Wonderful Town Vs. Sweet Charity

[muscle23ftl]

Posted: 4/16/06 at 5:49am

Although Sweet Charity is a great musical, I think the magic was gone with the last production. The show tried to showcase Christina Applegate as the star of the show and i think the star was the book instead. I thought Wonderful Town was a better production than Charity. It just didn't get promoted as much. Any opinions?

[timote316]

Posted: 4/16/06 at 8:08am

If the book was the star of the show, Neil Simon's name would be above the title. This production (along with the 2 other Broadway mountings) built around its star - which is perfectly acceptable for that show.

Plus... I don't think Simon's book was that great.

[dirty rotten guy]

Posted: 4/16/06 at 8:18am

I feel like alot of people are too harsh on Sweet Charity. It was a very enjoyable and fun experience. It may not have as much substance as some other shows, but it still had a good story and the ending was very moving. It deserved alot more credit than it got, but it seems like people were on a witchhunt to persecute Applegate because she wasnt a "broadway star".

Updated On: 4/16/06 at 08:18 AM

[broadway86]

Posted: 4/16/06 at 8:34am

I agree, drg. I thought the production and the cast (especially Applegate) were excellent.

[James2]

Posted: 4/16/06 at 8:37am

How about those two vs. The Pajama Game?

[bwayondabrain]

Posted: 4/16/06 at 9:52am

i agree with drg and broadway86, i never saw SC, but i did see WT, and just from listening to the SC cast recording, i already like it better!
no clue about TPG vs. the other 2 shows...

[timote316]

Posted: 4/16/06 at 10:02am

I wasn't being harsh on the production. I saw the pre-Broadway run in Boston, with Charlotte d'Ambroise as Charity. I loved her, I loved pretty much everything about the show (except the choreography, which was just dumb). However, I was expecting much more from the book, given that its by Neil Simon - while I found parts funny, I was underwhelmed.

And I was a big supporter of Christina. If an actor/actress (whether its a star of the screen or the stage) puts their heart into a show as Christina did, I'm all for them. I mean, sure, she's not the greatest singer, but she at least put forth her all. I give her lots of credit for that.

[WickedGeek28]

Posted: 4/16/06 at 11:09am

I loved "Sweet Charity." I know I'm in the minority, but I thoroughly enjoyed myself! I loved the cast, music, book, such a cute musical.

"Wonderful Town" was also fun, but I can't listen to that score 1/2 as much as I can Sweet Charity, I personally like SC better.

[Yankeefan007]

Posted: 4/16/06 at 11:15am

I sat through Charity twice (with comps) and saw Wonderful Town with Brooke Shields. WT was by far the superior show. It had the fun music, the huge ensemble cast, a full sized orchestra, rich orchestrations, and a great leading lady. Charity had a dumb-downed orchestra and orchestrations, decent music, and a decent lead. Had Jane Krakowski played Charity, it would have been much better.

[WickedGeek28]

Posted: 4/16/06 at 11:22am

Personally, I loved the orchastrations and the orchastra in the theatre, they stood out so much and the applause that followed the overture was awesome! On CD, they didn't translate well.

[Thesbijean]

Posted: 4/16/06 at 12:04pm

Both shows were a lot of fun.

However, I felt that Wonderful Town had some slow moments and unnecessary numbers in it, whereas Chairty was just 2 and a half hours of lolly-pop fun.

[muscle23ftl]

Posted: 4/16/06 at 1:43pm

Oh...i loved SC...i thought it was mindless fun...but it also had a great story and the show could have been so much better. I am not saying Christina was bad. I felt like the production and the cast of WT was superior though. And we can add The Pajama Game.
I enjoyed Brooke in WT the best. Then SC. Then Donna in WT. And last TPG.

[Joshua488]

Posted: 4/16/06 at 1:54pm

The book of Sweet Charity was definitely not the star of the show. The show was created FOR someone (Gwen Verdon), so the star of the show is always going to be whoever the leading lady is. The show was built to showcase HER talents.

Personally, I say Sweet Charity takes the cake. I adored every second of that production.

[muscle23ftl]

Posted: 4/16/06 at 1:59pm

Ok...in my point of view, the book overshadowed Christina. My opinion. Applegate was good, but i guess i was just spoiled by Brooke Shields' raved performance in WT the year before.

[deck925]

Posted: 4/16/06 at 2:02pm

See I was a doubter at first too. I haven't seen either show so I can't really comment on which was better, but i can say i'm sorry i doubted Christina Applegate, and I'm also sorry i didn't buy Sweet Charity sooner. I haven't stopped listening to it. In regard to the show being built around one person, I think the context of the show makes it pretty clear seeing as Charity is in almost every scene if not every i don't remember exactly.

[muscle23ftl]

Posted: 4/16/06 at 2:03pm

The CD of Charity is indeed great. I enjoy the CD better than the show.

[NYC4Life]

Posted: 4/16/06 at 2:21pm

I thought Christina was excellent. I loved every sec. of it. She was SO on the night i saw it. I did not really like wonderful town. I thought it was good, but was not a huge fan.

[FoscasBohemianDream]

Posted: 4/16/06 at 5:12pm

Sweet Charity was mediocre at best in its most recent revival; the costumes, the sets, the direction, and especially the choreography were just disappointing and bland. Christina Applegate did try to make the best of the poor direction of the show and you could tell she was being the best performer she could be. However, I agree that I'd have preferred to see Jane Krakowski in the role. Unfortunately, she had issues with Neil Simon's book and was let go.
Wonderful Town in my opinion benefited from more experienced leading ladies (both Donna and Shields were superb, although I did prefer Donna), a new staging that paled next to the original staging, and it didn't try to be anything it wasn't, at all times the show reminded us that this was just an old-fashioned musical comedy.

[ljay889]

Posted: 4/16/06 at 6:19pm

Revival wise, I think WONDERFUL TOWN was better. Much better direction and choreography.

If you compare the original shows. WT had Roz Russell and Charity had Gwen Verdon. Roz gave one of the most (if not - the most) raved about performance in history, and Broadway's best female dancer Gwen Verdon gave the performance of her career. So it's very hard to compare the original shows.

I think Charity has a better score. And WT has a better book.

The WT revival was MUCH more faithful to the original show, than Charity was to the original show.