Sweet Charity

ARC's production in July, 2004 was "Sweet Charity" - Book by Neil Simon; Lyrics by Dorothy Fields; Music by Cy Coleman. Home of the hits "Hey, Big Spender", "The Rhythm of Life" and "If My Friends Could See Me Now". Click HERE to read the TheatrePeople's review

Synopsis

SWEET CHARITY is a moving and funny look at the (mis)adventures of the gullible and guileless Charity Valentine. Charity is a dance hostess at the Fandango Ballroom, who always gives her heart and her dreams to the wrong man. Some of her misadventures include:

• A misguided relationship with a married man, whom she hopes will be her fiancé. One day while walking through the park Charity romantically suggests he throw something into the lake for good luck, he tricks her by throwing her in and stealing her purse, which contains her life savings. Poor Charity is pulled out of the lake by a passer-by, and reports her misfortune to the police.
• A night with the famous film star, Vittorio Vidal, who calls Charity’s girlfriends at the Fan-Dango ballroom to prove she is out with a celebrity. Just as Charity is about to make a move on Vittorio, Ursula, Vittorio’s mistress with whom he has been feuding, interrupts them and Charity ends up hiding from Ursala in a closet all night.
• Getting stuck in an elevator with a claustrophobic tax accountant named Oscar, who takes an interest in Charity, and invites her to his Rhythm of Life Church, which evolved from a jazz music group. For some unknown reason to Charity, Oscar thinks she is a bank teller. She likes this idea, so decides not to clarify what she really does for a living.
• When Charity quits her job and finally gets the nerve up to tell Oscar that she is a dance hall hostess, she is surprised to find out that he already knew the truth; he had followed her there one night and stayed to watch. Oscar proposes to her.

But will Charity live happily ever after?

Performance Season

The season spanned 2 weeks with 5 performances:

• Saturday 3rd July (Matinee)
• Saturday 3rd July
• Thursday 8th July
• Friday 9th July
• Saturday 10th July

Artistic team

Cast

Producers

The producers were the ARC Committee for 2003/2004.

Producers

Seb Dworkin Catherine Sharples Melissa Ventura John McTiernan Nick Burgers Melinda Savino Laura Meese Nick Compton

Production Team

Official Sweet Charity Poster