Broadway Watch: Sweet Charity
Thu, 5 May 2005, 02:16 pmWalter Plinge1 post in thread
Broadway Watch: Sweet Charity
Thu, 5 May 2005, 02:16 pmSweet Charity
Book by Neil Simon
Music by Cy Coleman
Lyrics by Dorothy Field
Directed by Walter Bobbie
Opened 4th May 2005
Extracts from various reviewers:
“Sweet Charity, despite a bevy of classic Coleman-Leigh tunes… has never been a classic show. It's known primarily for being a star show to end all star shows, not just for its peerless original leading lady Gwen Verdon… but also her husband, Bob Fosse, whose direction and choreography of the original 1966 production made equally earth-shattering (and convention-shattering) contributions.”
“Here, the direction is by Walter Bobbie, who's best known for his Tony-winning direction of the smash Chicago revival, and the choreography is by Wayne Cilento, who's best known for appearing in the original production of A Chorus Line. Both men are, perhaps, at the top of their game here: Bobbie provides fluid and generally attractive staging; Cilento's dances, unlike those he devised for Aida and Wicked, derive some energy from their surroundings and even provide a bit of their own.”
“Neither man, however, is a Fosse-level theatrical alchemist, so no seamless union of direction and dance is achieved. Cilento's "Big Spender," daring to ditch Fosse's bar-centered version, is unfocused and unexciting. And the bumps, grinds, and angular definition of Cilento's "Rich Man's Frug" don't define the witty, ritzy élan of a swanky nightclub's upper-crust patrons as much as they recall Fosse's much nimbler ability to do so. That "Rich Man's Frug" was preserved in the 1969 film, the 1986 Broadway revival, and the 1999 stage retrospective Fosse also doesn't help Cilento's work stand freshly apart.”
“Despite determination that redefines the meaning of the word for today's absence-prone pseudo-divas, this production's Charity, Christina Applegate… isn't completely up to the task. Nor is she, it must be noted, entirely beneath the challenge… she acquits herself more than admirably.”
“Her acting is rock-solid… Her singing is, if not Broadway big, firm and accurate. Her dancing, while not at the level of stage Charitys Verdon or Debbie Allen or film Charity Shirley MacLaine, is well-suited by Cilento's choreography. More importantly, Applegate also makes real sense of a roundabout dramatic arc…”
“But if Applegate has no problems carrying the show's material, she still has trouble carrying the show. What Sweet Charity needs above all is a luminescent talent who can glue the great Coleman-Fields songs and Simon's uneven, fragmented episodes of a book framework into a full show. Applegate never quite succeeds…”
“Applegate undoubtedly has her good moments: She's hilarious when trapped in Vittorio's closet, and proves that her years on TV's Married... With Children weren't wasted, but invaluable training. And she's thoroughly, heartbreakingly invested in Charity's aching "Where Am I Going?" and the live-another-day finale. But the best Charitys must reconcile all of the role's difficult and often contradictory requirements, and Applegate's not there yet. If she continues her training, though, she'll make a killer Charity in another decade or so.”
“…musical director Don York leads an orchestra that sounds so great, you can't help but wish it were playing Ralph Burns's matchless original orchestrations instead of Don Sebesky's anemic imitations.”
“It's just a shame that the joy of hearing such wonderful songs performed live isn't matched by a top-notch production and an ideally equipped star. Still, if you can't have everything, you have to keep hoping for the best; that's the message Charity, Applegate, and audiences alike will take away from this almost-but-not-quite-there revival.”
Talkin’ Broadway – Matthew Murray
“Christina Applegate has snatched victory from the jaws of defeat -- or, more precisely, from de jaws of de feet. Though she broke her right foot during the obstacle-ridden Sweet Charity road tour, the peppery television star has landed on both pegs. She's apparently done everything in her power to reach Broadway, and it has worked.”
“The blonde, apple-cheeked Applegate keeps up with Charity every quick-step of the way... She's so accomplished that anyone who wasn't around for her reported out-of-town miseries would be right to wonder what all the moaning was about -- or, conversely, would realize once again the value of out-of-town preparation. That's where a lady can make mistakes, correct them, and be transformed into a serious Tony Award contender.”
“While Applegate is no Gwen Verdon, it could also be said that Verdon was no Giulietta Masina, the first to play the winsome character. Never mind. It's far more than enough that Applegate is Applegate as she trills and twirls through Simon's solid laugh lines and the masterful Cy Coleman-Dorothy Fields songs… Only in "I'm A Brass Band" is there the merest hint that the calisthenics that were second nature to Verdon have been slightly scaled back for Applegate.”
“The same kind of shrewd retooling that director Walter Bobbie did in reviving Chicago has now been brought to bear on the charming, cheerfully inconsequential Sweet Charity.”
“Bobbie must share credit for the show's electrifying quality with choreographer Wayne Cilento… What he's done with Coleman's "Rich Man's Frug" makes the number one of the best seen on Broadway this season.”
“At the end of the 1966 production of Sweet Charity, a then-little-known Ruth Buzzi was featured in an amusing sight gag. That comic interlude has been eliminated here in favor of something far more triumphant for Charity Hope Valentine. Considering this revisal's history, the sequence serves as a sweet apotheosis not only for Charity but for Christina Applegate as well.”
Theater Mania – David Finkle
“The last time Sweet Charity played Broadway, it was in a twentieth-anniversary revival that adhered closely to the 1966 original. With original stager Bob Fosse still in charge, the superb choreography was scrupulously recreated… But in the hard-working but seriously underpowered new production of Sweet Charity at the Al Hirschfeld Theatre, just about everything is different from the original.”
“After all of the adversity this production has weathered, it would be nice to report that it has arrived in triumph. But the new Charity is a lackluster revival of a musical that was vastly better the first and second time around.”
“Cilento's choreography may in spots quote Fosse's original, but it is otherwise new, and it lacks style and wit. As a result, the big numbers fail to ignite.”
“…Charity is nothing if not a vehicle, and a great deal depends on the star performance. Applegate's pluck and determination to make it to the stage are formidable, and the audience is rooting for her from the moment the curtain rises. Her Charity is in the Shirley MacLaine mode, which means it's more naturalistic than the stylized stage Charitys of the '60s. An adept actress, Applegate has abundant sweetness and vulnerability, and she's warmly appealing.”
“…Applegate lacks the effortlessness of top-notch musical-theater performers. She knocks herself out to please, but comes off as blandly proficient and mechanical.”
“…Charity used to be a show about style, and the lack of it here is dispiriting. Without inventive staging and an electric star, it's hard to fall in love with Charity.”
Broadway.Com – Ken Mandelbaum
Next Broadway Musical opening – Lennon – 28th July
Book by Neil Simon
Music by Cy Coleman
Lyrics by Dorothy Field
Directed by Walter Bobbie
Opened 4th May 2005
Extracts from various reviewers:
“Sweet Charity, despite a bevy of classic Coleman-Leigh tunes… has never been a classic show. It's known primarily for being a star show to end all star shows, not just for its peerless original leading lady Gwen Verdon… but also her husband, Bob Fosse, whose direction and choreography of the original 1966 production made equally earth-shattering (and convention-shattering) contributions.”
“Here, the direction is by Walter Bobbie, who's best known for his Tony-winning direction of the smash Chicago revival, and the choreography is by Wayne Cilento, who's best known for appearing in the original production of A Chorus Line. Both men are, perhaps, at the top of their game here: Bobbie provides fluid and generally attractive staging; Cilento's dances, unlike those he devised for Aida and Wicked, derive some energy from their surroundings and even provide a bit of their own.”
“Neither man, however, is a Fosse-level theatrical alchemist, so no seamless union of direction and dance is achieved. Cilento's "Big Spender," daring to ditch Fosse's bar-centered version, is unfocused and unexciting. And the bumps, grinds, and angular definition of Cilento's "Rich Man's Frug" don't define the witty, ritzy élan of a swanky nightclub's upper-crust patrons as much as they recall Fosse's much nimbler ability to do so. That "Rich Man's Frug" was preserved in the 1969 film, the 1986 Broadway revival, and the 1999 stage retrospective Fosse also doesn't help Cilento's work stand freshly apart.”
“Despite determination that redefines the meaning of the word for today's absence-prone pseudo-divas, this production's Charity, Christina Applegate… isn't completely up to the task. Nor is she, it must be noted, entirely beneath the challenge… she acquits herself more than admirably.”
“Her acting is rock-solid… Her singing is, if not Broadway big, firm and accurate. Her dancing, while not at the level of stage Charitys Verdon or Debbie Allen or film Charity Shirley MacLaine, is well-suited by Cilento's choreography. More importantly, Applegate also makes real sense of a roundabout dramatic arc…”
“But if Applegate has no problems carrying the show's material, she still has trouble carrying the show. What Sweet Charity needs above all is a luminescent talent who can glue the great Coleman-Fields songs and Simon's uneven, fragmented episodes of a book framework into a full show. Applegate never quite succeeds…”
“Applegate undoubtedly has her good moments: She's hilarious when trapped in Vittorio's closet, and proves that her years on TV's Married... With Children weren't wasted, but invaluable training. And she's thoroughly, heartbreakingly invested in Charity's aching "Where Am I Going?" and the live-another-day finale. But the best Charitys must reconcile all of the role's difficult and often contradictory requirements, and Applegate's not there yet. If she continues her training, though, she'll make a killer Charity in another decade or so.”
“…musical director Don York leads an orchestra that sounds so great, you can't help but wish it were playing Ralph Burns's matchless original orchestrations instead of Don Sebesky's anemic imitations.”
“It's just a shame that the joy of hearing such wonderful songs performed live isn't matched by a top-notch production and an ideally equipped star. Still, if you can't have everything, you have to keep hoping for the best; that's the message Charity, Applegate, and audiences alike will take away from this almost-but-not-quite-there revival.”
Talkin’ Broadway – Matthew Murray
“Christina Applegate has snatched victory from the jaws of defeat -- or, more precisely, from de jaws of de feet. Though she broke her right foot during the obstacle-ridden Sweet Charity road tour, the peppery television star has landed on both pegs. She's apparently done everything in her power to reach Broadway, and it has worked.”
“The blonde, apple-cheeked Applegate keeps up with Charity every quick-step of the way... She's so accomplished that anyone who wasn't around for her reported out-of-town miseries would be right to wonder what all the moaning was about -- or, conversely, would realize once again the value of out-of-town preparation. That's where a lady can make mistakes, correct them, and be transformed into a serious Tony Award contender.”
“While Applegate is no Gwen Verdon, it could also be said that Verdon was no Giulietta Masina, the first to play the winsome character. Never mind. It's far more than enough that Applegate is Applegate as she trills and twirls through Simon's solid laugh lines and the masterful Cy Coleman-Dorothy Fields songs… Only in "I'm A Brass Band" is there the merest hint that the calisthenics that were second nature to Verdon have been slightly scaled back for Applegate.”
“The same kind of shrewd retooling that director Walter Bobbie did in reviving Chicago has now been brought to bear on the charming, cheerfully inconsequential Sweet Charity.”
“Bobbie must share credit for the show's electrifying quality with choreographer Wayne Cilento… What he's done with Coleman's "Rich Man's Frug" makes the number one of the best seen on Broadway this season.”
“At the end of the 1966 production of Sweet Charity, a then-little-known Ruth Buzzi was featured in an amusing sight gag. That comic interlude has been eliminated here in favor of something far more triumphant for Charity Hope Valentine. Considering this revisal's history, the sequence serves as a sweet apotheosis not only for Charity but for Christina Applegate as well.”
Theater Mania – David Finkle
“The last time Sweet Charity played Broadway, it was in a twentieth-anniversary revival that adhered closely to the 1966 original. With original stager Bob Fosse still in charge, the superb choreography was scrupulously recreated… But in the hard-working but seriously underpowered new production of Sweet Charity at the Al Hirschfeld Theatre, just about everything is different from the original.”
“After all of the adversity this production has weathered, it would be nice to report that it has arrived in triumph. But the new Charity is a lackluster revival of a musical that was vastly better the first and second time around.”
“Cilento's choreography may in spots quote Fosse's original, but it is otherwise new, and it lacks style and wit. As a result, the big numbers fail to ignite.”
“…Charity is nothing if not a vehicle, and a great deal depends on the star performance. Applegate's pluck and determination to make it to the stage are formidable, and the audience is rooting for her from the moment the curtain rises. Her Charity is in the Shirley MacLaine mode, which means it's more naturalistic than the stylized stage Charitys of the '60s. An adept actress, Applegate has abundant sweetness and vulnerability, and she's warmly appealing.”
“…Applegate lacks the effortlessness of top-notch musical-theater performers. She knocks herself out to please, but comes off as blandly proficient and mechanical.”
“…Charity used to be a show about style, and the lack of it here is dispiriting. Without inventive staging and an electric star, it's hard to fall in love with Charity.”
Broadway.Com – Ken Mandelbaum
Next Broadway Musical opening – Lennon – 28th July