I saw Charlotte on April 13 and thought she was fantastic! I never saw Christina, but I too liked the fact that Charity was a tad older...showing she'd been around but still kept her optimism all along. Of course Charlotte was a FANTASTIC dancer and really pulled off the comedy and just the whole feeling of the character wonderfully. Even in her singing slightly surprised me, in umm...shoot, the big second act number she sings that's not I'm a Brass Band? Sorry memory lapse. But the finish of that song was great, I loved it.
She made the production wonderful, and the whole show just worked great around her. I was sitting near audience members who were expecting Christina or at intermission thought it still might be her(course I had to correct them) and by the end of the show they couldn't stop saying how fantastic Charlotte was and how they can't imagine Christina being better or as good, and they came to see her, so I was so happy for Charlotte. What a great triumph!
"If there was a Mount Rushmore for Broadway scores, "West Side Story" would be front and center. It snaps, it crackles it pops! It surges with a roar, its energy and sheer life undiminished by the years" - NYPost reviewer Elisabeth Vincentelli