SWEET CHARITY Revival- Page 6

[TotallyEffed]

Posted: 11/6/16 at 8:08am

For those interested, Nights of Cabiria is one of the best films ever made and has the best ending of any film EVER. It is a precious film that is sadly out of print and not seen enough. I know you can find it on iTunes.

[bwayphreak234]

Posted: 11/6/16 at 8:13am

Tonight's the night for me! I have dying to see this since it was first announced. I am even more excited to see it after reading all the great things on here!

[Melissa25]

Posted: 11/6/16 at 8:17am

It did not come framed and it is actually on poster paper versus window card.  The friendly sales agent at Pershing was very careful as he rolled it up for me and slid it in protective plastic.  

Along with t-shirts and cups, they were selling these two other versions of the poster.

 

[AlbertPeterson3]

Posted: 11/6/16 at 8:32am

ACL2006 said: "curious as well if the show has understudies. It's only a cast of 12 and I don't think there's any swings.

They do have swings: Lori Ann Ferreri and Ryan Worsing. Ferreri actually went on for Sasha Hutchings the other day. 

Could anyone who went to the show share if the playbill says anything about who understudies who? :)

 

[oncemorewithfeeling2]

Posted: 11/6/16 at 10:23am

I caught this last night and I loved it.  I had one or two qualms about things in it (which I'll get to), but this was such an enjoyable nigh out.  Sweet Charity is one of my all time favorites and I enjoy just about any version, but seeing this reignited that flame.  I thought the Christina Applegate 2005 revival was very enjoyable, but I think this version is trying to bring back what the original version was like (at least that's what I got.  I was born in the '80s, my knowledge of the original is all from a clip here and there and what I've read).  

This is another Sutton Foster takes on the world and blows us away role.  She owns this role and truly is perfect.  She does well with the physical comedy aspects (which I hadn't really seen her do before) but her singing and dancing are spot on.  Someone earlier in the thread mentioned how the last revival felt cheerful and sanitized.  I agree.  This is much more gritty and raw.  You get from her portrayal that this a woman who truly has no idea where she's going, but is aware that what she's been through and how people have treated her is absolute crap.  This role could be the role that convinces the few non believers that Sutton Foster is the real thing and doesn't just take on fluff.

The supporting cast is great--go Joel Perez!  They're backing Foster's Charity up, but they make their roles distinct.  Emily Padgett is great.  Funny and sexy and all around succeeding in the role.  The small ensemble is very talented and well suited for their parts.

Shuler Hensley as Oscar was an interesting choice, but his take on the role is very different.  He reads older and less like a sweet nerdy guy.  Rather, his Oscar seemed to be someone who is sad, lonely, and has been troubled for some time.  Hensley's Oscar isn't just a neurotic guy; I personally got the feel that he was supposed to have some kind of mental illness (The person I was with spent all of intermission and quite some time after the show trying to diagnosis him).  Like Scarywarhol said, he's possessive and inventing someone that doesn't exist.  There's definitely anger in him, not just frustration.  

My only real issue with the show was the music.   The small band (six piece, I think), didn't cut it at all.  It felt like it was lacking.  There's some big voices in the cast that can over power what we have.  If this show continues on to broadway (and I hope it will), they have to increase the band size and bring back some brass.  Even in the smallest house on broadway, this would sound too small.  The theater it's in now is tiny and it felt small in there!

My only other (small) complaint is that the ensemble felt just a little small.  I understand they're going for stripped down, but I think this small would get lost unless they had moved to some place like Circle in the Square or the Hayes.  Adding one or two more would make it feel a little larger and fuller.

For those wondering, Foster's wig isn't nearly as bad as it was shown earlier.  Much less Carol Brady.  It's not the best wig or the most flattering on Sutton, but I think that's part of the look they were going for.  The costuming, though, I loved!  

[Theater_Nerd]

Posted: 11/6/16 at 10:33am

It's interesting that what some of you are getting from this production is that it's trying to go back to the feel of the original production by being "gritty and real".

The reality is that "Sweet Charity" is a musical comedy, the original production was more of a fable. It wasn't melodrama and it's goal wasn't to be gritty and real.

[ljay889]

Posted: 11/6/16 at 10:51am

But it's Fosse, everything he did had some grittiness. His intention certainly wasn't to have a colorful bubblegum production like the 2005 revival. The Fosse film is quite gritty, and melodramatic or not, MacLaine is heartbreaking in the finale. Also note how this new revival is following the film by moving "Where Am I Going?" to after the Oscar break up.

[GreasedLightning]

Posted: 11/6/16 at 10:55am

Did it bother anyone else that despite the gorgeous costumes of the ensemble and supporting cast throughout, they had Charity in that purple frock the entire time? Am I missing something there? 

[ljay889]

Posted: 11/6/16 at 11:05am

I think that's intentional. Charity wore the same black dress throughout the Fosse productions and the same red dress throughout the Applegate revival. Charity lives an endless cycle of hope and heartbreak, nothing ever really changes, including her dress. 

Updated On: 11/6/16 at 11:05 AM

[Theater_Nerd]

Posted: 11/6/16 at 11:06am

ljay889 said: "But it's Fosse, everything he did had some grittiness. His intention certainly wasn't to have a colorful bubblegum production like the 2005 revival. The Fosse film is quite gritty, and melodramatic or not, MacLaine is heartbreaking in the finale. Also note how this new revival is following the film by moving "Where Am I Going?" to after the Oscar break up.

 

The 1969 film nor the original show are gritty. It's very much an old fashioned Hollywood musical with big production numbers. Some found Fosse's treatment with all of the stop motion photography and photo montages a bit too self indulgent if not downright pretentious. Some critics found many of the film's production numbers a bit over blown and over the top and MacLaine miscast.

The film has not one ounce of 'realism'. It's the musical equivalent of a rom-com. Yes it does have an underlying melancholy to Charity's hopes of true love, but each character in the show is an archetype. They are almost cartoon character versions of real people.

Again, it's a fable, a musical comedy and not meant to be either 'gritty' or 'real'.

"Midnight Cowboy" is gritty and real. "Sweet Charity" is not. It wasn't conceived that way.

 

Updated On: 11/6/16 at 11:06 AM

[Theater_Nerd]

Posted: 11/6/16 at 11:12am

My guess is that this new production is re-imagining the material and trying to turn it into a more 'dramatic', 'gritty' and 'real' piece.

I was in France a couple of months ago and the original film was released on Blu-ray there.

[Mildred Plotka]

Posted: 11/6/16 at 11:20am

I'm so elated that the material itself is getting high praise. I groaned during the last revival as people here knocked the show and not the awful production. Still one of the worst evening I've ever spent in a Broadway theatre.  Apple gate was charming but everything else was lackluster at best.  I swear the three ladies were just making up their own choreography during "There's Gotta Be Something Better Than This" .

[ljay889]

Posted: 11/6/16 at 11:28am

"Gritty" has many meanings, not just realism. It could also be synonymous for "bold" and "tough." The Fandango scenes in the film always had a sleazy boldness to me. The word could also mean "spirited" and "courageous" and the character of Charity is certainly both of those. 

[stargazer2]

Posted: 11/6/16 at 11:58am

For those who have seen this, how is the view from the seats on the far side orchestra?  I realize it is a very small, intimate venue, but do you miss any of the action?

[ljay889]

Posted: 11/6/16 at 12:03pm

And yet another ending......

When the 2005 revival was out of town, it ended with a short reprise of "There's Gotta Be Something Better Than This" and Charity holding onto the lamppost, as opposed to the Broadway ending of her dancing off into the sunlight, which was a nod to the original ending. 
https://youtu.be/KYZEa4Dh15E?t=6635


"You Should See Yourself" was bizarrely cut out of town, but restored when it got to Broadway. Also, "I Love To Cry At Weddings" was replaced with a song called "If There Were More People," but "Cry At Weddings" returned for Broadway. 

Updated On: 11/6/16 at 12:03 PM

[Scarywarhol]

Posted: 11/6/16 at 1:08pm

stargazer, you would just be looking at the back of some heads during some the show if you go with a far side seat around that thrust stage. But there's a pretty good effort made to keep the staging pointed in all directions. I just wouldn't recommend the very farthest seat past the first row in those side sections, because I think a (grated) staircase might block a bit of your view. It's such an intimate space that I think you'd have a full experience even if your seat is not ideally angled. 

[Theater_Nerd]

Posted: 11/6/16 at 1:56pm

ljay889 said: ""Gritty" has many meanings, not just realism. It could also be synonymous for "bold" and "tough." The Fandango scenes in the film always had a sleazy boldness to me. The word could also mean "spirited" and "courageous" and the character of Charity is certainly both of those. 

 

The fandango girls are a bit rough around the edges, but again they are broad caricatures of those type of tough as nails broads they were supposed to be.

Fosse referred to them as broken dolls. He visualized this in the 'Big Spender' number. They are all lined up waiting to be selected by the patrons at the barre. From the waist up all poised and erect but from the waist down their legs are all askew...knock kneed...twisted ankles...crooked feet.

Charity is spirited, yes...courageous? Maybe. Naïve: definitely. Hopeless romantic against all odds: absolutely.

 

Updated On: 11/6/16 at 01:56 PM

[brdwybuff]

Posted: 11/6/16 at 2:44pm

I had seats in the Mezz, which were the most expensive, which I would consider partial view. If you are in orchestra you shouldn't miss a thing.

[BrodyFosse123]

Posted: 11/6/16 at 3:14pm

I have seats dead-dead-dead center front row for this Tuesday night.  As a Bob Fosse nut, I know SWEET CHARITY inside and out so I'm excited for this new interpretation.  I even loved the 2005 Broadway revival as it was exciting and refreshing to see a new interpretation. Yes, Bob Fosse's original is legendary but it's always cool seeing someone else reinterpret something.  Just in the same way Sam Mendes and Rob Marshall reinvented CABARET.  

[Theater_Nerd]

Posted: 11/6/16 at 8:04pm

I have tickets to this as well. Sutton is one of my favorites and "Sweet Charity" is one of my favorite shows it's a perfect match in my book.

 

Updated On: 11/6/16 at 08:04 PM

[CATSNYrevival]

Posted: 11/6/16 at 8:32pm

I kind of like how this show is so many different things to different people.

[MichelleCraig]

Posted: 11/6/16 at 8:48pm

I'm looking forward to seeing this based on the comments here. 

The only thing that disappoints me is the size of the orchestra...err, pit band. God, I am so glad that the original production of this show was captured in one of those perfect Columbia recordings from the 60s. 

[CindersGolightly]

Posted: 11/6/16 at 8:50pm

CATSNYrevival said: "I kind of like how this show is so many different things to different people."

I noticed this, funnily enough, after our mutual agreement on loving the Applegate ending. This show is so universal and accessible. There's something really comforting about knowing that it'll never be just one thing to anyone.

[CindersGolightly]

Posted: 11/6/16 at 11:13pm

Found a fresh picture of Sutton as Charity posted five minutes ago!! The wig still looks on the cheap side but it isn't nearly as unflattering as it was in the other photo we had. I actually really love how she looks. It is very kid-like, and a tad funny, as someone else pointed out.

[Theater_Nerd]

Posted: 11/6/16 at 11:19pm

Not that I am judging a show before I've seen it or by one character's wig but I have to say that the wig is odd to say the least.