Photo Flash: SWEET CHARITY At Theatre Royal Haymarket.. ummm.- Page 3

[alterego]

Posted: 5/5/10 at 8:24am

All praise to best12bars (first post in this thread) who managed to say what I struggled to get across in the "La Cage- substandard? " thread. These small interpretations are not the "Broadway Experience" I expect from a Broadway Musical. Especially at $132 a ticket.

[PalJoey]

Posted: 5/5/10 at 10:42am

I miss Onna White.



Broadway needs an Onna White again.

[SonofRobbieJ]

Posted: 5/5/10 at 12:23pm

Does no one find it just a titch ironic that Brits are decrying glitz? They were the ones to give us the helicopter, the chandelier, the choo-choo train show and the hooker cat riding the tire to heaven.

And then, of course, there were Michael Ball's lovehandles in Aspects of Love.

I just think the micro-pageants are expiation for past sins.

[Piper3500]

Posted: 5/5/10 at 12:28pm

ALW cannot say enough about Tamzin. He gushes.

another girl that a lot of people who watched her on telly and Eastenders thought she was a mere soap actress.

[best12bars]

Posted: 5/5/10 at 1:42pm

Think "Tamzin" looks completely wrong for this part. She has the voice and look of a talented sorority girl who got the lead in the pledge girls' fundraiser. She should be playing Sophie in Mamma Mia or Sandy in Grease, or Cinderella at a theme park, not Charity Hope Valentine.

This is badly cast and choreographed, with mediocre (at best) dancers and (wimpy, thin-voiced) singers. The set would be fine at a community theatre, for no more than $10-15 per ticket. The costumer, makeup designer, and hairdresser have no idea what the 1960s looked like on any continent, let alone in NYC.

OH, but other than that, I like it.

[best12bars]

Posted: 5/5/10 at 1:49pm

Here's a high school production I just found on YouTube. And I'm honestly hard-pressed to tell the difference between this underaged, nonprofessional production and that West End video montage (except that the latter was shot better).

If this is what is passing for "top drawer" theatre now in London and NY, then there's no need for anyone to venture out of neighborhood theatres, including the public school systems, community and dinner theatres. And you'll save a ton of money and have just as satisfying an experience.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8bw9dD6LGm4

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a3JpLvS0ook

[songanddanceman2]

Posted: 5/5/10 at 1:55pm

Oh when did you see the show?

[PalJoey]

Posted: 5/5/10 at 1:57pm

Does no one find it just a titch ironic that Brits are decrying glitz? They were the ones to give us the helicopter, the chandelier, the choo-choo train show and the hooker cat riding the tire to heaven.

Exactly, Robbie. And those shows were completely devoid of the kind of character development or complexity that they are now claiming they do better.

[ruthiefan_felix]

Posted: 5/5/10 at 2:08pm

best12bars, did you see the production at the Menier or the Haymarket transfer?

[best12bars]

Posted: 5/5/10 at 2:10pm

I saw the clips they posted to help sell it, which are terrible. If that's available as their "best of" montage, it's a big "fail."

Have you seen a good community theatre production of Sweet Charity? I have.


EDIT: "Terrible" is a bad choice of words. It doesn't suck, it's just not any better than those amateur, high-school video clips I posted. And that is a sad state of affairs for what should be a pinnacle production. Compare them side by side yourself, on their own terms. A clip next to a clip. Never mind the "oh, you MUST see it live" excuse. No, I mustn't. Not after that montage video showing the performers and the production.

Updated On: 5/5/10 at 02:10 PM

[songanddanceman2]

Posted: 5/5/10 at 2:20pm

So you just based all this on a 2 min clip?

"Think "Tamzin" looks completely wrong for this part. She has the voice and look of a talented sorority girl who got the lead in the pledge girls' fundraiser. She should be playing Sophie in Mamma Mia or Sandy in Grease, or Cinderella at a theme park, not Charity Hope Valentine.

This is badly cast and choreographed, with mediocre (at best) dancers and (wimpy, thin-voiced) singers. The set would be fine at a community theatre, for no more than $10-15 per ticket. The costumer, makeup designer, and hairdresser have no idea what the 1960s looked like on any continent, let alone in NYC.
"

Enough said

[SonofRobbieJ]

Posted: 5/5/10 at 2:22pm

"And those shows were completely devoid of the kind of character development or complexity that they are now claiming they do better."

Perhaps they only think they 'do' it better because there are actual characters to play in the American-written shows.

And when we're holding up SWEET CHARITY as a model of character development...*





*Said with love by a former Oscar Lindquist. And DAMN was I good.

[best12bars]

Posted: 5/5/10 at 2:29pm

Have you ever seen a really good community theatre production of Sweet Charity?

I have.

Enough said.

[songanddanceman2]

Posted: 5/5/10 at 2:49pm

Yes i have, a very good one in fact and a not so good one

[PalJoey]

Posted: 5/5/10 at 4:31pm

There's gotta be SOMETHING better than arguing over how many community theater productions we've seen!

How about this: Juliet Prowse, doing the Fosse choreography beautifully, along with Annette Charles and Lorraine Fields, forgotten members of the Fosse galaxy, followed by the finale to one of Sylvia Fine Kaye's 1980s PBS Specials, MUSICAL COMEDY TONIGHT:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uRUEPpIUmWY

Updated On: 5/5/10 at 04:31 PM

[SonofRobbieJ]

Posted: 5/5/10 at 4:45pm

Is that John Rubenstein in the pink dress???

[best12bars]

Posted: 5/5/10 at 6:00pm

Totally! God, I think I remember when this originally aired.

[alterego]

Posted: 5/5/10 at 10:24pm

SonOfRobbieJ, I think you might be right.

[mallardo]

Posted: 5/6/10 at 4:29am

Best12bars, you can usually be counted on for intelligent and thoughtful posts but you're being really ridiculous this time out. You've watched a clip from a show YOU HAVE NOT SEEN. The clip was shot on the small Menier stage where there is no room for real scenery so naturally it looks "cheap". It has now transferred to a West End stage where everything has been expanded and improved, alas there are no clips from this version, so far.

Your community theatre rant just sounds petulant. When you have actually SEEN a show, then yor comments will be worth something.

[chewy5000]

Posted: 5/6/10 at 6:10am

I didn't know Tina Turner was in this.

She does a damn good Frug though

[adamgreer]

Posted: 5/6/10 at 6:45am

Finians was pretty scaled back as was Ragtime (ironicly people stayed away from them both) and nobody started screaming blue murder about them.

Both shows may have had smaller sets, but each had a large cast and a full orchestra. There was no 6 person ensemble and 9 piece orchestra in either production.

[PalJoey]

Posted: 5/6/10 at 10:02am

Actually, the one in the pink dress was the late Lynn Redgrave.

She and Danny Kaye recreated portions of Lady in the Dark, with Danny doing his legendary tongue-twister "Tschaikovsky" and Lynn playing Liza Elliot.

[Piper3500]

Posted: 5/6/10 at 1:56pm

"Think "Tamzin" looks completely wrong for this part. She has the voice and look of a talented sorority girl who got the lead in the pledge girls' fundraiser. She should be playing Sophie in Mamma Mia or Sandy in Grease, or Cinderella at a theme park, not Charity Hope Valentine."

It's a bit of a dichotomy for me as I don't agree with ALW, however I do rate his opinions (generally)
and the hair is all wrong!

[theeatah]

Posted: 5/6/10 at 9:18pm

@mallardo

Since this was my first time seeing Sweet Charity live, could you elaborate on your comment about how this production is an original conception of the musical?

I enjoyed the production immensely. The choreography is very much in the style of Fosse, but it's not a slavish copy. I liked how they retained the famous finger-wriggling in Big Spender but they put a different spin on it. The ensemble really made the sketch nature of the book work and scored nearly all the intended laughs (the gay/pocketbook joke failed to land, understandably).

Tamzin Outhwaite scored hugely in the acting stakes. She didn't make Charity too vulnerable (a la Maclaine), she got most of her laughs and she was very affecting in the break-up scene with Oscar (a wonderful Mark Umbers). The break-up scene could've been from a straight play, yet it didn't jar with the other sketch-like scenes and that's a testament to the strength of this production.

[CATSNYrevival]

Posted: 5/6/10 at 9:50pm

Which ending are they using for this production?