Sweet Charity with Ariana DeBose being workshopped — Page 2

Ariana was extremely good in The Baker’s Wife even though it was a relatively small role.

Dolly80 said: "She should never have won the Oscar - and the other awards. She’s a perfectly competent Broadway hoofer, but she’s not a star. She doesn’t have a good enough voice."

I at least agree with the former. While she was good in West Side Story, I personally found plenty of other performances (including those who weren't even nominated) more worthy of the Best Supporting Actress Oscar that year.

There's also this supposed curse of how winning an Oscar at a young age (especially for your first major movie role) can hurt your career moving forward. Looking at her filmography since then, there's some truth to that. Arguably, Academy members probably gave it to her too early in her career and should've given her time to pay her dues.

EricMontreal22 said: "I absolutely love Sweet Charity, but I'm convinced it only works in the Fosse staging (yes, not just choreography, but staging) and I only say this based on seeing the TOFT 1980s Fosse revival video and bootlegs of the tour (Donna McKechnie was a perfect fit.) Of course this could change with just the right production, but I think has been an issue with every revival... Ariana isn't a bad choice, although might fall into the issue some had with Debbie Allen (a bit too streetwise for the role.)

Speaking of Sutton--I COMPLETELY forgot that she did an off-Broadway SC..."

How was Debbie Allen in it? I love Allen (her Playbill retrospective is one of my favorites), but she seems an odd fit for Charity. I could see her more as Nickie. I can absolutely see McCechnie in this role.

Any time Sweet Charity gets revised, I wonder, "okay, which ending do we get this time?"

joevitus said: "

How was Debbie Allen in it?I love Allen (her Playbill retrospective is one of my favorites), but she seems an odd fit for Charity. I could see her more as Nickie. I can absolutely see McCechnie in this role."

Keep in mind I watched the TOFT tape over ten years back, and really I was focused almost entirely on the staging, the clever way (with a sort of camera iris effect and the flashing signs) Robert Randolph's sets would transition, etc--I still have pages of notes somewhere (I know, I know...) I thought Debbie was fine but lacked ANY vulnerability and I remember writing a note to the effect of "is she going to punch Oscar?" in the breakup scene.

Side note--I never understood the couple of changes Fosse made for that revival (I assume he made them though originally he was just going to sort of oversee it--it was relatively late in the process that he decided to do it himself) One was getting the great Patricia Zipprodt to do brand new costumes because apparently he was never happy with the costumes from the also great Irene Scharaff (especially for the other Fandango girls) although honestly from photos I probably would have never realized they were completely new designs. The other changes just seem "why:" to me--like the new (at the time some people claimed it was now a rap LOL) I'm the Bravest Individual, the more R&B arrangement of Where Am I Going? (both changes maybe made for Allen and to make it more 1980s although everything else seems very 1960s) and using the film version of the title song, gorgeously sung by Michael Rupert but again... why?

Anyway, I digress. I think besides the full McKechnie tour bootleg on YT there was at least at one time Ann Reinking in the revival (she took over on Broadway for the final four months) which has some of the same issues when Reinking played another Gwen role--Roxie--and again lacks that vulnerability.