Barn Players "Sweet Charity" review by JLin

Charity is Sweet

Rating: 3

Sweet Charity

The Barn Players, Inc.

Despite several bumps in the rehearsal process, the cast and crew of Sweet Charity were pumped and ready to go on their opening night at The Barn Players. Congratulations to all involved for pulling it together in time for an audience.

Sweet Charity is about an optimistic dance hall hostess (a woman who gets paid to dance with strangers) named Charity Hope Valentine.  It's a cute story about her search for love and a way out of her current life style, but with all due respect to Mr. Neil Simon, the script is kind of crummy.  Director Eric Van Horn had the difficult task of putting together an entertaining night of theatre without much to work with when it came to the written aspect of the show.

The show opens with an impressive overture from the 14 member orchestra (how do they fit them all back there?) but the audience is left sitting in the dark for most of it, staring at the back of an actor in the gloom.  I don't know about the rest of the audience, but it left me feeling uncomfortable and confused as to whether a mistake had been made.  In fact, there were a lot of moments throughout the show where the stage is in complete darkness unnecessarily; at first you think it's to mask the scene change, but then the actors keep speaking through the black out. I would much rather be able to see the character while they are delivering lines, even if there is a set change going on behind them.  Was there an issue with the light cues or was this a conscious choice?  I don't know.

Another thing that made me uncomfortable as an audience member, were the costumes.  Charity and a few of the other hostesses were wearing incredibly short dresses.  While the styles were completely time-period appropriate, they did not mesh well with the blocking/choreography.  I was constantly expecting to see a flash of panty.  There is actually a point where Charity is held upside-down with her legs straight in the air, and one of the ensemble members has to hold her dress up for her.  In a situation like this, I would suggest either the blocking be changed, or another dress be worn.

MB Hurst, a newcomer to the area, played the title role.  At the beginning of the performance I was very concerned; she seemed nervous, out of breath, and unprepared to tackle the part.  As the show went on she settled into her groove and got the audience on her side.  Charity is a loveable character and Hurst dialed up just the right amount of quirky.  I was disappointed with some of her solo numbers, mostly because of the very long dance breaks during which she is on stage by herself.  Hurst doesn't appear to have any dance training, and while she pulled off the choreography just fine, it was simple and, unfortunately, boring.  It was smart to not give her difficult choreography if she isn't say, a professional tap dancer or something, but one can only watch a girl step-touch for so long.  If the dance breaks had to stay in, I think it would have benefited Hurst as a performer to have some company out there with her.  There were also times she lacked emotional connection to the lyrics, especially in "I'm a Brass Band" when she declares her utmost joy at finding Oscar.  Smile, Charity!  You're in love!  I would like to see Hurst in some straight plays as she really shined during the non-musical portions of the show.  Her interactions with Oscar (Brian Shortess) were especially charming.

I was pleasantly surprised by Shortess.  Having done Bye Bye Birdie with him (another one of Van Horn's projects), I'm used to seeing him play the cool and confident type.  It was wonderful to see him as Oscar, an overly shy, nervous wreck.  In his first scene, he and Charity are trapped in an elevator and his frantic physicality and worried stutter are beautifully comedic.  I was a little disappointed with his singing this time around (the title song, "Sweet Charity" was slightly pitchy), but having seen him before, I'm assuming he was having an off night.

I was most impressed with Charity's three buddies, Nickie, Helene, and Carmen (played by Kristen Altoro, Danielle Gibbs, and Abby McInerney).  Altoro had the strongest acting chops, but they were all power house voices with incredible belts.  Their voices were well suited for each other so their harmonies were always spot on and well blended.  Not to mention, these girls were hilarious.  I especially enjoyed their improvised lines while they were covering a particularly long costume change.

The more minor characters were entertaining and cartoony (especially Dave Fullerton's Vittorio Vidal, a foreign movie star). Their caricature style of presentation just added to the silliness of the writing and I think it was a good way to go.  If the script is goofy, you might as well acknowledge the fact and run with it.  And I don't know if this was intended to be funny, but I thoroughly enjoyed the random dance breaks in the Pompeii Club scene.  It was very "Austin Powers-esque" and quite literally made me giggle.  If that was the intention, congrats.  If not … oops.

As previously mentioned, this production has gone through a lot of turmoil to reach this point.  While there is definitely room for improvement, I think they should be commended for their hard work and dedication.  Please show your support for their efforts and catch Sweet Charity before it closes on November 20th.  3 out of 5 stars.