Sweet Charity, Playhouse Theatre, Saturday February 28th 2015

Sweet Charity, Playhouse Theatre, Saturday February 28th 2015

"Sweet Charity" with a book by Neil Simon, music by Cy Coleman and lyrics by Dorothy Fields plays a short season at the Playhouse Theatre at the Arts Centre Melbourne.

For those new to my blog I write about the holistic experience of attending the theatre.  So if you want a re-telling of the story please refer to the links for further information or for further insights.  Note, that I may provide different links for repeated main words or phrases.

Overall I loved this production of "Sweet Charity" from the Hayes Theatre Co in Sydney, but I have reservations which I will elaborate upon.

Buying the tickets was easy, as was seat selection.  The price of the tickets was commensurate with the quality of this production.

Upon arrival at the Playhouse Theatre it was great to see the foyer display cases full with posters from  "Sweet Charity."  This is unlike many previous ventures to Playhouse Theatre where these display cases are empty and create the ambience of a post war Prague railway station with their coldness and lack of a sense of occasion.  So congratulations on using these display cases to showcase "Sweet Charity."

The bar was closed upstairs which is such an omission of John Truscott's vision for the Arts Centre Melbourne. As stated in my previous posts, he would be turning in his grave at the lack of service and the lack of occasion.  His vision was for audience members to have a WOW before, during and after the show event.  People were milling around and some wanted a drink both before the show and at interval.

As you walked into the Playhouse Theatre, some of the performers were on stage.  The ladies were teasing the audience and displaying their wares.  Theses dance hall hostesses would encourage a gentleman on to the stage to have a dance. This was a terrific prologue to the show.

It is sad that they did not also use this time to have the ladies warn patrons not to take photos of them for copyright reasons etc.  They could have also used their seductive skills to entice people to turn off their mobile phones and iPADS.  The show had officially started once we walked into this fine cast creating an atmosphere.  "Stop twanking sir!" or "Please stop playing with yourself and dance with me!" or whatever appropriate phrases to embarrass the shit out of these ignorant self absorbed FOMO ("Fear-of-missing-out") social media junkies.

I do not pay $85+ per ticket to watch flashing distractions and hear their vibrating adult toys! Let alone conversations during any show!  The Eagles recently played at Rod Laver Arena and had very explicit signs stating that people may be evicted for such behaviour.  This needs to be the standard.

The programme was a reasonable $15 though it lacked the traditional song list.  I would have liked some of the fabulous publicity photos displayed in the foyer to have been included in the programme. There was an insert with an update of the director and lighting designer's biographies.

From an historical perspective, I wish more programmes actually stated the year of the production.  The flyer for this show did not say 2015 and it is great to be able to verify such information for future theatre historians.

The direction by Dean Bryant gave us a solid production with some superb performances. I particularly liked how he used the smaller cast of 12 to create an ensemble playing multiple characters. The Greek style chorus of the ensemble observing from the sides is reminiscent of Greek drama and a device also used in "Equus" by Peter Shaffer.

Some of the timing was laboured and needs to be tightened with some slowness in picking up cues and entrances.  There were a few line fluffs with the reversal of "him and her" in some of the dialogue in Act Two.

Musical direction by Andrew Worboys provided an up to date electronic sound to "Sweet Charity".   What lacked in brassiness of the orchestra was made up by the sublime singing of the women.

The choreography by Andrew Hallsworth was in a pseudo Bob Fosse style.  Andrew's choreography paid homage to Fosse without being dictated by his style.  I did miss the sharp snaps of the head turns and hip thrusts in "Hey Big Spender" and the angular definition of wrist and elbow displacement.  Andrew created some incredible routines to fill the stage of parquetry flooring.  I felt some of the execution of the choreography was a bit laboured and pedestrian.  My partner commented that it looked like they were walking through their paces a bit as it lacked a crispness and bite to the dance moves.

My favourite piece of choreography was the opening of Act Two with "Rhythm of Life."  I preferred this sequence to the movie which I loved.  But the zaniness of this sequence in the 1969 film is not as confronting as this beige-break-out version.

Costumes by Tim Chappel honoured the 1960s (as I remember it well!)  I would have liked gloves in the "Rhythm of Life" number to be more historically accurate.  The choice of beige colouring in this scene reminded me of the opposite of the women wearing black in "Nine."  The beige costumes gave this song a blandness to break out of and rebel.  Also the beige highlighted the entrance of Charity wearing the shocking and socially-tainted red outfit, which signifies many religious themes.  Compare this to the film version and Charity's black dress blurs into the scene, where-as here with Tim's design we have Charity making a bold statement.

What I find so historically interesting is that this production had the cast shed most, but not all of their clothing during "The Rhythm of Life" which was shocking enough in 1965/66.  This is relevant as it was "Hair" about two years later in 1968 where the cast fully bared their bodies.

The singing, overall was adequate by the ensemble, but when the men joined in for the big numbers the songs sounded flat and lost their vibrancy.  The best singing was by the whole cast of women and Martin Crewes in his various roles.

The set design by Owen Phillips was minimalist and clever. Owen had a signature neon sign, two whiteboards converted with see-through-mirrored-panels, chairs and a chaise lounge.  Simple and so effective to create various locations and atmospheres.

Lighting design by Ross Graham provided great support to the atmospheres and locations.  One continuity flaw was the exit from the elevator. It would have been terrific to see the elevator outline again at the conclusion of the scene and when Oscar walked from the elevator to create a lighting change, rather than the flood lit stage.  I think the lighting designs would have been more suited to the original smaller Hayes Theatre in Sydney rather than the larger Playhouse Theatre.

Sound design by Jeremy Silver was terrific, particularly creating a hallucinatory drowning sequence.  Though the levels for the start of Martin Crewe's Vittorio solo were too loud with his rich full voice.

The book by Neil Simon needed pruning by the lapse in concentration of some audience members who had to fulfil their "Fear-of-missing-out" social media mobile phone itch!  Thankfully one person was sitting near me in her B28 seat and allowed me to request turning off her "twanking" device!  She promptly apologised for her rude and distracting behaviour!


I thought the venue was too large for this production.  It would have suited a smaller theatre but larger than Chapel Off Chapel.  A theatre of about 300 plus like the MTC Sumner Theatre with a seating capacity of about 500 would be perfect for this production.  It was a shame that only about half the Circle was occupied on a Saturday night.  It is more exciting to attend a theatre that is full, for both the performers and the audience. 

Martin Crewes was terrific in the multiple roles of Charlie, Oscar, Vittorio.  Martin provided different characters each with their own physical characteristics, mannerisms and idiosyncrasies.  Each character had a different voice and vocal quality to enhance each character.  As Vittorio, he seemed too loud in the opening of "Too Many Tomorrows" and was on the verge of yelling.

Verity Hunt-Ballard was sublime in the role of Charity Hope Valentine.  She captured the mood of the 1960s with her naivety and her quest for a better life.  Her renditions of each song were fresh and honestly performed with such sincerity and conviction.  I loved her excitement in "If They Could See Me Now" and the pizzazz in her crisp attention to detail in her enthusiastic dance.  She emotionally connected the words to her actions in such a coherent way that was spell binding.

"I'm a Brass Band" was sung with gusto and excitement for her new life.  Verity has a way of engaging the audience into the palm of her hand.  Her performance was so sincere, honest and compelling.  As Michael Chekhov would say - she radiated.

The scene where Charlie and Oscar are trapped on the Ferris Wheel (Wonder Wheel) at Coney Island was changed from the "Parachute Jump" ride.  This made sense as most people instantly recognise the term - Ferris Wheel.  (Note that the "Parachute Jump" is still at Coney Island but has been decommissioned for safety reasons.)

The supporting players were a true ensemble and each created a distinctive character.  Some of the players did not waver in their character's identity.  They did not upstage but truly supported the journey and story of Charity.  Debra Krizak, Kate Cole, Samantha Leigh Daemaide and Rowena Vilar need to be acknowledged for their consistent characterisations.  The plainness and naivety of Francesca O'Donnell's characterisation of Rosie, the new dancer left an indelible mark as she too could easily be trapped in the Fandango Ballroom.

Debra Krizak as Nickie was sublime.  "There's Gotta Be Something Better Than This" was another show stopper performed by Debra Krizak and Kate Cole.  They had me engrossed and sadly Debra was interrupted by the mobile phone distraction from Circle Seat B28.  I was mesmerised by her performance and felt so cheated by the inappropriate "twanking" in the audience.  I long to see you on our Melbourne stages again soon and thought your performance was sheer brilliance.  Your alternate character, Ursula was superb in characterisation, so vocally and physically different to the raw Nickie.

"There's Gotta Be Something Better Than This" reminds me of "If I Could've Been" from "Working" which premiered some 13 years later in 1978.  Both are classical "I want" songs full of longing and desire.  They are both songs of regret, and both balance the fine line of not wanting to live a life of regrets.  To me both of these songs explore the human spirit of resilience and hope.  "There's Gotta Be Something Better Than This" is so good that it is the song that emulates this production.   I repeat I am disgusted at the behaviour of "twankers" who rudely show disrespect to the majesty of these performances.

Staging surprises:  There is a sequence with grapes and if dropped these grapes can be a hazard on any floor, and even more so with dancers and performers.   Debra Krizak's Ursula provided the perfect distraction for Martin to clean up the grape.  Martin Crewes picked it up when our focus was upstage on the sublime rantings of Debra Krizak's Ursula. His timing was sublime and not distracting.

Charity's phrase of "fickle finger of fate" was a reminder of the "flying fickle finger of fate" as used on  Rohan and Martin's "Laugh In" which started in January 1968.  Interestingly they do not acknowledge that this phrase was used in "Sweet Charity" prior to "Laugh In."  I wonder about the religious/atheist connection to the "hand of God" and the "fickle finger of fate."  Is Charity teaching us that some things are within our control and out of control.  Is fate Charity's religion?   The journey for Charity appears to be her self-help-guide.  I would love to know if  the character Charity had any inspiration for Martin Seligman in his positive psychology work, particularly "What You Can Change and What You Can't." 

The other memorable extra surprise was when Charity threw off her hat at the end of "If They Could See Me Now."   Her top hat landed with other costumes on the top of the costume rack.  How often does this occur?  Sheer magic!  These little things make every performance unique and memorable and so special.

I liked the Fairy God Mother character in the final scene which reminded me of the tragedy of fantasy and reality coming together.  It also reminded me of "Angels In America" and the reality and gravity of her own situation finally sitting with Charity.  This Fairy God Mother figure also reminded me of our internal dialogue/conscience. I disagree that this was a feel good ending as the silence and the lone figure of Charity on this vast stage was palpable.  It is a more realistic ending showing Charity has hope and possibilities.

The ending was more thought provoking as it reminded me of "The Nance" in that you could question what happened if he suicided or just faded into oblivion etc.  While in "Sweet Charity" people were questioning as they walked from the theatre: Did she suicide, or was it a nightmare, or like Groundhog Day repeating itself, or another drowning or was she resilient and full of hope and ready to move on?  The drowning analogy is relevant as if she has been re-born, not as a new-born Christian but re-born wiser and more resilient.

The finale curtain calls were too slow.  They also needed a reprise of "Hey Big Spender" and "Rhythm of Life" to have the audience on their feet and joining in with bumps and grinds to make it a fun finish to a good evening.  This would make it even more memorable and fun and allowed people to really savour the juxtaposition of the poignancy of the ending.

I was so impressed with the acting in this production from every cast member.  They captured the essence of the atmosphere of hope and resilience.  Various American accents were convincingly portrayed and they captured the essence of the early 1960s with sincerity. Most important of all was how the whole cast worked as an ensemble to take us on a journey of the human spirit.

This production of "Sweet Charity" honoured the 1965/66 period as I was a child and it captured the loss of innocence and the quest for hope.

Note: Twanking = Is a contraction of Twitter and wanking!  It is the act of "Fear of Missing Out" by continually fidgeting with their mobile phone or iPAD or Tablet.  Twanking also covers those on Facebook and other APPS.  "They are twankers, those who twank and continue twanking!" Twanking is a term devised by my partner P.J.T.

Labels:

Sweet Charity, Playhouse Theatre, Arts Centre Melbourne, Verity Hunt-Ballard, Martin Crewes, Hayes Theatre Co, Dean Bryant, Andrew Hollsworth, Andrew Worboys, Tim Chappel, Debra Krisak, Kate Cole, Samantha Leigh Daemaide, Rowena Vilar, Francesca ODonnell, fear of missing out,  Hey Big Spender