Debbie Allen as Sweet Charity- Page 3
Debbie Allen as Sweet Charity
Joined: 12/31/69
#50re: Debbie Allen as Sweet Charity
Posted: 4/2/07 at 8:23pmdouble :) Updated On: 4/2/07 at 08:23 PM
#51re: Debbie Allen as Sweet Charity
Posted: 4/2/07 at 8:25pm
didn't realize there was a spelling police on board.
Post here much?
Cheyenne Jackson tickled me. AFTER ordering SoMMS a drink but NOT tickling him, and hanging out with Girly in his dressing room (where he DIDN'T tickle her) but BEFORE we got married. To others. And then he tweeted Boobs. He also tweeted he's good friends with some chick on "The Voice" who just happens to be good friends with Tink's ex. And I'm still married. Oh, and this just in: "Pettiness, spite, malice ....Such ugly emotions... So sad." - After Eight, talking about MEEEEEEEE!!! I'm so honored! :-)
BrodyFosse123
Broadway Legend Joined: 2/27/06
#52re: Debbie Allen as Sweet Charity
Posted: 4/2/07 at 8:29pm
You're quite welcome.
Thanks to that unmentionable site, I'm able to start sharing the wealth. The archives are overflowing. I think I'm going to have to start taking requests. 
BrodyFosse123
Broadway Legend Joined: 2/27/06
#53re: Debbie Allen as Sweet Charity
Posted: 4/2/07 at 9:34pm
Yes, EricMontreal22 -- Chita and Gwen are wearing their costumes from the actual show on that Howard Cosell TV show appearance. They add on the tassled skirts after they perform "Nowadays".
NOTE: if you look closely, Chita has her left stocking rolled below the knee. On one of the documentaries on the 2-disc DVD of the film-version of CHICAGO, she mentions that this was her trademark for her Velma. In tribute to Gwen, when she was dressed for her cameo in the film-version of CHICAGO, she wore the left stocking of her costume below her left knee.
Here's a photo from the original 1975 Broadway production:
#54re: Debbie Allen as Sweet Charity
Posted: 4/2/07 at 9:39pm^ So do you have Ann Reinking as Charity clips?
#55re: Debbie Allen as Sweet Charity
Posted: 4/2/07 at 9:51pmDebbie Allen did a whole lot in Charity, but she wasn't Sweet.
JsnWse
Stand-by Joined: 6/25/06
#57re: Debbie Allen as Sweet Charity
Posted: 4/2/07 at 11:12pm
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LzKY_PtCVkM
Debbie Allen - I'm A Brass Band - Tony Award Performance
Stand-by Joined: 12/31/69
#58re: Debbie Allen as Sweet Charity
Posted: 4/17/07 at 7:13am
Well my copy of the cast album FINALLY came (I ordered it while posting in this thread)
I'm definetly glad I bought it. It won't replace the OBCR (which just has such a grand brash Broadway *sound* to it besides definitive performances) but is a great "second" and will get much more play than my copy of the soundtrack or the Applegate CD.
So were some of the new orchestrations (credited to four different names) done just for the CD and not for the actual revival? someone on here hinted at that--strrange...
Someone said that I'm the Bravest is now more "rap" so I was surprised to find it was an entirely new song/tune with some new lyrics--it seems to work much more for Debbie's brasher Charity.
I've come aroudn and now prefer the use of the movie Sweet Charity to the original. Not sure what to think of the much more 80s, and upbeat, "Where Am I Going" but I kinda like it. It's strange though some of the orchestrations are more "80s" (and overall they sound less "grand" than the originals) but some aren't--making me wonder if this was still clearly meant to be set in the 60s...
I also love the changed bit in Rhythm of Life which works better IMHO (even if I miss them saying "a gooey duck a gooey duck" or whatever it always sounded like to me).
Funny that they didn't record the middle bit of the Frug--but have the ifnale since the OBCR (in the extended CD cut) has the second part but not the finale.
Anyway I'm thrilled with the cd :)
Oh one question--if you look at the credits for the show in the booklet they have different people credited for lights and set and costumes than who did it in 1966--in faqct the costume designer from 1966 is now listed as Set and Light designer... Surely this is a mistake? didn't they just recreate the original sets?
ILUVTOMG
Stand-by Joined: 8/8/06
#59re: Debbie Allen as Sweet Charity
Posted: 4/17/07 at 7:31ami liked the production but thought debbie allen was dreadful. bebe stole it. went back to see bebe as charity. not good. ann reinking could have been good but they stuck her in a blonde wig that made her look like hedda lettuce. how could i like a production of sweet charity with weak charity's? bob fosse. period. and michael rupert was great.
Stand-by Joined: 12/31/69
#60re: Debbie Allen as Sweet Charity
Posted: 4/17/07 at 3:52pmI think in hindsight the one Charity I woulda wanted to have seen most from that production would have been DOnna.
#61re: Debbie Allen as Sweet Charity
Posted: 4/17/07 at 4:19pm
I agree with you, Eric.
Out of Neuwirth, Reinking, Allen, and McKechnie I can't think of anyone more appropriate for the role than Donna McKechnie. She is not only one of the best dancers to have been on Broadway but her charisma, immediate vulnerability on stage, and spectacular singing voice probably made her a winning Charity.
I still wish they had kept "Charity's Soliloquy" in that production, it's my favorite song from the SWEET CHARITY score.
"Some people can thrive and bloom living life in a living room, that's perfect for some people of one hundred and five. But I at least gotta try, when I think of all the sights that I gotta see, all the places I gotta play, all the things that I gotta be at"
Broadway Legend Joined: 12/31/69
#62re: Debbie Allen as Sweet Charity
Posted: 4/17/07 at 4:23pm
I *really* miss the Soliloquy--and since it was only Gwen who had trouble with it I assume that Debbie had more than enough stamina at the time to include it. It's one of my top songs too. Otherwise I liek most of the music changes
That's exactly it abotu DOnna--she's the only one who as Charity I could really picture myself carring about her plight. I like Anne Reinking but the very thought of her as Charity seems amusing to me--and in the wrong way (ditto to a lesser extent Bebe--and Debbie makes it work but more as a feisty underdog than what I picture Charity as).
#63re: Debbie Allen as Sweet Charity
Posted: 4/17/07 at 4:33pm
Debbie was terrific as Charity, and she definite was vulnerable when needed in the part. It surprised me, too.
But... She's one of the few I've seen that I actually believed could be tough enough to be a "taxi dancer." None of the others looked like they might have been living that life.
If you doubt Debbie can be vulnerable as an actress, you need to rent Ragtime (the movie).
"Jaws is the Citizen Kane of movies."
blocked: logan2, Diamonds3, Hamilton22
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#64re: Debbie Allen as Sweet Charity
Posted: 4/17/07 at 4:34pm
Bebe Neuwirth is one of my favorite Broadway performers, but to me if Charlie had ever even tried to steal her money, Neuwirth would've just given him an ice cold comment and left him flat. She's a great actress but Charity, she isn't. There are so many wrong things with the idea of Reinking as Charity that I don't know where to begin.
I wonder why McKechnie wasn't just cast in the role on Broadway instead of the tour, by then she already was a Tony-winning actress and had built some kind of reputation. Oh well. Why didn't she ever play Roxie when the CHICAGO revival opened?
"Some people can thrive and bloom living life in a living room, that's perfect for some people of one hundred and five. But I at least gotta try, when I think of all the sights that I gotta see, all the places I gotta play, all the things that I gotta be at"
Broadway Legend Joined: 12/31/69
#65re: Debbie Allen as Sweet Charity
Posted: 4/17/07 at 5:08pm
Ha well the very idea of anyone being a taxi dancer (especially if it was updated to 1987--which I'm not sure it was despite some music changes--but even critics commented on that for the original) period strikes me as odd. As for Donna-s-he's never too connected with the Fosse style--maybe that's why she never got a chance at Chicago revival? or maybe she didn't want it...
I love Debbie in Ragtime--I just meant on the recording she certainly comes off far more as "plucky" than vulnerable... But she does feel more like a woman who has been thru the tracks--I agree.
SO anyone know if the thing about the set and costumes designers on the CD was a typo?
robbiej
Broadway Legend Joined: 5/20/03
#66re: Debbie Allen as Sweet Charity
Posted: 4/17/07 at 5:18pm
It was not reset in '87. It was firmly ensconced in the 60's.
As for Allen's vulnerability issue, I don't buy it. I think if we see too much vulnerability, it becomes pathetic and sad. Shirley Maclaine has an extremely deep well of emotionality as an actress. And, as such, I found it almost unbearable to sit through the movie. It was just too 'real'...know what I'm saying?
Having someone that can be vulnerable, but also a bit of a tough cookie, allows us to be just a touch removed from it and not think the character of Charity is just a pathetic loser who might just drown herself in the lake at the end.
After all, it ends with "And she lived hopefully ever after." And with Allen, you believed that.
"I'm so looking forward to a time when all the Reagan Democrats are dead."
Updated On: 4/17/07 at 05:18 PM
#67re: Debbie Allen as Sweet Charity
Posted: 4/17/07 at 5:30pm
robbiej--I agree. I love Shirley in the film, but it's hard to watch her suffer so. I just wanna cut my wrists!
Debbie was tough, sassy... AND naive, vulnerable and goofy. I was very surprised by her ability to be all those things wrapped up into one streetwise, hopeful, love-struck gal.
As for Donna McKechnie... In the mid '80s, she had horrific, debilitating arthritis and was told she would never WALK again, much less dance. It was devastating, as you might imagine, for someone like her to hear that. She decided to seek the help of a nutritionist who put her on a very effective all-natural diet and exercise program, and slowly but surely she came back to life again. An incredible story of perseverance, actually.
Donna's big return to the spotlight was accepting the part of Charity in that national tour. It was a huge personal moment of triumph for her. She talks about it in her one-woman show.
So, I imagine that she wasn't yet "up to speed" when they were first casting the revival. I don't know whether they considered her or not... but I don't think she was capable at that point.
By the time they took it on the road, she was ready to work again.
"Jaws is the Citizen Kane of movies."
blocked: logan2, Diamonds3, Hamilton22
blocked: logan2, Diamonds3, Hamilton22
BrodyFosse123
Broadway Legend Joined: 2/27/06
#68re: Debbie Allen as Sweet Charity
Posted: 4/17/07 at 5:35pm
Donna never connected to the Fosse-style of dancing? Are you kidding me? Have you even watched Donna doing the entire "If My Friends Could See Me Now" clip from the 1987 Tour of SWEET CHARITY? Her execution of those Fosse movements is sheer perfection. As for her never appearing in the revival of CHICAGO? Physically she's not the same anymore -- she's much fuller and matronly, which isn't a bad thing at all. Though she can still illustrate her trademark dance movements, she's not that level of dancer anymore.
Donna this past December: 
#69re: Debbie Allen as Sweet Charity
Posted: 4/17/07 at 6:08pm
Best12, I did read the impressive and very much empowering story about McKechnie's arthritis in her autobiography. I was actually asking why she didn't get cast in the role over Reinking to replace Allen. I probably have my dates mixed up and she wasn't available then.
McKechnie's first show was HOW TO SUCCEED which was I believe the first Broadway show where the Fosse style made an appearance. Actually if I remember correctly, McKechnie turned down two or three Fosse shows in her beginning years as a dancer and I believe Fosse joked around to her saying he thought it was personal (or maybe he said he wasn't going to ask her to be in Charity because he thought she didn't want to work with him, can't really remember).
"Some people can thrive and bloom living life in a living room, that's perfect for some people of one hundred and five. But I at least gotta try, when I think of all the sights that I gotta see, all the places I gotta play, all the things that I gotta be at"
Broadway Legend Joined: 12/31/69
#70re: Debbie Allen as Sweet Charity
Posted: 4/17/07 at 6:10pm
Brody--sorry I didn't choose my words better I meant Donna was never *connected* in people's minds with the Fosse style which Iw as guessing was maybe why she wasn't asked. Not that she couldnt' dance it flawlessly.
But you're right she prob just didn't suit any of the two lead Chicago roles by the revival.
Great photo--what was the occasion?
Robbie I just asked about the time the revival was set because so many of the new orchestrations are so much more 80s. Glad the time wasn't changed
And that's a great point about keeping you at a bit of an emotional distance--i *love* SHirley in the film but you do start to feel liek this poor, kind, very sentive woman is just being trampled on again and again which does make it harder to watch (and I suspect wasn't the feeling you got from Gwen)
BrodyFosse123
Broadway Legend Joined: 2/27/06
#71re: Debbie Allen as Sweet Charity
Posted: 4/17/07 at 8:04pm
No frets, Eric.
Incidentally, Donna's first 'Broadway' show was indeed the original 1961 HOW TO SUCCEED IN BUSINESS WITHOUT REALLY TRYING, which Bob Fosse did the choreography for (though he's credited for 'musical staging'). Bob Fosse's first gig as a Broadway choreographer was 1954's THE PAJAMA GAME, where one of his dancers was Shirley MacLaine.
Neither one of the SWEET CHARITY revivals was 'updated' from it's 1966 timeline (yes...even Christina's was 1966). I don't think any production anywhere (aside from the Swedish one from the early 80's) was 'updated to the present time'.
Also, Bob Fosse did indeed keep after Donna for several shows even though she kept declining his offers, including the out-of-town flop PLEASURES AND PALACES (which she says was a good call on her part). His last effort with his job offers was for the ensemble of the original 1966 Broadway production of SWEET CHARITY, which she declined because she had resigned herself from doing 'chorus' work. Per Donna, it seems that Bob Fosse took offense, and never asked for her to be in another one of his shows until he (and Gwen) chose her for the 1987 National Tour of his SWEET CHARITY Broadway revival.
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Another BrodyFosse123 Exclusive -- "A Secretary is Not a Toy" from the original 1961 Broadway production of HOW TO SUCCEED IN BUSINESS WITHOUT REALLY TRYING:
Tracy Everitt (one of Liza Minnelli's first boyfriends), Donna McKechnie, Nick Andrews and Rosemarie Yellen: 
Broadway Legend Joined: 12/31/69
#72re: Debbie Allen as Sweet Charity
Posted: 4/17/07 at 9:04pm
I'm glad Charity has never been updated the way peopel always seem to think Company should be. I still think the 86 orchestrations though sound much more 80s.
And I knwo the MacLaine/Steam Heat story by heart--I've been in a few productions of Pajama Game since I was 16 as a Steam Heat dancer--so you hear it a lot (and of course Hitchcock's assistant director was watching Pajama Game one of the times Shirley was on and approahced her thinking she was Carol Haney--sayign Hitch would wanna screentest her for his brilliant black comedy Trouble With Harry--she showed up for the read soaked to the bone because she couldnt' afford a cab and it was raining in New York)
I LOVE that number (secretary)--I always for some reason forget Fosse was involved in How to Succeed. And I never knew Liza was involved with Tracy--he's always sturkc me as quite adorable--it's nice that she at least had a few relationships with lookers before the David fiasco
robbiej
Broadway Legend Joined: 5/20/03
#73re: Debbie Allen as Sweet Charity
Posted: 4/18/07 at 4:15pm
OMG! Tracy Everitt!!! Liza's 'beau' from Judy Garland's Xmas special! The way little Joey Luft clung to him!
I agree, Eric, about the orchestrations sounding 80's. I believe Smaxie has posted about Coleman funkifying up the arrangements in the studio. I think, for the most part, the arrangements on Broadway were similar to the originals ('cept for BRAVEST and the title song).
"I'm so looking forward to a time when all the Reagan Democrats are dead."
Broadway Legend Joined: 12/31/69
#74re: Debbie Allen as Sweet Charity
Posted: 4/18/07 at 5:52pm
SO even Where am I going with the new oipening was just for the recording? I'd buy that but I would liek to knwo for sure (btu I guess unless I compare to a bootleg I won't..) I liek the new orchestrations but...
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