'Sweet Charity' -Menier Chocolate Factory 2009 — Page 3

Mama, did Bonnie play Charity in 96 in Oz?

I think it was 98 that she did it in London cos I was doing my accountancy exams and really miffed that I couldn't get to see her in it.

Just booked my ticket to see Charity at the Choc Factory on Friday February 19 (front row)! It's the night before I'm heading across to Paris to see A Little Night Music, so it should be a great weekend!

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is there a translation available for this message, a deux ex what? sorry, im only a professional performer, i dont understand big words used for no reason other than to impress oneself

Thanks for that wildcat. I saw Kelley in Grease in 98, and I can imagine she would've been absolute dynamite in the role. She's now a frequent guest on So You Think You Can Dance, right?

Found these on her website:

I do love Tiffany Graves.
An amazing West End talent.

what will you be wearing though hotjohn?

"did Bonnie play Charity in 96 in Oz?"

Nope, she played it@ the Victoria Palace in a production she re-mortgaged her house to do! Bless her.

Everyone who saw it said she, and it, was good... apart from her blonde wig (trying to ditch the " bonnie langford child star" look aparently). It lost her ALOT of money!

Here is a review from the Financial times for it:

SWEET CHARITY
Victoria Palace Theatre, London SW1
Opened 19 May, 1998

Audiences at West End musical opening nights ? bless them: they so want to be wowed. So, in the opening minutes of Sweet Charity on Tuesday, their responses seemed to run: Hey, these girls can stand on a revolve without falling over ? wild applause! Hey, it's Bonnie Langford's bum ? wild applause! Hey, her lover's just pushed her into Central Park Lake ? applause just that worrying bit too wild, there...

Langford carries a huge burden as the ever-sanguine dancehall hostess in this revival of Bob Fosse's musical, and no-one can be more conscious than she of the cruel stigma of simply being Bonnie Langford and of having been for so long: not really mutton dressed as lamb (despite sporting facial makeup of an almost Garland/Minnelli-like thickness), she is more lamb which has spent an age in the window display. She has energy, discipline and far more than her fair share of talent ? anyone who can execute a routine such as that for "I'm A Brass Band" and then slip effortlessly back into song is blessed with both ability and peak physical condition ? but all those years as the postbox-smiling little girl have left their mark, and at root she finds herself unable to move too far from this mode. Sure, she has Charity Hope Valentine's starry-eyed, bouncy indefatigability down pat, but Charity is also tempting and alluring; when her neurotic new beau Oscar (Cornell John), met in a trapped lift, describes her as a "poetical virgin", it must seem the height of delusion, but Langford ? for all that she wiggles her equatorial and southern regions at us, for all that she tries brazen seduction on ageing Latin heart-throb Vittorio (Mark Wynter) ? cannot come over as remotely sinful.

This problem affects the show as a whole. To put it bluntly, one should not be able to watch so much of Bob Fosse's choreography without feeling at all embarrassingly aroused. Chet Walker has a fine company make all the right moves with impressive vigour and precision, but not even the taxi-dancers' flaunting of themselves in "Big Spender" (a number which ought to combine sheer desperation with efficient enticement) begins to register. It is an admirable show ? Cy Coleman's songs and Neil Simon's book alone would see to that ? but, for all Walker's and director Carol Metcalfe's efforts, for all that Johanne Murdock and (particularly) Jane Fowler match Langford for energy, not at all a seductive one as it should also be. This is a good-time show, sure enough, but not with the doubleness of entendre that the "Big Spender" girls want us to believe.

Written for the Financial Times.

Well this begins previewing this weekend. Amyone going?
I'll be there on Tuesday, so i'll let you know my thoughts. Still dont know what to expect, just hoping The Menier can pull it out of the bag yet again.

Saw the show last night and even after a couple of previews this is in pretty good shape. I'll write a longer review later on today when i've got more time

Most of the 10 strong orchestra members sit raised at the back of the stage. In front of them is a massive backdrop of New York City. As they begin the (loud) overture, the dancers of the Fandango Ballroom all enter to begin getting ready for another mundane night at work. I'm already having fun and the show's only been going for 5 minutes.

As the women all leave the stage in walks Tamsin, who surely looks the part, but can she sing and dance? The answer to those question is quite simply is yes.At times she felt a little too pure to play Charity, and i began to wonder why the hell she would be working in the Fandango Ballroom, but you warm to her quite quickly Mark Umbers plays all three suiters Charlie, Vittorio and Oscar. Not sure if this has been done in previous productions but here it works pretty well here.

The original Fosse choreography is legendary, but hats off to Stephen Mear for really breathing new life into the show especially for re-working Hey Big Spender and more importantly Rich Man's Frug which got one of the biggest cheers of the night, especially for Ebony Molina's amazing dance routine. She has this Tina Turner/Beyone thing going on and the audience loved it.

Due to the smaller than usual cast for this show, most of the cast have multiple roles. Josephina Gabrielle plays Nickie and also to great comic effect Ursula and Tiffany Graves plays Helene with a great dry wit.

The show of course needs some tightening, especially in some of the ensemble dance numbers. The Rhythm of Life and I'm a Brass Band spring to minf, but they've got a bit of time to get that right.

If you planning to see the show I would avoid seats 1-6 in all rows as you may have trouble seeing some of the action on stage especially Charity's exploits in Vittorio's closet. We were in seats 7 & 8 and i could see just about. One of the main issues I had was simply the size of the show. At times it seemed too big for the Menier stage. I worried for some of the dancers as they were about to dance into the walls. If it does transfer I reckon it would look even better,even in one of the West End's smaller houses.

In all a great production of an old classic. I might go back once it's officially opened to see if they've ironed out the kinks, but for show that only started performances on Saturday it looking in good shape. The Menier might just have another hit on their hands.

That 1996 Australian production was shocking, not because of the leading lady but because of the generally poor production. Kelly Abbey is currently working as Director/Choreographer on the new Australian production of FAME.

****POSSIBLE ENDING SPOILER****

After the 'Weddings' number Charity and Oscar end up to bridge(the same one that Charlie pushed her in the river) and then he decides he just cant marry her and leaves her. At the end she takes a cigarette out of her bag and is offered a light from a service man, who is incidentally also played by Mark Umbers which i thought was a nice touch.