Margo on Charity

[MargoChanning]

Posted: 5/1/05 at 8:09pm

Well.............

It's not a disaster.
But, it's also not very good either.
It felt like something you'd see in summer stock in a tent somewhere (if summer stock came with a $10 million budget).

It has some lively moments, but they don't register very soundly because they aren't grounded in anything -- character, attitude, perspective, point of view are all missing. Obviously, these are director and choreographer problems and the work of both here is on a level several notches below Broadway quality. Mediocre, in fact. This would be a first rate production for a community theatre in Des Moines, but it's simply not up to real professional standards, let alone the impossibly high bar they set for themselves in taking on the legendary Bob Fosse.

Bobbie's direction seems to consist mostly of blocking odd-looking stage pictures and making sure the pacing doesn't lag -- which it doesn't for the most part. For a former actor, it's surprising how little distinction and nuance Bobbie's given to some of the secondary roles -- Helene and Nicki, for example, are roughly interchangeable personality-wise, which wasn't the case in previous productions.

Then there's Cilento's choreography. What a fiasco. It would have been one thing to totally toss out the Fosse choreography altogether and start over, but that's not quite what's happened here. Cilento in his infinite wisdom has kept a lot of the actual steps and moves, but unaccountably stripped them of their context, wit, character and narrative quality, dumbing them down, tossing them into his choreographic blender and then randomly reassembling them into an incoherent free-for-all.

Take "Rich Man's Frug," for example. Fosse created that dance as a satire of the snooty hoi polloi one would find in the exclusive clubs of the day. Each dancer was given a character to portray (in rehearsal they came up with names and back stories for the characters they were playing in the dance). The "ballet" was an expression of their hauteur and attitude which points up how insecure and out-of-place Charity feels in that scenario. It shows her state of mind and is a perfect segue into the following Vittorio scene. It's NOT just an excuse for a dance number. Well, it wasn't when Fosse created it. With Cilento, it's just a bunch of random oddly-dressed people having a good time on a dance floor of a club -- there's no subtext, no character development, no comment. Just dancing (using the same wrist twirls and frug movements Fosse employed) -- without a brain in its head like all of Cilento's work here.

The rest of his work seems uninspired and earthbound -- and not just the stuff he created for the recovering Ms. Applegate. Numbers that legendarily flew and stopped the show -- "Big Spender," "There's Gotta Be Something Better Than This" and "I'm A Brass Band" notably -- never truly take off here and are all flash, no substance. Until Cilento learns and fully understands that what separates the legends from the second-raters is detail -- notably individuality within an ensemble -- he'll never be more than a hack-for-hire.

Now, onto the performers. I found Applegate to be very winning overall. Quite adept at comedy with a solid stage presence, a pleasant-enough voice (though her pitch wavers from time to time), and what looks like perhaps, a decent dance technique. In most productions, Charity is the best dancer on the stage -- Applegate is far from that, but she works hard. She's certainly not the main problem with this show.

Denis O'Hare was his usual reliable self, managing to be both hilariously neurotic and quite touching as Oscar. Janine LaManna and Kyra Da Costa acquit themselves fine acting-wise as Nicky and Helene (though both could stand to be a bit broader, funnier and idiosyncratic), but are let down by Cilento in the choreography department -- they never get a chance to really soar.

Paul Schoeffler displays a lovely voice and fine comic timing as Vittorio. Ernie Sabella is criminally underused, but wonderful in his brief moments on stage. Rhett George does what he can with Daddy -- another number that's a mishmash and never takes off.

The design elements are all standouts in a cartoonish, cotton candy kind of way. And the orchestra sounded fantastic, by the way, under the direction of Don York. I must say, though, I missed the bossa nova accents in the orchestration of "Charity's Soliloquy."

"Sweet Charity" whatever it's flaws, has always been a prime showcase for great triple threat performers -- Verdon, Prowse, McKechnie, Reinking, Allen etc.... -- in this incarnation, it's now just a passable comedy with some good songs and some mediocre production numbers tossed in as if they were an afterthought.

This show was once known as a prime example of the "tired businessmans'" genre of shows which had a certain popularity in the 50s and 60s -- undemanding light entertainments full of flash and pretty girls, designed to help someone unwind after a long day of meetings before hopping the last train home to Hartford. I'm afraid that if that same "tired" businessman (I assume he still exists) were to attend this rather lackluster, humdrum, spark-free production of "Sweet Charity" rather than exiting the theatre refreshed and ready to head for home, I think he may instead have slipped beyond "tired" and into a full blown coma at what he had witnessed.

Updated On: 5/1/05 at 08:09 PM

[Tenorific2]

Posted: 5/1/05 at 8:16pm

As always my dear Miss Channing,

You are a voice of reason and understanding. I can always count on you for stating the truth!!

Loves ya!!

[Glebb]

Posted: 5/1/05 at 8:18pm

Thank you Margo.

[ljay889]

Posted: 5/1/05 at 8:22pm

Interesting. I'm still excited to see the show. I can't let reviews let me change my opinion before I see the show.

I still don't understand why they didn't get Ann Reinking to choreograph this show. It would've been SOOO much better.

[Rathnait62]

Posted: 5/1/05 at 8:24pm

Oh thank God. When I read the thread title, I began to take up a collection...

[MargoChanning]

Posted: 5/1/05 at 8:24pm

I thought about you, Glebb as I wrote it. I'm sure it's improved quite a bit since you saw it a few months ago and fled at intermission (I didn't get a similar urge), but the travesty that is Cilento's choreography remains. I'll be popping in the movie version with Fosse's original genius shortly to cleanse my memory.

[MargoChanning]

Posted: 5/1/05 at 8:25pm

LOL, Rath

[Glebb]

Posted: 5/1/05 at 8:30pm

I'm glad to read that the show has improved.
The new takes on Cabaret, NINE, Gypsy and Fiddler set my expectations too high for Sweet Charity. The show was so off when I saw it in Chicago I was miserable.
I guess that by now Christina Applegate sounds less like Shirley MacLaine.

[BobbyBubby]

Posted: 5/1/05 at 8:31pm

Thanks for the review Margo. Good to hear a review with someone who is versed in the history of the show. Seeing it in 2 weeks, so I can make my own decisions, but feeling, that I'm going to want to throw things at Cilento afterwards.

Do you think Charity is one of those shows that requires a director/choreographer rather than giving the duties to 2 seperate people?

[MargoChanning]

Posted: 5/1/05 at 8:40pm

Not sure about that, but if you're not going to use the original Fosse staging and choreography, then you'd better have someone who knows how to construct new dances full of detail and wit and character or else you have a mess on your hands. The book simply isn't strong enough to sustain the show by itself and tell the story -- the dances have to do half of that work. And it doesn't here, thereby exposing the piece's many inherent flaws.

Updated On: 5/2/05 at 08:40 PM

[Borstalboy]

Posted: 5/1/05 at 8:45pm

The once and future queen of BWW has spoken....now dying to see what the reviews are for this thing. You have to admit, it's been a publicity cliffhanger.
"Margo On Charity"....trying to erase porno images of Maclaine and Davis from my mind!!!

[Princeton78]

Posted: 5/1/05 at 8:49pm

Thank you Margo for your review. I'm sure you've figured by now that I adore this show. I really can't say why. I guess the music just pushes me over the edge... I agree that the major problem seems to be with the direction and choreography. It is sad because both Bobbie and Cilento have done good things in their past. Why didn't Reinking choreograph this? You couldn't be more right about Helene/Nickie being interchangable and the Rich Man's Frug looking just like a random dance number. On it's own, this Rich Man's Frug is impressive, but just seems out of place in this show. I've seen the show 3 times and each time, this number recieved the biggest ovation. I'm hoping the critics are as kind as you are to the show on Wednesday.

[Kristie-K2]

Posted: 5/1/05 at 9:35pm

Brilliant review as usual!!!

[Honeyhoney2]

Posted: 5/1/05 at 9:39pm

Finally a brilliant well written review on this show.
Thank you Margo.

[Kristie-K2]

Posted: 5/1/05 at 9:43pm

Miss Margo needs to write for the NY Times....We could believe the reviews then!!

[MasterLcZ]

Posted: 5/1/05 at 9:43pm

Margo - what is your take on the revised ending?

(I thought it was pretty lame and something of a cop-out)

[DAME]

Posted: 5/1/05 at 9:47pm

Thank you Margo.

[MargoChanning]

Posted: 5/1/05 at 9:54pm

Well, it really didn't bother me too much -- honestly, the ending is the least of this show's problems.

[PalJoey]

Posted: 5/1/05 at 9:58pm

Thanks, Margo. I'll be redirecting my theatregoing dollars elsewhere.

NEXT!

[Sumofallthings]

Posted: 5/1/05 at 9:59pm

How does Cilento keep getting work?

Absolutely lovely review Margo. First rate!

Posted: 5/1/05 at 10:08pm

Honeyhoney2 love that picture of Chita!

[shira467]

Posted: 5/1/05 at 10:11pm

Great review Margo, as always!

I dubbed the choreography "Pugilist Hip-Hop" - at least that is what it looked like to me.

Glad to know Applegate is doing well - definitely more than I admittedly gave her credit for.

[brdlwyr]

Posted: 5/1/05 at 10:19pm

Margo - your writing expertise and Broadway memory is unsurpassed by anyone on this site. Thanks for taking the time to provide us such thoughtful reviews.

My review of SC is that I enjoyed it in Chicago and I love the limited Cilento work that I have seen - SC and Wicked.

[Princeton78]

Posted: 5/1/05 at 10:25pm

Cilento did great stuff in "The Who's Tommy." I'm sure most here would agree on that.

[Glebb]

Posted: 5/1/05 at 10:28pm

Cilento did well for How 2 $ucceed too.

Could it be said that Applegate is probably the least talented dancer in the cast?