Charity by Committee


Reviewed 6/24/05

There were innumerable wrong and awkward moments during the fall-apart opening night of Desert Stages’ Sweet Charity. The committee (Robert Prenger, Barbara McBain, and DST’s Artistic Director Laurie Cullity) of directors’influences run from great to wretched, for example a very clever opening moment which is balanced by the badly performed “Hey Big Spender,” ostensibly staged by choreographer Lynn Hanson in a pale and unsuccessful attempt at resurrecting the twitching corpse of Fosse. Some ensemble members are almost jaw-droppingly atrocious, notably Shane Jeffrey as international film star Vittorio Vidal. Could Prenger, McBain, or Cullity not find anyone over the age of 15 who could carry an accent or even a basic tune? Many of the set pieces worked against the production every step of the way and the scene changes could be measured by tree rings. The expired canned music kept suddenly cutting off or starting with the wrong cues. Bad review, right? Nope.

Go figure, but the show is a success. Of course, a large part of it is the presence of the incredibly talented Jessica Godber as the titled almost-hooker with a heart of gold. Her appearance alone in an awful show could swing the balance. However, there were several other elements that combined to save this show from tanking like any of Charity’s love affairs. Several of her co-stars are wonderful, and while there were many missteps by the seemingly triple-digit ensemble, they generally invest themselves in the show. For a musical that is as thin as tissue paper on a comb, talent and heart can make you forget just how close to a stinker the evening comes.

Who needs Christina Applegate when you have a triple threat like Godber? What’s more impressive than her vast talent is her stage smarts. Situations that would throw other performers are tossed off wittily. Anyone can imbue aching sweetness into Charity, but how many performers can take an ear-splitting blast of feedback from Paden Cooper’s amateurish sound system during a crucial emotional moment and turn it into a self-deprecating and prescient punch line? This is a woman who trips over some inadvisable piece of Dave Rorhich and Phil Manning’s set in an alarming way that could have resulted in a broken ankle like Applegate’s recent woes, but instead she hops up, and in a chipper voice, twitters, “I’m all right!” Yes, she aces all of her big numbers and acting moments, but she’s canny enough to recognize that it’s best to take the audience into her counsel, as the character already addresses us, and to wink and demurely smile her way through each pitfall. She also offers the most sexual Charity ever, with an innocent sultriness that I’ve never seen before.

But I would be remiss not to mention co-stars such as the nebbishy Dominic Kidwell as Charity’s potential savior Oscar. He is completely real onstage, and the connection with Godber is strong. He has a winning voice and a loveable demeanor. As Charity’s fellow dance hall pals, Whitney Facher’s Helene and especially Chrystalle Reed’s Nickie are great when acting bitchy or longingly singing. Daddy may have started out in San Francisco, but in this production, he became Mama before he landed under the Manhattan Bridge, and the visually stunning “Rhythm of Life” sequence is well-centered by KatiBelle Collins’ Mama. Though only in a tiny role, Elizabeth Matson exhibits some golden pipes as she tries to drown out Jeffrey during the song “Too Many Tomorrows.” Despite Hanson’s “Hey Big Spender” number being dreadful, the remainder of the ensemble’s numbers, especially “I’m a Brass Band” and “Rich Man’s Frug,” are overwhelming treats enthusiastically performed.

Under her dreadful blonde bob, courtesy of Beth Rose, and wrapped in some wonderfully period costumes designed by Lia Hunyady, Amy Steging, Cullity, and McBain, Godber reminds us of what we’ll lose as she’s set her star toward L.A. Back at home, though, Desert Stages is refreshingly back to its old ways, offering unbalanced productions featuring impressive highlights and stunning lowlights that inexplicably work despite themselves .

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