It’s not really clear why producers decided to revive 1966’s “Sweet Charity, ” which wraps its local pre-Broadway run this weekend at the Cadillac Palace. Presumably, the reason was money—an unwise gamble when you’re dealing with an iffy storyline and an even iffier star. Christina Applegate, whose comedic finesse is her one bona fide, plays Charity Hope Valentine, a dancehall hostess with a Pollyanna complex. It’s an empty role to begin with, and while Applegate is likable enough, she lacks the stage personality needed to fill in the holes—and boy are there holes. (Even in the mid-sixties, Charity was an anachronism on her way out.) Applegate’s dancing is average and she also, rather inexplicably, sings in a cloying, baby-doll voice. The end result is neither good nor bad—a performance so neutral it nearly cancels itself out of existence. The most valuable elements of the original—as evidenced in the goofy 1969 movie version starring Shirley MacLaine—are Cy Coleman’s rousing, jazz-daddy music, Dorothy Fields’ sly lyrics and Bob Fosse’s snake-like choreography. Instead of accentuating these strengths, director Walter Bobbie and choreographer Wayne Cilento offer up muddled, denuded versions that sap the energy (and clarity) from Neil Simon’s book. “The Rich Man’s Frug”—a skewering of pompous, vogueing club goers, and the best reason to rent the movie—is beaten into lackluster, Fosse-lite submission. The addition of Chicago veteran actor Denis O’Hare as Charity’s uber-nerd boyfriend adds some much needed juice—O’Hare, better than anyone on stage, understands the rhythms of Neil Simon’s writing. But even O’Hare is doomed by the quasi-unhappy ending, which still needs reworking. If you’re going to empower the girl at the end, at least reprise a better song: a darkly ironic version of “If My Friends Could See My Now” or the galvanizing energy of “There’s Gotta Be Something Better Than This”—a title that, not incidentally, sums up this entire experience. (Nina Metz)
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