Playwright: Neil Simon (book), Cy Coleman (music), Dorothy Fields (lyrics). At: Writers' Theatre, 325 Tudor Court, Glencoe. Tickets: 847-242-6000; www.writerstheatre.org; $35-$75. Runs through: March 31.
I went with trepidation. Sweet Charity is much bigger and jazzier than the few musicals Writers' Theatre has staged so deliciously before, and the dance elementBob Fosse was the director/choreographer of the 1966 originalis huge. How could tiny Writers' Theatre do it? Director Michael Halberstam's heart was in the right place, but perhaps his ambition was not. Baby, dream your dream, as Charity and her pals warble.
Well, dreams come true. I came home a true believer thanks to the imaginative work of Halberstam, musical director Douglas Peck, choreographer Jessica Reddish and scenic designer Collette Pollard. And the cast ain't shabby, either.
Pollard opened up the thrust stage to the back wall. It's still smallless than 20 feet wide and no more than 30 feet deepbut it's enough, especially with the bright idea of putting the band on a balcony with a staircase at either side. The dancers use the stairs and the band loft as additional performance space.
Then, Reddish wisely decided not to imitate Fosse choreography, employing instead a more traditional show dance vocabulary which is comfortably familiar yet fresh, perfectly suited to the space and, in Charity's solos emphasizes her romantic aspirations vs. the show's surface sexuality. It's nice stuff to strut. In any case, only old codgers like me remember the original, and Fosse didn't use his trademark black bowler hats, tight pants or cantilevered hip swivels in it.
My next discovery was that musical director Doug Peck can do a jazz-idiom show, unlike what I've seen/heard him do before. Under conductor Tom Vendafreddo, and with BJ Cord soaring on trumpet, the five-piece band burnishes the great Cy Coleman score to brassy perfection.
OK, that leaves Halberstam. Fortunately, the director of a musical doesn't really do anything if he has good musical, dance and design people, and Halberstam didn't do anything brilliantly. He perceived that you don't need a dozen dance-hall girls, but that four could fill the compact space without making the show look small or thin. He understood that the essence of Sweet Charity isn't its size but its spirit, which is fully realized at Writers' Theatre.
How could it not be with a truly gifted ensemble? Tiffany Topol embodies the perpetually optimistic, none-too-bright Charity, and she sings big-heartedly and kicks high in doing it. Jarrod Zimmerman dazzles in his first scene, requiring both physical and character comedy, and proceeds to make a real person of neurotic, nerdy Oscar, Charity's ray of hope. The supporting nine-person ensemble does protean work without a weak link. Particular kudos to James Earl Jones III doubling as dance-hall capo Herman and hipster Daddy Brubeck, and Jeff Parker as Vittorio, the Italian movie star. This Sweet Charity is, well, sweeeeet!