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The ‘Sweet Charity’ Broadway show is founded on Federico Fellini’s screenplay for ‘Nights of Columbia.’ The show inaugurated in 1966 at the Palace Theatre in Manhattan, then was produced in 1967 at the Prince of Wales Theatre in London, was released as a film starring Shirley MacLaine in 1969, was revived in Broadway first in 1986, then 2005 and commenced a U.S. tour in 2006. I had the pleasure of seeing it during its June 12-17, 2007 run at the Tennessee Performing Arts Center in Nashville TN.
Charity Hope Valentine (played by Molly Ringwald) is the central character who dominates the show.
Act I opens with a scene in the park adjoining a lake where Charity meets her boyfriend Charlie. Turning a deaf ear to her compliments about his personality, Charlie snatches her bag, shoves her into the lake and flees. Charity is saved from drowning by a young Spaniard. Act I next cuts to “The Fan-Dango Ballroom” where Charity works as a dance hall hostess. Charity is shown bravely covering for her rogue boyfriend, telling Nickie, Helene and the other colleagues that Charlie had actually tried to save her from falling into the lake, but managed to only ‘grab her handbag.’ In response to the call from the manager (Herman), Charity and the other taxi-dancers perform the show’s most well-known number, ‘Hey Big Spender’ to an appreciative audience.
Act I next cuts to the scene where Charity, having finished work, is walking along a street in New York. She is startled when film star Vittorio Vidal bursts out of the fashionable ‘Pompeii Club’ trying to placate his furious fiancée Ursula. When Ursula heatedly declines to go back into the club, Vidal turns to Charity, and is relieved when she readily goes with him. In the club, Charity agrees to dance with Vidal but faints due to hunger (she had not eating anything since breakfast). She briefly revives, requesting to rest in Vidal’s apartment. When she wakes up in Vidal’s bed, she becomes excited and finds she no longer feels hungry. She confesses to Vidal that she is a taxi-dancer and pleads for his signed photograph to convince her friends that she was in the great actor’s apartment. Vidal admires her honesty and graciously complies with her request. As he goes to find props from his old films to add further proof for Charity’s friends, the star-struck girl sings another famous number, ‘If My Friends Could See Me Now.’ The couple receives a rude shock when a repentant Ursula turns up. Vidal hides Charity in a closet from where she observes (through the keyhole) Vidal and Ursula making love.
Act I next cuts to “The Fan-Dango Ballroom” the next night where Charity relates her experiences with Vidal to her excited friends. Feeling somewhat inadequate, Charity resolves (a sign lights up: ‘Big Decision’) to obtain some culture from the YMCA. At the YMCA, the lift suddenly breaks down, leaving Charity stranded with Oscar Lindquist. She just has time to find out he is a tax accountant and a bachelor, when the lights go out and Act I closes with the couple shouting for help .
Act II opens with Oscar and Charity still stuck in the lift. When help arrives and they gratefully escape, Oscar requests Charity to attend a meeting of The Rhythm of Life Church with him, an ill-fated gathering that is swiftly disbanded by the police. As they ride home in the subway, Oscar asks if Charity is a bank employee. Charity lies, saying she works in the Williamsburg Branch of First National City Bank. Oscar makes a date with her, and as they part, he kisses Charity’s hand (a sign lights up: ‘The First Kiss’) and calls her ‘Sweet Charity’.
Act II cuts to Coney Island Amusement Park a fortnight later. Oscar and Charity, who have been steadily seeing each other since they met, are again stuck – this time on the parachute jump. The crowd below watch at the calm Oscar and slightly rattled Charity indulge in a long kiss. Act II cuts to “The Fan-Dango Ballroom” where a new taxi-dancer recruit whisks away a customer right under Charity’s nose. It makes Charity feel fed up and disillusioned with the taxi-dancer profession and she quits her job. Act II next moves to the ‘Chile Hacienda’ where Charity meets Oscar and blurts out the truth about her dance hall hostess profession. Oscar admits he is aware of it as he had tailed her one night and found out her true profession. He declares his love irrespective of her profession and proposes to her. Charity is deliriously happy. Act II cuts to the farewell party scene and then to scene of the couple walking in the same park as in the opening scene. Oscar suddenly declares he has been thinking about the men before him in Charity’s life due to which he has decided not to marry her, ending with “Marry me and I’ll destroy you, Charity.” The shocked girl tries to change his mind, even humorously agreeing that if it indeed destroyed her, “that’s okay. I’m not doing much now, anyway.” Oscar however persists and tries to force her to flee from him, and then abruptly pushes her into the lake and runs away.
Act II closes with Charity appearing before the audience, wryly asking: “Did you ever have one of those days?” She shrugs and starts to dance alone while three signs appear consecutively: ‘And So She Lived,’ ‘Hopefully,’ ‘Ever After’.
I thoroughly enjoyed the show, especially the fantastic performance of Molly Ringwald. Her portrayal of Charity Hope Valentine as an indefinite, devoted optimist and most unfortunate romantic in New York City is simple awesome. The second great attraction of the show is its tuneful score (by Cy Coleman and Dorothy Fields) [Tpac.org] containing hit numbers like ‘There’s Gotta Be Something Better Than This,’ ‘The Rhythm of Life,’ ‘I Love to Cry At Weddings,’ ‘I’m a Brass Band,’ ‘I’m the Bravest Individual,’ ‘Rich Man’s Frug,’ ‘You Should Be Yourself,’ Charity’s Soliloquy,’ ‘Overture’ and ‘Charity’s Theme’ dispersed strategically at appropriate points throughout the show [Wikipedia.org]. Another praiseworthy attraction of the Walter Bobbie directed show is its wonderful choreography by Tony Award winner Wayne Cilento.
Having seen and enjoyed ‘Sweet Charity,’ I totally agree with the verdicts of the Wall Street Journal (‘a blast!’) and USA Today (‘exhilarating’ and ‘a real kick’).
References
- “Sweet Charity.” Tennessee Performing Arts Center. 2007. Web.
- “Sweet Charity.” Wikipedia.org. 2007. Web.
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