Sweet Charity

25th - 29th March 2014, Theatre Royal, Bury St Edmunds

Director and Co-Choreographer: Louise Travis
Musical Director: Simon Pearce
Co-Choreographer: Heather Couch
Assistant Directors: Lou Petch and Jules Mills
Production Manager: Debbie Croll

---

Cast

Charity Hope Valentine : Emily Mizen
Oscar Lindquist : Jamie Maguire
Vittorio Vidal : Mike Long
Herman : Steve Chapman
Helen : Cat Dale
Nickie : Rachelle Curtis
Ursula March : Claudia Harvey
Daddy Brubeck : Rob Neal
Daddys Assistant 1 : Henry Ward
Daddys Assistant 2 : Liam Corbett
Carmen: Beth Jennings
Rosie : Laura Barnard
Ralph the Dog : Ralph

Fandango Dancers:
Heather Couch, Jess Elvin, Beth Jennings, Shaina Neal, Sarah Parkinson, Emma Rutherford, Alana Self, Laura Stewart, and Kat Willson

Chorus:
Trish Barnard, Amy Blofield, Tracy Dougherty, Sylvana Marley, Viv Morris, Kim Pearce, Nickie Stapleton, Grace Stewart Hogg, Emma Ward, Charles Brindley, Nick Gane, Benjamin Hill, Huw Jones, and Steve Nicholson

Review
Julie Petrucci of N O D A:
"In a role tailor-made for her Emily Mizen gave us an excellent Charity creating a very convincing character, played with great assurance, drawing the audience along with her, willing Charity to succeed though just knowing the inevitability of her situation !

Rachelle Curtis and Catherine Dale were excellent as Nickie and Helene, Charity’s dance hall friends. Their duet in Act 2 Baby Dream Your Dream was lovely. I would, however, have liked to have seen more empathy with Charity from both them and the other dance hostesses – the situation they find themselves in means they need to look out for each other and I did not feel this came over as well as it could have done.

Trying to break away from the dance hall Charity bumps into one of her favourite movie stars the suave Vittorio Vidal, well played by Mike Long, arguing with his jealous girlfriend Ursula March (Claudia Harvey). When she's out of the way, Charity grabs her chance to spend an evening with Vittorio at a swanky nightclub. In this scene the choreography and skill of the dance ensemble with “Rich Man’s Frug” was first class!

Oscar Lindquist, played to perfection by Jamie Maguire, successfully captured the manic emotions of Oscar. He drags Charity off to The Rhythm of Life Church where Rob Neal as Daddy Brubeck - the essence of cool – praises The Rhythm of Life.

In an amusing scene in the café, Oscar proposes to Charity and the Fan-Dango Club crew give her a send-off, with Steve Chapman (Herman) grabbing his moment with I Love to Cry at Weddings. Inevitably, Charity's physical past is too much for the dippy Oscar to handle and he gives her the push - into the lake.

The lighting design by the talented Hannah Sophie Moore was excellent as were Sheena Moore’s costumes. Although the scene changes were not as slick as usual nor the staging quite as imaginative as in the past, what scenery there was worked well. I liked the amusing idea of the scenes/comments flashed above the proscenium arch.

Under the baton of Musical Director Simon Pearce, the orchestra was outstanding and choreographers Heather Crouch and Louise Travis did an excellent job, giving the chorus some great material to work with. Director Louise Travis once again put her golden touch on a BSEAODS production.