Customer Reviews

SWEET CHARITY

5 star:		(11)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

SWEET CHARITY is one of the greatest of Broadway musicals. Very rarely has it been bettered than in the original 1966 cast album.

Gwen Verdon found her greatest stage role in Charity Hope Valentine, the down-on-her-luck dancehall hostess with a heart of gold. Verdon's performance would have won her yet another Tony, but she lost to Angela Lansbury's equally-good performance in MAME.

Verdon is joined by a dream cast including John McMartin (INTO THE WOODS), Helen Gallagher (NO NO NANETTE), Barbara Sharma, James Luisi, Ruth Buzzi, Thelma Oliver and Arnold Soboloff.

Gwen Verdon belts out her numbers in her own trademark style. Verdon could sing out entries from a phonebook and stop the show. She's quite fetching in the quirky character pieces "You Should See Yourself" and the snappy wordplay of the clarifying "Charity's Soliloquy". She later brings down the house with the certifiable showstoppers "If My Friends Could See Me Now", "I'm a Brass Band", "Where Am I Going?" and "I'm the Bravest Individual".

As Charity's two gal pals Nickie and Helene, Helen Gallagher and Thelma Oliver sing the caustic "Baby Dream Your Dream", and join Verdon for the showstopping "There's Gotta Be Something Better Than This".

An essential cast album in any collection, this reissue of SWEET CHARITY on the Columbia Broadway Masterworks label includes rare audio of Fred Robbins interviewing the cast at the opening-night party as well as a longer 'first release' version of "I Love to Cry at Weddings".

This is a Braodway musical that has it all, and the great songs from this classic are all beautifully preserved on this CD.

The best thing, though, is the performance of Gwen Verdon in the title role. Just through her vocals, you will be able to imagine her in her prime..hoofing, mugging and charming you as she did with so many lucky audiences over her long, illustrious career.

A great tribute to all the creative forces involved in the creation of this durable, toe-tapping, musical production!

...about a score that includes "Big Spender" and "If My Friends Could See Me Now", but in which they aren't the best songs?

Cy Coleman's other work has been distinguished and attractive enough, but it was with this show that he left a permanent mark on the history of the American musical theatre. The story of Charity (essayed unforgettably by the late Gwen Verdon) is an uproarious and very moving fable about love, trust and their implications. This potent mix of emotions didn't entirely translate to the movie (where Charity's humiliation was a bit too realistic for comfort), but it emerges fully from the original cast album.

Coleman's score (with fine lyrics by Dorothy Fields) is dazzling, ranging from the aforementioned standards to the haunting "Where Am I Going?" to the exhilarating "I'm a Brass Band". And this recording, despite its small omissions (the third part of the "Rich Man's Frug" dance sequence, for example), stands as the definitive account, and would do so even without the interesting bonus tracks.

Directed and choreographed by the one and only Bob Fosse, who repeated those assignments in the film version, with a wonderful score by Cy Coleman and Dorothy Fields, "Sweet Charity" is also a tailor-made vehicle for the late, great Gwen Verdon, dancer, actress and singer (in that order) extraordinare. A fellow amazon.com reviewer has been quick to point out in other posts that no cast recording made in a studio can really capture what Ms. Verdon was like onstage. I never saw her onstage, I'm sorry to say, but of all the recordings of her that i've heard, I think this one does the best job of capturing that. She is full of energy, personality, and emotion and is always endearing as the dance-hall hostess who is always a sucker for love. And she has a collection of great songs to wrap her voice (Which is not especailly great in itself but is full of such zest and personality that you can easily forgive it) around, from the standards "If My Friends Could See Me Now" and "I'm a Brass Band" to the delightful "I'm the Bravest Individual" (A duet with the wonderfully neurotic John McMartin as her strait-laced boyfriend), the emotional "Where Am I Going?" and the interesting "Charity's Soliloquy." And judging by the film, which starred Shirley McLaine, she also had plenty of oppurtunitites to show off her legendary dancing abilities, such as her "See Me Now" strut, her exuberant "Brass Band" march (In the film, McLaine dancing in her band uniform looks a lot like Robert Preston in "The Music Man!") and a joyfully defiant tap dance in "There's Gotta Be Something Better Than This." Speaking of that song, it is one of the best in the score and is one of the most memorable moments on this recording, with even Verdon having to take a back seat to the wonderful Helen Gallagher as Charity's hard-as-nails friend at the Fandango Ballroom, who leads Verdon and Thelma Oliver as their other friend in dreams of a life away from "all these jokers." Gallagher, Oliver, and the other Fandango dames (sans Verdon) are also great in the other standard, "Big Spender," a defining moment in the Bob Fosse catalogue. The score (And exciting orchestrations by Ralph Burns) pulsates with inredible energy even if you can't see the dancing. What must have been one of Verdon's most defining roles, and is considered to be just that by many, is delightfully preserved on this cast recording for all to enjoy. Spend a little time with her, and you won't be dissapointed.

"Sweet Charity", starring Gwen Verdon as the hopelessly optimistic Charity, is a classic mid-sixties musical, with a terrific score by Cy Coleman & Dorothy Fields.

Best Tracks include:

Big Spender [classic!]
If My Friends Could See Me Now [classic!]
There's Gotta Be Something Better Than This
Baby, Dream Your Dream
Sweet Charity
Where Am I Going?
I'm A Brass Band

Actually, most of the above are probably Broadway standards!

Fellini's NOTTE DI CABIRIA adapted into a Broadway show? Almost impossible! Yet, here it is, wonderfully conceived. The music, the lyrics and the interpreters are terrific. Through the music, you really sense it's Fosse material. This digitally remastered edition is technically perfect. If you have the movie soundtrack, get this theatre version as well because it contains songs that did not appear in the film. Destined to become a landmark in the history of the Broadway show.

This was one of the first cd's i bought from amazon and may i say that it was worth buying. From the overture to to the bonus tracks it was a treat to listen to. Sweet Charity came out at the same time as Mame and Man of La Mancha (which i also own as well)so it had alot of competition. Gwen Verdon lost the Tony award to Angela langsbury in Mame and Sweet charity lost to Man of La Mancha for musical of the year of 1966. The sad thing about it is that we would never get to see this great musical with its original cast. The closest thing to seeing Sweet Charity is by watching Shirley Maclaine's movie version and watching broadway's Fosse which shows Hey Big Spender and the Rich Man's Frug and Gwen Veerdon's performance of "If They Could See Me Now" on the Ed Sullivan show. The songs I liked from thre cd are: "Hey Big Spender", "Rich Man's Frug", "Too Many Tomorrows" (which I may add is a lovely overlooked ballad which was never recorded by singers of the day), "There's Gotta Something Better Than This" and the very inspspirational "Rhythm of Life" which after listening to would definately "leave a tingle in your fingers and a tingle in your feet". So what are you waiting for? stop reading this and buy the cd and thank me later. Trust me you would not be disappointed only when the cd finishes.

THERE IS AN OLD SAYING "THEY DON'T MAKE THEM LIKE THAT ANYMORE" AND SWEET CHARITY AS DIRECTED BY BOB FOSSE AND DANCED,SUNG AND ACTED WITH GRACE AND VULNERABILTY BY THE GREAT GWEN VERDON AND WONDERFUL ROUSING SONGS BY CY COLEMAN AND DOROTHY FIELDS AND ESPECIALLY THE ENERGETIC, SENSUAL AND WITTY CHOREOGRAPHY OF BOB FOSSE. THIS CD HELPS RECAPTURE THAT MOMENT IN TIME BUT ONLY AURALLY AS THE ELECTRIC DANCING OF VERDON TO 'IF MY FRIENDS COULD SEE ME NOW' 'THERE'S GOTTA BE SOMETHING BETTER THAN THIS' AND 'I'M A BRASS BAND' CANNOT BE REPLICATED ON CD. ANOTHER DANCE HIGHLIGHT WAS 'THE RICH MAN'S FRUG' WHICH EVEN ON THE RECENT REISSUE OF THE OBC STILL HASN'T BEEN FULLY RECORDED. FOR THOSE INTERESTED IN HEARING HOW WONDERFUL A BROADWAY RECORDING CAN BE WOULD BE WELL ADVISED TO RUSH TO THEIR NEAREST RECORD STORE AND RECAPTURE FOR AT LEAST 50 MINUTES A SHOW SCORE FROM THE DAYS WHEN MUSICALS WERE TRULY MUSICAL AND A MUSICAL COMEDY WAS TRULY A MUSICAL COMEDY.

As I said in my review for the Chicago original Broadway cast, original casts are better than revivals! This is Gwen Verdon at the pinnacle of her career! She renders unforgettable songs like "If My Friends Could See Me Now" and "I'm A Brass Band." One must also remember "Big Spender."

Classic Broadway musicals don't get much better than this. This is the original cast recording of the 1966 hit and as hard as other recordings try, they can never compare to this. The orchestra is big and lush while incorporating some of Broadway's first rock rhythms ever heard and Gwen Verdon is the ultimate Charity. Full of punch and electricity, this recording is a must-have for anyone who loves Broadway.