With a lineup of Neil Simon, Bob Fosse, Cy Coleman, and Dorothy Fields behind the scenes, and with Gwen Verdon onstage front-and-center in the title role, no musical could possibly seem more bankable than Sweet Charity in 1966. Fresh off his first huge success with The Odd Couple less than a year earlier, Neil Simon was actually the least established of the all-star collaborators.
But the sweet confection underachieved. Maybe it was the dazzling presence of Verdon, deceptively stamping Charity as a dance spectacle. Maybe it was the jejune title song, as saccharine as Bacharach’s “What the World Needs Now.” Or maybe it was the inability of a newcomer to fully bloom in the shadow of the musical juggernauts then reigning on the Broadway scene, including Fiddler on the Roof, Cactus Flower, Man of La Mancha, and Hello, Dolly!
Given the show’s lackluster track record, I’m invariably surprised by how much I enjoy Sweet Charity each time I see it revived. Despite an opening night mishap or two, the current Theatre Charlotte production is a fine over-achievement.
Let me get right to the point. The opening “Big Spender” ensemble has all the varieties of jaded arrogance you could ask for. There’s no shortage of Fosse flavoring all evening long. Hallie Gray’s lights and Mindy Bass’s costumes augment the seediness.
Music and choreography are in great hands — hands imported from the CP Summer Theatre stable by guest director Billy Ensley. There is a lot of dance in this version, and choreographer Linda Booth pushes her hoofers to the very edge of their capabilities. Music director Drina Keen assembles the largest band to play at the Queens Road barn in quite a spell. The ensemble is admirably coordinated — and their collective volume is sufficiently reined-in to preserve the lyrics sung by the vocalists.
The story, adapted from Fellini’s Nights of Cabiria, remains appealing. The aptly named Charity Hope Valentine remains optimistic — and plucky, by God! — in the face of repeated setbacks in her relationships with men. Since the put-downs over the course of the evening are increasingly benign, the incremental improvements in her fragile self-esteem are actually warranted. If you adopt Charity’s goofball way of thinking.
We peep in on the tail end of one relationship as an erstwhile boyfriend shoves Charity into a lake while absconding with her purse. Nowhere to go but up after such a comical indignity, wouldn’t you say? It is almost cause for jubilation when the last boyfriend, realizing he can’t deal with her past as a dance hall hostess, declares he doesn’t deserve her before tossing her overboard.
Ensley, Charlotte’s preeminent triple threat onstage and a former CL Actor of the Year, draws an unusually strong cast with him for his Theatre Charlotte directorial debut. Jerry Colbert and Travis Osley at Theatre Charlotte? Whoa.
Audiences aren’t going to be sweet on Charity unless you find a strong lead. TC subscribers will scarcely believe how wonderful Cat Zeggert-Gimmel is as Her Sweetness. Trouble is, sometimes Zeggert herself appears somewhat skeptical. She occasionally executes her dance moves with an is-this-working tentativeness that interrupts the steady stream of adorable sensuality. And it is simply criminal that Zeggert-Gimmel isn’t outfitted with a microphone for her nicely sung yet underpowered vocals.
But I can pardon all when she interacts so earnestly and enthusiastically with the guys who torment her. I’ve never seen Charity so touchingly acted anywhere — or given such a delectable charge of youthfulness. Bonus points for Cat’s legs. Nor is there any loss of comedy when Charity receives her short rations of love and respect.
Osley shortchanges her with a special brilliance as the beancounting Oscar Lindquist. Be sure to watch as much as you can of this diffident fiance’s entrance into the Fandango Ballroom at Charity’s surprise farewell party. Even when he has no dialogue for an extended interval, his portraiture is telling. He’s trying to be more tolerant than he really is — without quite getting there.
By contrast, Jerry Colbert’s vanity and grave self-absorption as suave superstar Vittorio Vidal are superbly gauged. He can’t do too much for Charity — until the highly-strung Ursula March (Terry LaFin) reclaims her Vittorio in his boudoir.
Jenna Lafontaine and Tanya McClellan have more than sufficient worldliness as Charity’s Fandango cohorts. Lafontaine, in fact, could pass for a female impersonator! Corey Mitchell is serviceable as the Fandango bossman and truly outstanding — in a killer Afro wig — as flaky preacherman Daddy Brubeck.
Rockin’ Tchaikovsky
Moving Poets of Charlotte, in open conspiracy with Tom Constanten, promise four straight evenings of poultry in motion beginning later this week. Together, they’re presenting Fowl Play, a satirical update of Tchaikovsky’s Swan Lake.
Constanten, a Grateful Dead alum, will take on the famed Russian score, but he’s not necessarily intending to bash it into rockin’ submission. Instead, we can expect a nontraditional ensemble of strings, Constanten’s keyboard, winds, percussion, and rock ‘n’ roll guitar.
Company founder Till Schmidt-Rimpler will choreograph the frontal assault on ballet cliches. Pre-publicity photos also give evidence that Schmidt-Rimpler will be implicated in a nonstop profusion of tutus, tutus, and more tutus. Better yet, there’s no threat of a pretentious fragment masquerading as a script.
We’ll be taken away from medieval castles and primeval forests to a 21st Century metropolis of clubs, penthouses, back alleys, seductive ladies, and protagonist Ziggy Prince’s domineering mother. MyLoan Dinh will contribute the wild costumes, and Charlotte’s prince of gels, Eric Winkenwerder, will provide the supernatural light.
Tutu much. *
This article appears in May 8-14, 2002.
