Happy 50th Anniversary to SWEET CHARITY!- Page 2

[sabrelady]

Posted: 1/30/16 at 7:07pm

*clapping hands* Again, Again, Again daddy "

[Mr. Nowack]

Posted: 1/30/16 at 7:27pm

It's really one of the best movie musical endings, so unconventional and perfectly bittersweet.

[CarlosAlberto]

Posted: 1/30/16 at 7:41pm

Wow Besty I love your description. It is so spot on! Just reading it..:. *gulp* *sob* 

[CindersGolightly]

Posted: 1/30/16 at 7:54pm

Gosh. What abrilliant musical. 

[Demitri2]

Posted: 1/31/16 at 8:27pm

I saw the Debbie Allen SWEET CHARITY revival in the summer of '85 at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion at the Music Center in downtown Los Angeles.

Once again Mr. Nowak, you're truly a wonderful asset to this site. Your anniversary show tributes are always a treasured feature on Broadway World. Your time and efforts are most appreciated.

[MichelleCraig]

Posted: 1/31/16 at 9:34pm

I went to a performance of the '85 revival with Debbie Allen at the Ahmanson in Los Angeles. The highlight for me was meeting Cary Grant backstage and getting an autograph. He was there with his daughter.

[MichelleCraig]

Posted: 1/31/16 at 9:36pm

Oh...and Mr. Nowack... I love your posts!!

[Mr. Nowack]

Posted: 1/31/16 at 9:46pm

Glad everyone appreciates the posts, I just love looking back in pictures at shows of the past and commemorating the anniversaries of shows that we all still know and love 50 years or 75 years or 100 years on!

[Demitri2]

Posted: 1/31/16 at 10:09pm

Did the Debbie Allen production actually play the Dorothy Chandler AND The Ahmanson in 1985?

http://articles.latimes.com/1985-07-22/entertainment/ca-6215_1_sweet-charity

http://www.abouttheartists.com/productions/34883-sweet-charity-at-dorothy-chandler-pavilion-july-1985

 

 

 

[Tom5]

Posted: 1/31/16 at 10:19pm

Flawless score by the great Cy Coleman. And, yes, the ending of the film version was superb along with Shirley Maclaine's heartfelt performance. Also, much of Neil Simon's good and funny book made it into the film although I don't recall him getting direct screenplay credit.

[Peter2]

Posted: 1/31/16 at 11:24pm

Thank you, Mr. Novack, for those completely wonderful photos and movie stills. They bring a pang of nostalgia. I'm so glad the consensus of opinion is changing on the movie. I've loved it ever since it came out. Once I was in a crowded bar with a video wall that played various rock music videos, and out of the blue they put on the "Rich Man's Frug" and the bar went silent as everybody was just bowled over watching it. There was an ovation at the end! (But my favorite part of the movie is Sammy Davis Jr."s knockout performance of "The Rhythm of Life."

[Mr. Nowack]

Posted: 2/1/16 at 7:00pm

I've always been shocked that Beyonce lifted "Rich Man's Frug" for one of her music videos, not sure which song.

 

Just goes to show what a phenomenal impact this show has had.

[Peter2]

Posted: 2/1/16 at 8:43pm

Did she really? I'd love to know which song that is! Must see.

 

(Just to be clear, what they showed in the bar was the scene from the movie. It was actually touching the way everybody just stopped what they were doing to watch. I think people just thought it was weird at first, then they started laughing, and finally there were cheers and applause at the end. It was fun!)

[Mr. Nowack]

Posted: 2/1/16 at 9:31pm

No worries, I understood exactly what you meant! It's a spectacular sequence, undoubtedly one of the most interesting dances ever put on film.

 

The Beyonce video in question is "Get Me Bodied:"

 

Her dress and the setting of the club is clearly a takeoff from the scene as done in the film, and the part where she enters the club at ~1:15 (Who is it? Who is it?) is a direct homage as well as the beginning of the dance. The rest is mostly just Beyonce doing her usual deal ("pat yo weave" get's me every time).

[MrSweetNAwful]

Posted: 2/2/16 at 12:07am

The choreography for Single Ladies (Put A Ring On It) lifts some moves as well, from There's Gotta Be Something Better Than This and another Fosse number called Mexican Breakfast

[Jay Lerner-Z]

Posted: 2/2/16 at 12:21am

How does the movie end? I know the recent revival ended differently than previous productions. How does it end in the movie?

 

If you didn't like best12's recap (and why wouldn't you?), here's an alternate ending as featured on the DVD extras.

 

 

[MichelleCraig]

Posted: 2/2/16 at 12:26am

Demitri2 said: "Did the Debbie Allen production actually play the Dorothy Chandler AND The Ahmanson in 1985?

 

http://articles.latimes.com/1985-07-22/entertainment/ca-6215_1_sweet-charity

 

http://www.abouttheartists.com/productions/34883-sweet-charity-at-dorothy-chandler-pavilion-july-1985

Well, it was the Music Center...Ahmanson and Dorothy Chandler...separated only by the Mark Taper Forum.

 

 

 

 

 

 

"

 

[ggersten]

Posted: 2/2/16 at 12:35am

Saw the 1985 Debbie Allen revival in San Francisco - it was magical.  (And took away the pain of watching the Cardinals blow Game 6 of the World Series - nearly missed the start of the show as I was glued to the television at a nearby restaurant much to the consternation of my date).

But, when I got to direct the show, I asked for the original script - and woah, I did not know how awkward the original ending was.  Gwen Verdon might have been the only actor able to pull off that scene.  

[Peter2]

Posted: 2/2/16 at 9:47pm

Thanks again, Mr. Nowack, for the Beyonce video. That was fun! I actually enjoyed it, though old fashioned as I am I think I still prefer the Coleman/Fosse original.

 

Watching the original, I kept thinking it's time for Suzanne Charney's hairdo to sweep the nation (figuratively speaking).

[EricMontreal22]

Posted: 2/3/16 at 2:32pm

best12bars said: "Carlos, I saw it in HD about a year ago (or even less) on Netflix or Amazon Prime. Forget which, but it looked fine enough to release as a catalog title on Blu-ray, so ... I hope they do it! The DVD is certain watchable though! Not bad picture and sound even if it's not remastered.

"

I know I've posted it before, but it drives me crazy that the print they used for Sweet Charity on DVD leaves off this tiny but rather important bit of scene.  Apparently the HD version that has shown on TV includes it.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e7SkFxkHwYE

[EricMontreal22]

Posted: 2/3/16 at 2:38pm

Her dress and the setting of the club is clearly a takeoff from the scene as done in the film, and the part where she enters the club at ~1:15 (Who is it? Who is it?) is a direct homage as well as the beginning of the dance. The rest is mostly just Beyonce doing her usual deal ("pat yo weave" get's me every time).

 

"
Emma Bunton also did a Frug inspired video with her UK hit Maybe some years before.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AdW9oM6ZMME

 

[best12bars]

Posted: 2/3/16 at 2:41pm

Wow, I didn't realize a chunk was missing, and I just watched it! That really sucks. It's supposed to be the Road Show version on the DVD. Bad!

 

Also, much of Neil Simon's good and funny book made it into the film although I don't recall him getting direct screenplay credit.

 

The screenplay is by Peter Stone (based on the Simon book). Peter wrote 1776 with Sherman Edwards and won an Oscar for Father Goose.

 

 

EDIT: And I LOVE that Beyonce video where she's all tricked out as Suzanne Charney from the Rich Man's Frug!

Updated On: 2/3/16 at 02:41 PM

[EricMontreal22]

Posted: 2/3/16 at 2:47pm

Peter2 said: "There was an ovation at the end! (But my favorite part of the movie is Sammy Davis Jr."s knockout performance of "The Rhythm of Life."

 

"

Rich Man's Frug is actually a bit of a let down for me in the film--it's the one production number where I think Fosse's camera work gets in the way of the choreography and I much prefer his original staging (at least as recreated for the 1980s revival).

I really don't think SC works without Fosse--and no surprise as he essentially created (coming up with the concept, then commissioning a score, then when he was having trouble writing the book playing a demo of the score for Neil Simon who came to punch up, and largely write, the script, etc) the first time he had done so.  (And I mean I don't envy the fact that Wayne Cilento--a great Fosse dancer--had to come up with a new, and lacklustre RIch Man's Frug or Brass Band for that last revival).

I've seen high quality "video" of Anne Reinking (great dancing but not quite right) and Donna McKechnie (amazing) in the tour of the 1980s Sweet Charity.  I know he changed things--the new Bravest Individual, the oddly 80s orchestrations for Where Am I Going and the film title song as well as getting new, but similar, costumes (he always had an issue with the original costume designer) but one thing that comes off so well is how perfect his original staging was and how underrated the set design, which I never hear discussed, was--especially how it has that camera "iris" effect that can open and close to zoom in cinematically on certain parts.  Brilliant.

Wasn't the original production meant to run longer with Helen Gallagher as Charity but they decided Gwen was too much of the appeal and closed it?  (Chita did go on to do the tour.)

Anyway a brilliant score and show that, while not perfect I kinda love even because of its flaws if that makes sense (the same goes for the movie and I also prefer the movie's ending--I don't even mind the alternate happy movie ending).  And, as others have said, it really does--much like Cabaret which opened within the same year I believe--show the bridging between two eras of Broadway (two eras of course that were really led in many ways at first by Fosse and Prince).

[best12bars]

Posted: 2/3/16 at 2:51pm

I loved the Debbie Allen revival. I wish there was some decent footage of it. But it was such a solid production and the dancing was incredible.

[Scarywarhol]

Posted: 2/3/16 at 2:54pm

I enjoyed the last London revival, the only stage version I've seen.

 

I don't know why people don't like the movie more. I think it is a work of near-genius...MAD genius, as close as you could come in a mainstream movie musical.

Updated On: 2/3/16 at 02:54 PM