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".
The Menier Chocolate Factory is serving up a sugary treat for Christmas, with a revival of 1966 Broadway classic Sweet Charity, which opened at the Southwark venue last week (2 December 2009, previews from 21 November).
Sweet Charity - which has music by Cy Coleman, lyrics by Dorothy Fields and a book by Neil Simon, with original direction and choreography by Bob Fosse - takes a look at the seedy underbelly of 1960s New York. The gullible, enchanting heroine Charity Hope Valentine dances, laughs and cries her way through a series of whirlwind romances to show-stopping numbers including “Rhythm of Life”, “If My Friends Could See Me Now” and “Hey Big Spender”.
Charity was originally played by Gwen Verdon on Broadway, Juliet Prowse in the West End (in 1967) and was immortalised in the 1969 film version by Shirley MacLaine. The musical was last revived in the West End in a 1998 production at the Victoria Palace starring Bonnie Langford.
The phrase “Christmas cracker” was used more than once as critics sang the praises of the latest Broadway revival from the “Menier musicals machine”. There was not complete consensus, with Charles Spencer of the Daily Telegraph suggesting it will struggle to match previous Christmas successes such as La Cage Aux Folles and A Little Night Music. But others raved, particularly Whatsonstage.com's Michael Coveney, who found Outhwaite a “revelation” amid a “truly dynamic ensemble”. Special mentions also went to the “sizzling” choreography of Stephen Mear and the “freshness” of Nigel Lilley's musical supervision.
Michael Coveney in Whatsonstage.com (five stars) – “The Menier’s revival of the 1966 Neil Simon, Cy Coleman and Dorothy Fields’ New York musical is a Christmas cracker … Matthew White’s production, brilliantly choreographed by Stephen Mear as a series of Sixties pop art tableaux vivants … pins down the smart, sassy sentimentality of the musical with a vengeance.Outhwaite’s a revelation. A proven dramatic actress on stage and screen, she has a blistering musical comedy presence, and athleticism, that makes you forget you’re sorry you’re not watching Shirley MacLaine in the movie after about ten seconds. And she’s backed by a cast of hand-picked high-energy soloists who meld into a truly dynamic ensemble … With its surprise, bitter sweet ending … great libretto and string of knock-out songs.”
Michael Billington in The Guardian (four stars) – “The real motor for this production is the choreography of Stephen Mear, which frees itself from the Bob Fosse stage and screen prototypes … Tamzin Outhwaite makes the role of Charity her own. Instead of seeking to imitate the kookiness of Shirley MacLaine in the film, she radiates a sunny, cheerful innocence, and … Outhwaite dances with a whirling energy that becomes the outward expression of the character's essential purity. She is well supported by Mark Umbers as both the preening movie idol and the panic-stricken Oscar, and Matthew White's strongly cast production boasts two striking cameos from Tiffany Graves and Josefina Gabrielle, wistfully dreaming of the glamour of the secretarial life. Under Nigel Lilley's musical supervision, a half-forgotten 1960s show is dusted down and given a captivating vitality and freshness.”
Benedict Nightingale in The Times (four stars) – “We’ve a Sweet Charity well worth transferring to the West End. For me, that was evident the moment that Matthew White’s production switched to the Fan-Dango Ballroom and Charity’s fellow taxi-dancers launched into ‘Hey, Big Spender’. Things turned sleazy and balletically slinky as they crowded round an unsmiling punter in a hat, pouting, scowling and turning invitations to ‘laugh, laugh, laugh’ and have ‘fun, fun, fun’ into a sung-through cross between a snarl and an exhausted sneer. The point about Charity is that, though she has known plenty of men, she lacks her chums’ cynicism. For Outhwaite this presents quite a challenge. She must be used yet fresh, knowing yet ditsily innocent. All this Outhwaite embraces with maybe too many big, bright smiles but loads of energy and charm … The show’s one failing is a rather sudden ending that would seem unsatisfactory whether it was happy or not.”
Charles Spencer in The Daily Telegraph (three stars) - “Fine show though it is, however, I can't see this revival of Sweet Charity matching the Menier's previous successes … Unfortunately Tamzin Outhwaite … lacks the class of her illustrious predecessors. She almost entirely fails to penetrate to the heart of the central character, Charity, a dance-hall hostess. Outhwaite lacks both the vulnerability and the charm the character requires ... She isn't a total disaster – her acting during a chaste night with a hilariously self-regarding Italian film star, is genuinely funny … There are good things elsewhere. The Fan-Dango Ballroom where the hostesses promise fun, laughs and a good time to the sleazeball punters in the drained voices of the living dead during the show's most famous song, ‘Big Spender’, is superbly evoked.”
Paul Taylor in The Independent (four stars) – “Sweet Charity – the punchy-tune-packed Broadway musical … is so blithe in its mid-Sixties happy, hip worldliness that watching it is a bit like being backed into a corner at a party by a beautiful, mini-skirted girl who insists on face-painting you in bright poster colours ... Tamzin Outhwaite makes up in blonde, bobbed personableness what she lacks in vocal variety … Mark Umbers is one of those lucky men who manage to convert extreme good looks into an ongoing funny event. He's a delight as the uptight tax accountant who gets to crunch the odd number with Charity … It's like an affectionate spoof of an affectionate spoof … The Menier ought to watch out that the spirit of Forbidden Broadway doesn't become their default disposition.”
Fiona Mountford in the Evening Standard (four stars) – “The magic Menier musicals machine is at it again … Outhwaite dances well and sings with gusto in Matthew White’s slick production, revelling particularly in ‘If My Friends Could See Me Now’… There’s nothing lacking in Stephen Mear’s sizzling choreography, which makes the most of every precious inch of space on the small stage. The best … comes … with ‘Big Spender’ … The way they writhe languidly on their bar stools, managing to exude come-hither allure from behind expressions that are deader than deadpan, is a joy to behold. Josefina Gabrielle and Tiffany Graves also supply Charity with ample, sometimes bracing, doses of dressing-room camaraderie.”
Ian Shuttleworth in the Financial Times (four stars) – “Another Christmas cracker from the Chocolate Factory. The show itself isn’t in the same league as some earlier musical successes here, but Matthew White’s production is superb … Tamzin Outhwaite, as Charity, is a revelation. She can sing, she can dance and she makes Charity perky, lovable and vulnerable … She is ideally matched by the dashing Mark Umbers, who plays one caddish leading man after another and is perfectly pitched as the geeky Oscar … But this is really an ensemble show and the ensemble delivers tremendously … A few quibbles: the story itself remains pretty thin and the production, compensating perhaps, is a notch too loud and strenuous. But this is a toothsome, bitter-sweet confection for Christmas.”
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 with no trouble.
Hers was always a beautifully resourceful, touching and funny performance, but she’s added not only steel and volume but also a sense of walking straight into things without realising the consequences. She’s open-hearted and goofy at the same time.
And while Outhwaite may not be a virtuoso dancer in the role like Gwen Verdon or Juliet Prowse – this shows up in the difficult “If My Friends Could See Me Now” in the film star’s bedroom, which sags a bit – she compensates with a spirit the size of the Jersey tunnel.
It’s a bonus that Mark Umbers plays all the men (not) in her life; not just the preening film star Vittorio Vidal and the nervy tax accountant Oscar Lindquist, but also the jerk who pushes her in the lake in the first scene and the handsome GI who offers her a light in the last.
Umbers is the real deal, our best new leading musicals man for a long time, John Barrowman with chest hair, and his triumph at the Haymarket is the match of Outhwaite’s.
Renewed bravoes, too, for Josefina Gabrielle (doubling the most cynical slapper with Vidal’s screeching diva girlfriend) and Tiffany Graves, whose elevation and extension – I think these are technical terms – are a thing of wonder; she’s got a great ass, too.
Stephen Mear’s choreography is a jitterbug-based series of robotic limb movements, faintly indebted to Bob Fosse, but wittily “period” in its own right, especially in the nightclub scene (where Ebony Molina is a silver sensation) and the Rhythm of Life Church, where the congregation is a stoned hippie-Hair-style snake dance.
- Michael Coveney
NOTE: The following FIVE STAR review dates from December 2009, and this production's premiere at the Menier Chocolate Factory
The minute you walk in the joint, you can see the Menier’s revival of the 1966 Neil Simon, Cy Coleman and Dorothy Fields New York musical is a Christmas cracker.
The trumpets blare out the opening notes of a brassy summons to the Manhattan skyline on a platform above the stage. Tamzin Outhwaite’s unhappy hooker with a heart of gold falls in the Central Park lake.
She’s fished out and heads for work in the dance-hall, where the girls line up with the Bob Fosse-style spread-eagled, over-made-up ferocity of a bunch of drag queens. Fun, laughs, good times: that’s what’s on offer, and you’d better believe it.
It’s ten years since Bonnie Langford gamely strutted her stuff through a woefully cheapskate, provincial West End revival, so the time might be right for this one. And Matthew White’s production, brilliantly choreographed by Stephen Mear as a series of Sixties pop art tableaux vivants - “The Rhythm of Life” is a stoned, snake-like hilarious hippie send up of Hair - pins down the smart, sassy sentimentality of the musical with a vengeance.
Outhwaite’s a revelation. A proven dramatic actress on stage and screen, she has a blistering musical comedy presence, and athleticism, that makes you forget you’re sorry you’re not watching Shirley MacLaine in the movie after about ten seconds. And she’s backed by a cast of hand-picked high-energy soloists who meld into a truly dynamic ensemble.
Best of all there’s Mark Umbers (once the definitive Freddie Eynsford-Hill) as the nervy tax accountant Oscar - love strikes in the first and only Broadway Act One closer set in a jammed elevator, played here like a snappy Mike Nichols and Elaine May sketch - and Josefina Gabrielle as the most cynically world weary prostitute.
These two, in a stroke of genius, are doubled with the vain movie star and his irate leading lady in the black and white bust-up, Outhwaite smuggled into the star’s transparent wardrobe to witness their carnal reconciliation. But the whole cast kicks, from Tiffany Graves’ sexily astrin-gent Helene and Annalisa Rossi’s smoky-voiced Carmen right through to Paul J Medford’s Afro-bobbing Daddy and Jack Edwards’ nightclub owner.
Tim Shortall’s witty sets leave a clear stage when needed and Nigel Lilley’s musical direction makes hay with Chris Walker’s new orchestrations. With its surprise, bitter sweet ending (incorporating the truth of the Fellini film source), great libretto and string of knock-out songs - “I’m a Brass Band” is an ensemble item of genius to convey Charity’s lit up emotional state - you can turn up, sit back and enjoy the top treat in town this holiday season.
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. - dave woolrich
20 Oct 10
Oh dear god. Another pointless uninspired derivative of 'Fosse' production of Sweet Charity. Just what i ALWAYS wanted. Oh good grief. BAD BAD NAUGHTY THEATRE. Apart from Josephina Gabrielle. That woman is a goddess. Someone give her another job immediately.
- Cassox
19 Oct 10
Saw the show 31.7.10 Tamsin Outhwaite just can not sing, every number was shouted which made all her songs sound the same. If she could sing as well as she acts it would have been great. Her enthusiasm is fantastic and for a none dancer she moves very well.The cheap stage sets leave a lot to be desired. However we did enjoy the show particularly the second act. The rest of the cast were just fantastic. Sheila Ward - Sheila Ward
01 Aug 10
Well I love the show and enjoyed it so much at the chocolate factory that i thought i would go and see the transfer. Overall i feel i prefered it at the chocolate factory it is still very good and strong but i feel some of the set looks a bit cheap on a bigger stage. this does not ruin the show really at all though. the cast are still all amazing hats off to them all each has their characters down to a tee and i like some of the new staging for the new space. absolutely fantastic show with a great cast and a great creative team behind it. worth every penny. - Joshua Luke
30 Jul 10
Went to Theatre Royal Haymarket last night, blissfully ignorant of any historical background to the show and cast. That’s’ the way I like it: ’don’t read Hello, tabloids or watch TV. A few minutes into the show and I’m in a state of shock, an over dilution of a wonderful film, my all time favourite. Not Neil Simon’s 60’s rip-offs (Sweet Charity: book, stage, film) but Fellini’s 1957 masterpiece The Nights Of Cabiria [Le notti di Cabiria]. This show fails to capture any of the emotion that’s in the film. I haven’t seen previous Neil Simon re-versions but guess they are all as lightweight as currently on offer; if so, a shame Mr. Simon. Fellini’s film does get a mention in the programme that the FOH staff kindly showed me at the interval but I wonder if anyone associated with this production actually viewed it? Peddling doom in an upbeat musical might be mass-market suicide but there should be a modicum of an emotional journey through the performance; Ms. Outhwaite has to take some of the responsibility. The FOH staff were all most helpful, especially the ticket box guy recommending a seat since I’ve not been in the auditorium for decades. The loos put many a graded WE theatre to shame, another hand drier or optional paper towels would get you 5 stars, Phantom over the road take note. Another musical with a weak ending, ‘saw ALW’s LND last week. Perhaps Theatreland needs a creative team that just does endings. Otherwise good light entertainment from an A1 hard working cast, held together by the leading ladies and gentleman; shoot the librettist and director. No tissues required. - Stevie
21 Jul 10
Saw this Friday. This must be the best night in the West End for years. Terrific performances from all the cast. They lifted an imperfect musical into wonderful entertainment.Another Menier production Broadway bound? - Stuart
09 May 10
Funny, great pathos, show stopping songs, superb performances from not only Tamzin and Mark but also rest of the cast. Saw it at the Chocolate Factory and now at the Haymarket, and the transfer has lost nothing of the impact of the show. Best night out in the West End for years. - Martin
07 May 10
Saw this at the Menier and knew it would get a transfer and delighted it has. Great Show and some good performances and loved Tamzin and Mark Umbers in it--good luck for the run at the Haymarket and hope it runs for a long while - Joe Spiteri
06 May 10
Tamzin Outhwaite and Mark Umbers are indeed very good in their roles and do an impressive job, as does the rest of the cast in all ensemble numbers... yet the book is truly quite weak and tends to sag here and there - I have surprised myself checking the time a good few times during the show, because it truly felt oh so endless... and that certainly doesn't speak favourably of the entertaining power of this production - Andy
05 May 10
I was really surprised at the shallowness of the text. The songs are great and the dancing excellent but the story just doesn't get off the ground. The best song Rhythm of Life is shoehorned into the show as though it was a good number written for something else. "Do you want to come to a church meeting with me", "What denomination", "The Rhythm of Life Church". It was dressed as though cut from Hair, perhaps an hommage. It would be really hard to fault the production except to wonder if there aren't stories more in need of being told. Or if this story is to be told that we could really see the filth of the situation and see her attempts to climb up and reclaim her life. I know it isn't a play but musicals really need to try harder to rise above the level of cartoon. - Paul Moylan
Opened 29 Dec 1720. Closed in 1737 (partly for attacking the government), re-opened 1747. The current theatre opened on 4th July 1821 and was designed by Nash. The last theatre in London to use candles (1837). 888 seats. Society of London Theatre member.
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