Sweet Charity, I DONT GET IT???

[MJB]

Posted: 7/7/05 at 11:32pm

OK,
I saw Sweet Charity on sunday 3pm. I didn't know anything about the show, other than the fact that "big spendor" was in the show. I was pleasently surprised by Christina Applegate, who acted and danced well, kind of a weak voice, but cute. Also OSCAR was pretty darn funny too... I had some good laughing moments... and it takes a lot to make me laugh. So all is well, until like the last 10 minuts of the show, which I thought was supposed to be a musical comedy, turned into a musical "tragedy". What was the significance of her getting dumped at the end? It kind of rained on the parade of HOPE for the poor girl? and then she became happy again, with one quick ending song... so, I'm not sure what she was happy about at the end, or what the moral of the show was supposed to be... anyone???

[Dollypop]

Posted: 7/7/05 at 11:35pm

Your English teacher should be scourged.

[jasonf]

Posted: 7/7/05 at 11:35pm

I believe that the ending of the show was changed from the original. I didn't like or buy the ending here either. It really DIDN'T make any sense with all that came before it.

Still, the ending wasn't as bad an offense as what they did to Rhythm of Life!!!

[ljay889]

Posted: 7/7/05 at 11:36pm

LOL ^ Dolly

Bob Fosse didn't want a happy ending for this show. It's as plain and simple as that. A happy ending would've went against Fosse's visions.

Though they changed the ending for the revival - it dosen't go against Fosse's vision.
Updated On: 7/7/05 at 11:36 PM

[jasonf]

Posted: 7/7/05 at 11:40pm

It sort of does have a happy ending though. After Oscar dumps her, in this version, she becomes happy again and I think the show ends with an upbeat "I'm the Bravest Individual." If the show's going to end with her getting dumped, I'm fine with that, but the upbeat ending does not make sense.

[ljay889]

Posted: 7/7/05 at 11:43pm

I don't consider the ending of the revival "happy" at all. She is still obviously heartbroken, and she lets us know with the reprise of "Bravest Individual." But she lets the world know that she will be okay.

In the original, she got dumped - and then she gets a visit from a fairy - or so she thinks it's her fairy godmother. I haven't seen the original finale done live - but I don't know if I'm crazy about how it sounds.

[Roxie_Hart]

Posted: 7/7/05 at 11:44pm

I think everyone is missing the point...
It would be totally out of character for Charity Hope Valentine to be depressed and let this get her down. It's the very essence of her character. No matter what she goes through, she is never bitter. And, as Gwen Verdon once said, "She's so hopeful. She always believes that tomorrow is going to be beautiful. And some day, it will be."

[timote316]

Posted: 7/8/05 at 12:25am

Really, the situation is a no win situation - the ending is going to be bad no matter what.

Oscar and Charity get married - corny and expected. Would somewhat be a let down, and you'd feel empty after (I mean, its too happy of an ending)
Oscar leaves Charity, Charity refuses to take him back and gets depressed - like Roxie said, would be out of character for Charity. Plus, it would leave a very empty feeling to the whole show.
Oscar leaves Charity, Charity refuses to take him back and takes it in stride (current ending) - it is completely in character for Charity, yet it seems to the audience to be very abrupt. You leave the theater feeling empty (but probably not as empty as other endings).
Oscar leaves Charity, Charity takes him back - what would the moral here be? He blew you off, but take him back for him to do it back. Itd make the ending pointless. Again, empty feeling.

[Joshua488]

Posted: 7/8/05 at 12:44am

It's not a happy ending. It's a sad ending that shows Charity's potential.

I think it definitely makes sense with the rest of the show. After experiencing so much pain and suffering for so long, it only makes sense that Charity would finally learn from her mistakes and come out on top. I think the new ending works very well.

[rawleygirl]

Posted: 7/8/05 at 2:12am

She's a doormat. Remember this was written in the pre-feminist era. Today, she'd be the hooker she really is supposed to be -- taxi dancer...uh, right.

[mntwister]

Posted: 7/8/05 at 5:57am

I didn't like the ending, I saw this at the Minneapolis world prem twice, and what a downer. It's interesting, if you watch the dvd of the movie, Hollywood definately felt the same, and created an alternate ending (included on the dvd), where Charity is at the park near the bridge, and falls into the water, and Oscar saves her. Even in the movie that was actually released, though Oscar left her, at least the director (Fosse) spent some time bringing the audience back up from the downer. The new stage version really didn't. The film is very good, AWESOME versions of Rhythm of Life and incredible version of Rich Man's Frug (awesome, actually). I still loved seeing this show live for the first time.

[ken8631]

Posted: 7/8/05 at 7:49am

I think the ending was appropriate. Great show, and Christina was excellent. And please indicate that there's a spoiler, since you guys are giving away the ending!!! (For those who haven't seen it yet).

Posted: 7/8/05 at 9:39am

I've seen this done with various endings, happy, sad, in between and it never works. I think it says a lot about the weak book of the show that you can tack on a happy ending, a sad ending or an ambivelent ending without making any changes to the plot. It's all just random- Will Charity be happy? Or sad?

[magruder]

Posted: 7/8/05 at 10:10am

The "Good Fairy" ending mentioned above worked like this - Charity gets dumped by Oscar. She's sitting on a park bench when a fairy appears, saying "Tonight. It will all happen tonight." Charity goes off with new found hope, and the fairy turns around, and has a sandwich board on her back, advertising a program called "The Good Fairy - Tonight on CBS". It gets laughs, but is a little cruel. It's one more time that Charity gets screwed over, and she doesn't even know it. The new ending for the revival is not entirely believable - Charity comes off as just too self-aware, but I thought it was possibly a step in the right direction.

I have to admit, I like the film's ending, with the flower children, which was more true to the show's source, the film, Nights of Cabiria. But that ending would never work on stage.

[twogaab2]

Posted: 7/8/05 at 10:13am

Ah the young, everything is either good or bad, happy or tragic. The gray area that we find as we get older is that between good and tragic is hopeful. We learn this as mature.

By the way, no ending for this show has ever been totally satifactory. The movie is even worse, it involves hippies in the park (again about hope).

Sorry if I sound condesending, but this is just my opinion. It may be right or wrong. In any case take it with the sodium it deserves.

[WickedGeek28]

Posted: 7/8/05 at 10:29am

I liked the ending because it shows how she can move on and face the world with her head up and now let this put her down. I didn't feel empty when I left, I felt that I learned a great moral in "I'm the Bravest Individual." I really wasn't expecting to love this show as much as I did and the ending didn't bother me. The ending, i believe was changed in the movie and they ( the producers ) liked it and kept it.