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Opening night: 29th January 1966 Performances: 608 performances Composer: Cy Coleman Book: Neil Simon Performers:
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Musical Numbers
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| Far and away the most successful musical Fields wrote, Sweet Charity is the only Fields show which gained lasting public recognition. It was adapted from a Fellini film Nights of Cabiria, and tells the story of an eternally hopeful but repeatedly disappointed dance club hostess. This bizarre choice of occupation for the main character, apparently prompted by respect for or fear of audience sensibilities, was the only false note in a superbly written show. The team of Fosse, Verdon, Simon, Coleman and Fields created the classic Sixties musical. Hair had nothing to offer except for its capture of a moment, but Sweet Charity embraced the time while respecting the principles which make musicals work. It was the first time since Stars in Your Eyes that Fields had written for contemporary characters, and the first time Fields had worked with a composer of a younger generation (Coleman was 25 years her junior). She relished the challenge, and produced a series of fresh, vital lyrics for the appealing heroine and her more brash streetwise associates. As with Redhead, much of the show's initial success could be related to the Fosse/Verdon contribution, but Sweet Charity's durability, with frequent revivals, is due to the quality of the work by the writers. This was the only Fields show to have a production in London. The film, starring Shirley MacLaine and featuring (regrettably, in my view) Sammy Davis Junior, was directed by Bob Fosse and was a highly faithful and accomplished translation of the show. Incidentally Rhythm of Life is the only Dorothy Fields song to have featured on the BBC programme Songs of Praise. Last Sunday night, this stalwart of the BBC God-slot broadcast a church youth choir singing the number. They sang it very nicely, but the transformation from mock-religious to real religious required one lyric amendment - "rhythm in the bedroom" became "rhythm on the inside". |