Sweet Charity: Abbey meets Charity challenge head-on

“Sweet Charity” opened on Thursday night to a near-capacity house.

It is a challenging production both creatively and technically.  Ian Harman’s vision is quite obvious and well thought out.  The choreography, also by Harman, was some of the best I have seen on stage in Palmerston North.

We follow the journey of Charity, played by Sam Lyons.  We are plunged into her misguided outlook on love and life, and how the two intertwine.

The first few moments of the show were plagued with opening night technical jitters but the cast progressed well through this and the show slowly found its rhythm.

Charity is a huge role and Lyons did a great job at holding the show together.  She was supported throughout by hostesses from the Fandango Ballroom.  The standout vocally of these was Ashleigh Blummont, whose opening to There’s Gotta Be Something Better Than This was the most engaging vocal solo of the night.

Other notable cast mentions go to the fantastic dancers who produced one of the slickest routines I have seen on stage for a long time with Rich Man’s Frug.  Melissa Priest was the centerpiece for the routine and was a totally different performer from last year’s “Las Vegas Nights”.  She was engaging and used her face beautifully.  Andrew Norman with I Love To Cry At Weddings and Conil Tod for his portrayal of the painfully shy Oscar were also highlights.

Overall this show lacked the real vocal bite I was anticipating and did not have the real depth of voice to pull off the big numbers.  The voices over the recorded backing tracks were at times inaudible, which is a real concern when producing musical works.

I am confident the technical problems will fall away over the next week and we will be left with a lively production and a great way to start your theatrical year.