Sweet Charity

Pantages Theatre, Hollywood
Through Oct. 22

Last year's Broadway revival of the iconic 1966 musical that helped make choreographer Bob Fosse a star comes to L.A. and shows why it was nominated for three Tony Awards.

Featuring Wayne Cilento's new but definitely Fosse-inspired choreography, and a different spin on the starring role of the taxi dancer with a heart of gold, this "Sweet Charity" puts on a very solid show.

Instead of engaging a triple threat (singing-dancing-acting) star like Gwen Verdon (Fosse's wife, who premiered the role), Shirley MacLaine (in the film two years later) or Debbie Allen (in the Broadway revival of 1986), the production team goes for a double threat (singing-acting) in Molly Ringwald.

But although she nearly runs out of breath in her show-stopping "If My Friends Could See Me Now" number in Act One, and is mostly absent from the "I'm a Brass Band" spectacular in Act Two, the tall and physically substantial Ringwald brings so much warmth and charisma to the role that for the most part it's not a deal breaker.

Still, her lack of physical fragility (after all, the book is patterned on Fellini's "Nights of Cabiria," in which the Sweet Charity role is played by that most waif-life of Italian actresses, Giulietta Masina) impacts on her ability to make Charity as vulnerable as she needs to be to get the most out of the contrast with the emotional intensity that the dancing, the neon sets and the colorful costumes convey so brilliantly.

Otherwise, Cilento's choreography works well, even if you're familiar with Fosse's more sexually charged and hard-edged version. There's occasional clutter in some of the big set pieces, and every "Sweet Charity" aficionado will note the absence of a barre in the opening dance hall scene ("Big Spender"), but the payoff is a more naturalistic appeal to an audience for whom the '60s are but a distant memory, if a memory at all.

For the most part, with the high power levels and enjoyably professional work done by the cast and crew surrounding Ringwald, there's little to complain about. In particular, Aaron Ramey as the film star Vittorio Vidal has the good looks to make Charity swoon and the physique to lift Ringwald off and carry her offstage, and his voice has the requisite tone of gold (although it lacks the thrilling upper reaches). Amanda Watkins strikes just the right brassy tone for Nickie (and sometimes seems more like Charity than Charity herself), while she and Kisha Howard, as Charity's two best friends, supply high quality terpsichorean hijinks. Making an important contribution, Ben Cameron is highly entertaining in each of his three small roles.

A further indication of how well this production is put together is Guy Adkins as the milquetoast accountant for whom Charity falls in a big way. His claustrophobic gymnastics while stuck in an elevator are totally brilliant, and the audience seems disappointed when, at the beginning of Act Two, they don't continue (fortunately, despite a modest voice and stature, he has a winning way and the audience is genuinely surprised when he can't follow through on his marriage proposal).

The second act bogs down for a while in the Rhythm of Life Church scene that seems seriously dated, and in which Daddy Johann Sebastian Brubeck (David Glaspie) and his chorus is overpowered by the orchestra. Things are rescued at the end, however, by an "I Love to Cry at Weddings" sequence in which Richard Ruiz, as Herman the dance hall proprietor, brings down the house.

SWEET CHARITY
Presented by NETworks Presentations, Llc
Credits:
Book by: Neil Simon
Music by: Cy Coleman
Lyrics by: Dorothy Fields
2005 Broadway revival directed by: Walter Bobbie
Directed by: Scott Ferris
Choreography: Wayne Cilento
Executive producer: Katy M. Walker
Scenic design: Scott Pask
Costume design: William Ivey Long
Lighting design: David Grill
Sound design: Peter Hylenski
Conductor: Ross Scott Rawlings
Casting: Jim Carnahan and Kate Schwabe
Cast:
Charity Hope Valentine: Molly Ringwald
Oscar Lindquist: Guy Adkins
Daddy Johann Sebastian Brubeck: David Glaspie
Nickie: Amanda Watkins
Helene: Kisha Howard
Herman: Richard Ruiz
Vittorio Vidal: Aaron Ramey
Ursula: Angel Reda
Waiter: Ben Cameron