Sweet Charity

Synopsis

Charity Hope Valentine - with her heart not only on her sleeve but tattooed on her arm - is a New York dance hostess at the Fandango Ballroom. She's a disaster zone when it comes to relationships - first she gets involved with an Italian movie star, quickly followed by the charming Oscar Lindquist who asks Charity to be his wife. But things are not quite as straight forward as they many seem.... Includes "Hey Big Spender", "If My Friends Could See Me Now" and "Rhythm of Life".

Our Review:

Michael Coveney - 5 May 2010

Last season’s Christmas cracker at the Menier Chocolate Factory has become this year’s summer’s showdown at the Haymarket, as the girls in the Fan-Dango Ballroom defend themselves to music and Charity Hope Valentine tries to get up and go and find something better than this.

I feared that Matthew White’s hard-boiled and raucous revival might not survive the switch. After all, the Menier musicals always operate on a surprise basis of overcoming the odds stacked against them.

I should have known better. Just as La Cage aux Folles preserved its sleazy backstage authenticity at the Playhouse, and A Little Night Music shimmered just the same at the Garrick, so Sweet Charity socks it to us big time at the Haymarket, with the band upstage behind a slightly larger backdrop on Coney Island and Tamzin Outhwaite moving up a gear w...

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Latest User Review

dave woolrich - 20 October 2010:

i saw sweet charity on sat 16th oct 2010 at the matine. stalls e1. good seat but a little too close for my personal preference. as i always like to be very familiar with the story and score i had watched the dvd with shirley maclaine and bought the broadway cd so already loved it all. i have to say that this production went well above my expectations. i wasn't particularly familiar with tamzin but was completely blown away by her performance and voice. how do such talents as these end up in tacky soaps? there's something wrong somewhere! the role is very demanding as the character is bearly off stage but she nailed it completely. the other stand out performance was from mark umbers. this must be an equally demanding part as he plays different characters, but again, what a star. his voice and acting were perfection. i could actually see him as the phantom or raoul in the awesome love never dies. plenty of spine tingling moments listening to these guys' voices, always a good measure of performance for me! in fact, the whole cast were superb, not a bad link anywhere. i am a massive fan of musical theatre and visit the west end regularly when my job allows and have to say that this is one of the best shows i have seen. why oh why is it ending??? in an ideal world this should just run and run as it deserves to. in an age where 'talent' is equalled with vacuous celebrity status and force fed x factor promotion for the gratification of media psychopaths such as simon cowell (who in my eyes in no better than jeremy kyle ie using the public with somewhat dubious iq levels to further their own career - to the detriment of the vulnerable), first class productions like sweet charity are bearing the brunt. just hope i can catch it again before it ends. thank you so much to all of the cast and production team if any should read this, please keep on keeping on with what you do as it brings so much pleasure to us viewers. kind regards all. dave woolrich....

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