Susan Granger’s review of “Sweet Charity” (Al Hirschfeld Theater: 2004-2005 season)
“Break a leg” means good luck for stage actors, but it almost felled Christina Applegate, who broke a bone in her foot during an out-of-town tryout in Chicago. Determined, she refused to give up and gamely managed to open on Broadway. Tenacious, she is. Charismatic, she isn’t.
The musical revolving around Charity Hope Valentine, a plucky taxi dancer who keeps falling in love with the wrong guys, demands a terrific actress, skilled dancer and strong singer. Gwen Verdon originated the role back in 1966; Shirley MacLaine followed with a 1969 screen adaptation. Christina Applegate, best remembered as the teenage Kelly Bundy in “Married…With Children, can dance but her voice is thin, even reedy, and her acting is, charitably, contrived.
With a score by Cy Coleman, lyrics by Dorothy Fields and a book by Neil Simon (who was inspired by Federico Fellini’s “Nights of Calabria” about a sweet Italian prostitute), the musical really relied on the eroticism contributed by its original director/choreographer Bob Fosse.
In this revival, directed by Walter Bobbie and choreographed by Wayne Cilento, that’s gone – or softened into marshmallow fluff. The best number remains “Big Spender” which still has the Fosse flair. Janine LaManna and Kyra Da Costa spark as Charity’s friends/co-workers – who shine defiantly in “There’s Gotta Be Something Better Than This” – while Paul Schoeffler scores as a self-absorbed actor, Denis O’Hare delivers as a shy, prissy accountant and Ernie Sabella is amusing as Charity’s tough-but-tender-hearted dance-hall boss.
To put it bluntly, while Christina Applegate would make a splendid road company Charity, she’s simply not up to high Broadway standards – and its high prices.