Charity Hope Valentine has a coronary heart of gold.
That coronary heart is matched solely by her substantial singing and improbable dancing chops. On the stage, in entrance of a crowd, she is pure savant.
But that confident confidence doesn’t translate as soon as the stage lights on the Fandango Ballroom fade to black. Taking walks with a person beneath the glitter of moonlight bouncing off a shallow stream of water provides no romance. If something, that shallow physique is the place Charity’s desires go to drown.
San Jose Stage’s manufacturing of the 1966 musical “Sweet Charity” survives an uneven begin and finds its sea legs because it progresses, and is superbly carried out all through. The manufacturing, which caps the theater firm’s forty second season, runs by way of June 29.
This can be a musical that feels basic but empowering, and Neil Simon’s classic wordplay inside Dorothy Fields and Cy Coleman’s wealthy rating holds up properly.
The bouncy Charity (Ruby Day) lives in a fantasy world, the place the boys in her life most likely spend their days coining richly poetic phrases to impress her. The truth is that these males are usually not of the chivalrous selection, and Charity, who actually wears her coronary heart on her shoulder, is left melancholy.
A near-drowning results in her probability encounter with Italian movie star Vittorio Vidal (Noel Anthony), and she or he results in his residence. Regardless of the thrill of being in a significant star’s presence, she finally finds herself hiding in a nook whereas he engages in passionate lovemaking along with his viciously jealous girlfriend, Ursula (Adria Swan).
Except for being a singing and dancing superhero, Charity can also be a league chief in probability conferences. A kind of has the potential to finish Charity’s shedding streak of horrid males when she will get caught in an elevator with claustrophobe Oscar Lindquist (Jeffrey Brian Adams). He’s a geeky tax accountant charmer who provides the “Sweet” adjective to her title.
Sadly, there’s one other phrase which may describe Charity — secretive, as in, she is reticent to let Oscar know she’s an entertainer for males, a paid taxi dancer.
It’s an attention-grabbing tact on her half, one borne of unhappiness and misogyny, a lady compelled to reside with disgrace for her career. By way of the pervasive smiles, she by no means feels worthy that real love with a real soul is hers to entry.
The wide-ranging efficiency of Day is revelatory; each inch of Charity’s pleasure and heartbreak is a masterful flip. Simply discover Day’s variance by way of Charity’s bright-eyed heartbreak, the tenuous grasp of her many fleeting loves, and the pure pleasure when her toes are burning the ground. The efficiency is constructed from the stuff of 1 who understands the wants of a basic main woman, embracing the magnitude of what “title character” really means.
The veteran performer Adams is a robust advocate for Oscar’s thriller. Assembly the proper woman and marrying her is a world that Oscar needs to occupy, however the present’s tragic payoff is dealt with superbly in director Kenneth Kelleher’s staging, simply top-of-the-line moments within the present. All of it’s each infuriating however is sensible for Oscar, who proves to be in approach over his head, regardless of Charity’s passionate pleas.
Different points of the present contribute to the piece’s efficient unity. Songs corresponding to “Big Spender,” and “If My Friends Could See Me Now,” are drastically enhanced by Bethany Deal’s good interval costumes, whereas Monica Moe’s choreography pops in every single place.
Along with the robust tech points, supporting characters are allowed to reside and breathe freely. Each Erin Rose Solorio and Jaqueline Neeley nail their model of “Baby Dream Your Dream,” and Nick Mandracchia’s booming model of the chuckly “I Love to Cry at Weddings” is an efficient contact to additional put together the viewers for the denouement that actually stuns within the ultimate tableau.
Sadly, till the suitable man gives polish, Charity’s golden coronary heart could also be doomed for eternal tarnish.
David John Chávez is chair of the American Theatre Critics/Journalists Affiliation and a two-time juror for the Pulitzer Prize for Drama (‘22-‘23); @davidjchavez.bsky.social.
‘SWEET CHARITY’
Ebook by Neil Simon, Music by Cy Coleman, Lyrics by Dorothy Fields, introduced by San Jose Stage Firm
By way of: June 29
The place: San Jose Stage, 490 S. 1st St., San Jose
Operating time: 2 hours, half-hour with an intermission
Tickets: $47-$60; thestage.org
Initially Printed:
