THE BASICS: SWEET CHARITY, the 1966 Broadway musical, is presented in the Festival Theater, at Niagara-On-The-Lake, the Shaw Festival’s largest theater, through October 31. Show times vary between 2pm and 8pm; ticket prices vary greatly by day of the week. The lobby of the Festival Theatre features a fully stocked bar, an assortment of good coffee and pastries, and a spacious outdoor patio. Run time 2-1/2 hours with one 20 minute intermission.
THUMBNAIL SKETCH: Charity Hope Valentine is a taxi dancer (a dancer hired by men by the dance) in 1960s New York City, who, it is implied, augments her meager salary by sex work. With her co-workers Helene and Nickie, she longs for something better, but that usually involves a man, and so the plot goes from up to down to up to down to…up?
THE PLAYERS, THE PLAY, AND THE PRODUCTION: Inspired by the Fellini movie NIGHTS OF CABIRIA about a plucky post WWII Italian prostitute named Cabiria, SWEET CHARITY was originally conceived, staged, and choreographed by Bob Fosse. The book is by Neil Simon. In the Shaw Festival program Director’s Notes Morris Panych writes: “Of course, what makes a great post-war, Italian, neo-realistic film may not quite make a 1960s Broadway show.” And what makes a great 1960s Broadway show might not travel well to Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ontario in 2015.
I have been told that SWEET CHARITY is a great musical, but that to make it work you need a great dancer in the lead role, and as athletic and energetic as Julie Martell is up at the Shaw Festival, she’s no Gwen Verdon.
In the Musical Director’s Notes Paul Sportelli writes: “SWEET CHARITY is a new musical world for the Shaw Festival, with electric bass, electric guitar, and an array classic keyboard sounds from the 1960s. I hope you enjoy our adventure into this new territory as much as we do.” So it appears that the Shaw Festival is feeling its way into the modern musical genre. But one suspects is will be a long, long time before we see THE BOOK OF MORMON, or KINKY BOOTS, or AVENUE Q, or FUN HOME. So, revivals it is.
Having said that, SWEET CHARITY fits the company’s mandate to a T. They state that “The Shaw Festival is a theatre company inspired by the work of Bernard Shaw. We produce plays from and about his era and contemporary plays that share Shaw’s provocative exploration of society and celebration of humanity.” Let’s look at just one example. There is a strong parallel between the big musical at the Festival Theatre and a wonderful miniature by Shaw’s friend, J.M. Barrie running concurrently over at the much smaller Court House Theatre. We saw the 35 minute Barrie play before lunch, and then saw the musical at two. Both the play and the musical are about women feeling trapped (in 1910 and in 1966) in a man’s world. The usual options for a career in the first half of the 20th century were motherhood, nurse, teacher, nun, or secretary.
Now, Charity Hope Valentine does not become any of these, despite the cleverly staged “There’s gotta be something better” in which Charity, Helene, and Nickie imagine their make-up desks as secretary’s desks. (And viewers of the television program MAD MEN will realize that the role of secretary in the 1960s wasn’t such a great career move, either).
Charity’s problem is that she sees her options exclusively in terms of a relationship with men who continue to use her for their own ends and then SPOILER ALERT leave her. When Charity might say “Go jump in the lake” in fact she gets dumped in the lake (the orchestra pit) not once but twice! Even so, as her middle name, Hope, is her own personal mandate, she gets up, dusts (or towels) herself off, and goes out to try again, presumably with one more man.
In the program, amid a photo array, we get a quote from Bernard Shaw’s play BACK TO METHUSELAH: “As long as you do not know the future you do not know that it will not be happier than the past. That is hope.” (The program notes do not mention that it is the Serpent who says that to Adam and Eve.)
So, if you hope to go, here are some high points: The program notes are beyond excellent. If you get to Niagara-on-the-Lake early, of course you can stroll the quaint town, shop, eat, and people-watch, but getting to your seat early to have time to read the program (for this or any Shaw Festival offering) will be rewarding. At some venues, you have to pay extra for such an amenity, but not here. A typical Shaw Festival touch? This show’s program cover was a detail of a painting by American artist (active in the 1960s) Robert Rauschenberg. Now that’s just cool.
The set design by Ken MacDonald is very clever, including projections designed by Cameron Davis showing an animated New York City subway map projected on a scrim that gives the opening a movie house experience. That was something new. Then, with projected photos of NYC behind an elevated subway platform (that serves a variety of purposes, including becoming a subway car itself) you get a gritty (or as gritty as the Shaw Festival can get) feel for Charity’s environment.
Now, maybe it was intentional (this is a play about women in a man’s world) and maybe it’s because they played stock cartoon characters, as opposed to real people, but the most memorable performances in this production were by men. Jay Turvey as Herman, the always-angry-but-with-a-heart-of-gold boss of the dime-a-dance hall was entirely believable. Kyle Blair, as the hapless Oscar Lindquist, was also very consistent in his portrayal. And Jeremy Carver-James as the street preacher Daddy Johann Sebastian Brubeck had high energy and the most delightfully serpentine way of climbing a rotating staircase.
*HERD OF BUFFALO (Notes on the Rating System)
ONE BUFFALO: This means trouble. A dreadful play, a highly flawed production, or both. Unless there is some really compelling reason for you to attend (i.e. you are the parent of someone who is in it), give this show a wide berth.
TWO BUFFALOS: Passable, but no great shakes. Either the production is pretty far off base, or the play itself is problematic. Unless you are the sort of person who’s happy just going to the theater, you might look around for something else.
THREE BUFFALOS: I still have my issues, but this is a pretty darn good night at the theater. If you don’t go in with huge expectations, you will probably be pleased.
FOUR BUFFALOS: Both the production and the play are of high caliber. If the genre/content are up your alley, I would make a real effort to attend.
FIVE BUFFALOS: Truly superb–a rare rating. Comedies that leave you weak with laughter, dramas that really touch the heart. Provided that this is the kind of show you like, you’d be a fool to miss it!