Sweet Charity
Presented by: JYM Theatre.
Date Reviewed: 25th May 2008 at 2pm
Venue: Phoenix Theatre, Elwood
Reviewer: Anne Carne (Dewar)

Sweet Charity is a Broadway classic. The story of a dance hall girl Charity Hope Valentine and her misadventures of looking for love in all the wrong places. The 1969 movie starred the formidable Shirley MacLaine and the wonderful Nancy Hayes starred in the 1960s Australian stage production.

The role of Charity is a role for a triple threat performer and although Paula Kofmansky gave a wonderful portrayal and really captured the goofy, infectious personality of Charity and sang strongly, I was disappointed she didn’t deliver with the dance required for the role.

The well-known “If They Could See Me Now” I felt was spoilt for me by the fact that Paula didn’t dance the number herself and was danced by one of the ensemble girls coming out of the wardrobe and portraying Charity’s ‘alter ego.’ While it was a clever idea by the director to cover up a non-dancing lead, it just didn’t do it for me ……this number is meant to stop the show and showcase the actress playing Charity and I feel all it did was point out the fact that Paula was not a dancer and someone else had to do the number for her and I found it distracting to have Charity singing one side of the stage and someone else dancing on the other…the focus should have been totally on Charity. It was the same in all the musical numbers throughout the show where Charity’s dance ability should have been featured…ensemble or someone else seemed to feature instead!

Having said that, Paula looked gorgeous and had a great stage presence and I can understand why she was cast as Charity as she definitely had a charm about her that stood out from the rest.

Charity’s sidekicks Nickie (Sheri Greenstein), Helene (Claire de Freitas) and Carmen (Courtney Krulis) were very attractive and sang and danced well. I would liked to have seen them all looking a bit harder makeup-wise though as these gals are meant to be tough women (Hookers) and they all looked a bit too sweet. I know JYM is a youth group but if you pick a show that requires younger people to play older roles you really need to follow through with it and this was particularly noticeable in the “Big Spender” number where some of the girls only looked about 12-13 yrs old, they may have been older but that is how old they appeared….bit disconcerting to watch them flaunting themselves around, again if the makeup had been heavier to make them appear older!!!???……But the choreography was terrific and they were the most beautiful looking group of girls I have ever seen on stage together, stunners all of them!

I also really liked the choreography in the nightclub scene…a bit of Austin Powers –“Groovy Baby” moves happening there! Loved it! Congratulations to Emily Polak and Danielle Savio for such creative movement.

Danny Starr who played Italian movie star Vittorio Vidal gave a great mature  performance and handled the role nicely…the scene with Charity stuck in the Wardrobe was very funny!

Oscar Linquist, Charity’s neurotic, phobic boyfriend, was beautifully underplayed to perfection by Steven Krygger. It is very much a Leo Bloom (The Producers) type role, Steven has a lovely voice and captured all of Oscar’s manic expressions and inflections and was a joy to watch. Very impressive work, Steven.

Daniel Aronov as Daddy Brubeck was wonderful and The “Rhythm Of Life” which opens act 2 was a highlight. Daniel played several other smaller roles in the show and is an extremely talented, versatile young man. Every time he appeared you knew you were in for a treat!

One young lady I must mention who almost stole the show is Romi Freedman as Winifred, Vittorio’s maid. Romi took the part and turned it upside down and into something unforgettable. With shades of “The Nanny” TV sitcom (Fran Drescher eat your heart out) Romi had the audience in stitches…and in the palm of her hand every time she walked on stage. This is one talented young actress, oozing confidence and with incredible comic timing I will have a lasting impression of her…remember her name folks…I certainly will!

Ronnie Feldmen as Herman in charge of the dance hall girls gave a nice believable strong performance as did everyone else in the cameo roles.  

There was some good creative direction from Brendon Cohan with scenes moving smoothly from one to another and clever use of the minimalistic set and props was enhanced by the colours used in the costumes by Sharyn Peters. Each scene had a colour theme which was carried right through with sets, props and costumes to the finest detail. For example in the first scene in the park everything was green even the joggers drink bottle, night club scene was black and white, dance hall scene everyone was in red, Rhythm of life scene was orange etc.

Charity wore her trademark Red throughout except at the end when she was leaving the dance hall to marry Oscar when she was in white, the whole idea was a very pleasing concept to the eye.

Lighting was simple and effective but a bit more colour in the opening scene would not have gone astray as the cyc wall did look rather bare.

Sound was mostly good and even throughout with only a few slight buzzing noises to be heard.  

I have to say that the curtain calls seemed very messy and unorganised…the cast were too far upstage and looked like they weren’t sure what was happening.  I would also liked to have seen Charity take a proper solo bow at the end…it’s a huge role and she did a great job.

The orchestra led by Musical Director Elizabeth Exintaris was on the most part tight although it could have done with a tweak here and there but they didn’t drown out the performers as so often happens, so well done, Elizabeth!

Overall a most enjoyable and entertaining show with some great highlights and moments from some very talented young performers.  Congratulations to JYM Theatre Co and everyone involved.

“Charity” has three performances left on Wednesday 28^th May, Thursday 29^th May and Saturday 31^st May at 8pm at the Phoenix Theatre Elwood, so don’t miss out on a great nights entertainment.

Anne is well known in Musical Theatre circles and has over 30 yrs experience in both professional and non – professional Theatre, pantomime and Television appearing in commercials and mini series and on Rove Live in comedy sketches. Anne has played many roles in Musical Theatre including her favorites Dolly Levi in “Hello Dolly” and Miss Adelaide in “Guys and Dolls” receiving a Music Theatre Guild nomination for best actress. She has worked with many theatre groups including Whitehorse, CLOC, Dandenong, Festival Theatre, Nova and Eastern Musical Theatre. Anne has also designed sets for many shows and directed and choreographed shows at the Karralyka Theatre and recently Directed/Choreographed the Australasian Premiere of  M*A*S*H with Phoenix Theatre Co. Her next project is playing the role of Vicki in Phoenix Theatre Co’s upcoming September production of “The Full Monty.”

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