (not great) extension and solid, but rather rudimentary form (though there's a hesitancy at times in her movements that elite dancers just DON'T HAVE -- every second with them is specific and precise visual poetry down to the smallest detail, even when they're not dancing), overall, her dancing is about at the level of a good (not great) student in an advanced class at Broadway Dance Center. Those folks over there can most certainly dance quite well, but, realistically, none of them are ready to star on Broadway as Charity (and without a hit sitcom credit they never will).
Applegate reminded me of two of my best friends from high school, both of whom ended up on Broadway later -- only she reminds me of them when they were still 17 year old high school students, starring in the school musicals and local theatre, before they moved to New York right after high school and began taking two and three dance classes a day, 7 days a week for the 6 or 7 years before they both finally got cast in their first Broadway shows. They had taken ballet and jazz and tap from the age of 4 and had incredible extensions and could immediately pick up the most ridiculously complicated choreography -- but they were just a pair of good dancers out of many thousands who try. They both were better dancers (as well as good singers and actors) than Applegate by the time they were 22. They each picked up a couple of Broadway credits for a few years and eventually got tired of the game and moved on.
Perhaps, it's unfair, but expectations for someone recreating a legendary role are unavoidable if you've seen previous productions and incarnations of a show (just look at all of the Wicked and Rent threads constantly discussing who's the best Elphaba, Galinda, Mark, Joanne, etc......). If you've paid your money and have seen multiple performers in the same role, it's not only fair, but completely human and normal to make comparisons. Obviously, if this is your first encounter with the show, then anything that happened before is irrelevant. But for us, who have seen Charity before, it's hard not to be disappointed with what's happening on stage at the Hirshfeld nightly. It's great if someone loves this incarnation of the show and thinks that Applegate is perfection, but understand that for some of us, this production was and is a complete disappointment.
"What a story........ everything but the bloodhounds snappin' at her rear end." -- Birdie
[http://margochanning.broadwayworld.com/]
"The Devil Be Hittin' Me" -- Whitney
