Sweet Charity

Review – Sweet Charity

This is a musical comedy about a girl, Charity Hope Valentine, a Dance Hall Hostess who wanted to be loved and literally wore her heart on her sleeve. She too easily let men take advantage of her and follows three of these stories. It is full of well-known songs and this show was full of pace, colour and dance.

Charity: playing this demanding role is Heather Garside, an excellent singer and dancer with a great comedy touch. I particularly enjoyed the wardrobe and lift scenes as did the audience. She displayed great energy which never faded through the whole performance and had the audience on her side from when she fell into the water at the start after her married boyfriend pushed her in and stole her bag and savings.

“Big Spender” inside the Dance Hall danced against a ballet bar was very well staged and showed off the talents of the girls. The costumes were very sparkly and red which looked very effective. Her friends there were very supportive of her Helene (Hayley Rose) Nickie (Amy Jagger) Carmen(Paige Fletcher) Rosie(Ruby O’Callaghan) Suzanne(Kat Burton-Cross) Frenchy(Heather Kershaw) Betsy(Sara Mason) Elaine(Sarah Plowman) Alice(Lucy Robinson)

She bumps into Vittorio Vidal (John Murphy) a famous Italian film star after he falls out with his girlfriend Ursula March (Rosie Hodgson) which leads to the scene in the wardrobe mentioned earlier and the most famous “If my friends could see me now” number.

Charity then meets Oscar Lindquist a gawky shy man when they were stuck in a lift played by Rick Whyte with very good characterisation and we all hoped she had found love at last only to be disappointed once more. The “I Love to Cry at Weddings” number sung by Fandango Club owner Herman (Christopher Williams) was yet another highlight.

“Rhythm of Life” led by Daddy Brubeck (Jonny Kain) was full of hippy colour and joy. The singing and dancing throughout the show from the whole cast was excellent thanks to the Musical Director Ned Smith and Choreographer Kimberley Williams.

A busy stage crew led by Stage Manager Gerard Marescaux moved through the many scene changes quickly. Sound and Lighting (Chris Beardwell and Anthony Channer respectively).

Congratulations to Director Rachel Rogers for an excellent very enjoyable show.

Well done to all concerned.

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