Sweet Charity

Sweet Charity, with its catchy musical numbers, some of which were big hits, was always a show that I wanted to be in when I was younger. When I asked why it was never performed by amateur companies, I was told several times that it was not a suitable choice, because the audiences of the time, did not like the storyline. Thankfully, now we are in the twenty first century, the theatre public are a lot more tolerant and the storyline is more widely accepted, therefore this wonderful show gets a few airings.

I believe Ferndown Phoenix have always been willing to try something different and given that they have got a very talented and young production team, Sweet Charity was an ideal choice of show. To carry the show, a dynamic leading lady is required to play Charity and in Alice Behling, they got exactly that. She may have been a little stretched vocally in places, but her amazing energy carried the show along. The lift and fairground scenes were outstanding, largely due to Alex Anstey’s show stopping performance as Oscar.

Credit must also be given to the wonderful Fandango Girls and the very amusing Vittorio. Lee Redwoods orchestration was excellent, and his playing was always sympathetic to the performers. It should also be noted that for the first time in many years I did not notice any major hiccups with the sound system. Although this was a production of varying standards, it proved to be very enjoyable and a very entertaining show. I am not sure that Sweet Charity was an ideal choice of show to suit all the present members of this company, some look very much out of their depth, but all the company members should be given their chance. Therefore, full credit must be given to the production team for making this show work.

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