Through May 18
SWEET CHARITY D�Youville University/Kavinoky Theatre
The musical �Sweet Charity� isn�t one of the great shows.
However, it was put together from strong material by a lot of smart people and has something not common in the classic shows, a female lead who doesn�t have to share center stage with some guy.
The backstory is unusual, with its roots in Federico Fellini�s �Nights of Cabiria.�
Bob Fosse chose the material and turned to Neil Simon for the book and Broadway veterans Cy Coleman (music) and Dorothy Fields (lyrics).
Coincidentally (?), Fosse directed and choreographed the show and cast wife Gwen Verdon in the lead role of Charity Hope Valentine.
�Sweet Charity� was a long-running hit on Broadway and elsewhere and was turned into a movie directed and choreographed by Fosse, starring Shirley MacLaine, not the estranged Verdon.
The show is probably best known for two production numbers, �Big Spender� and �If My Friends Could See Me Now.�
She�s a �taxi dancer� in the Fandango Ballroom in New York City in the Sixties, paid to dance with customers and, perhaps, offer them other comforts, off the books, for cash.
Charity (Aim�e Walker) vocally denies slipping into those payments, when involved with Oscar Lindquist (Ben Michael Moran), on the edge of marriage.
She has a series of relationship mishaps, including with Charlie (Moran), who steals her purse and her cash and pushes Charity into the Central Park lake, nearly drowning her.
Charity is always certain things will fall her way, eventually, �Where Am I Going?�
So are the other dancers, looking to get out of the sleazy line of work in the Fandango, as Nickie (Nicole Cimato) laments �There�s Gotta Be Something Better Than This.�
Probably.
Bob Fosse was a great believe in flashing production numbers and this show is filled with them, from Charity�s �You Should See Yourself,� coming off the overture to the closing full company with �See Me Now.�
Director and choreographer Robyn Lee�s work is strong, with a cast of familiar and rookie Kavinoky dancers, numbers like �Rich Man�s Fug� and �I Love to cry at Weddings.�
While there are a number of successful smaller parts, like Louis Colaiacovo�s Herman, the show revolves around Walker�s Charity and Moran�s succession of sleazeball guys.
I just wish Walker�s singing were up to her high-level dancing and acting.
�Sweet Charity� is a musical with a heart, those individuals who have to put up with a lot to get by and to hope for better, not a bad idea for these times.
A.W.
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