Sweet Charity

Plot

Have you ever known a girl who wanted something so badly, she tried too hard to get it? Meet Charity, the girl who wants to be loved so much, she’s lost sight of who she is. Charity sings, dances, laughs and cries her way through romances with the ‘animal magnetism’ hero, the ‘ultra-chic continental’ hero, and the ‘impossible-to believe-but-he’s-better than nothing’ type hero. Her world is the all too real world of 1960’s New York Times Square. The people who pass through her world are deceptively charming. From her cynical, hard-core trio of girlfriends at the dance hall to the phony evangelist, the Coney Island ‘fun people’, the Central Park ‘strollers’ and the YMHA ‘self-improvers’; every character is interesting. This is a bright, fun and sophisticated show in every sense. Cy Coleman has captured the rhythms and sounds, and Dorothy Fields the vernacular and fun of New York. It’s a comedy in every sense of the word. Neil Simon has a particular talent for looking at the truly amusing side of life. It’s a dancing show too, with great opportunity for use of dramatic movement. Wonderful musical numbers include Big Spender, If My Friends Could See Me Now, Too Many Tomorrows, There’s Gotta Be Something Better Than This, I’m a Brass Band and Baby, Dream Your Dream.

Book by Neil Simon; Music by Cy Coleman; Lyrics by Dorothy Fields; Based on an original screenplay by Federico Fellini, Tullio Pinelli and Ennio Plaiano; Originally conceived, staged and choreographed by Bob Fosse by arrangement with MusicScope and Stage Musicals Limited of New York

Cast