Chicago Critics Meet Broadway-Bound Sweet Charity

It's another city, another opening for Sweet Charity. Headlined by Christina Applegate and directed by Walter Bobbie, the revival began its pre-Broadway tour in Minneapolis and has now landed at Chicago's Cadillac Palace Theater, where it opened on March 3. Next up is Boston and then onto the Al Hirschfeld Theatre for an April 21 Broadway start. Did Chicago critics have fun at this staging of the classic musical?

Here is a sampling of what they had to say:

Chris Jones of Variety: "Christina Applegate's thin, reedy voice is never going to be mistaken for a brass band... But she's no celebrity charity case, either. Indeed, the former sitcom star almost busts her little naturalistic gut turning Charity Hope Valentine into a sweet, empathetic, sexy and intensely vulnerable dance-hall hostess whose tawdry life and times genuinely capture one's heart. Thanks to her strikingly honesty acting—and a delicious dexterity with the one-liner honed by years on Married... With Children—Applegate's perf far exceeds the low expectations of the usual celeb tuner turn. Assuming the right fixes are made, the rest of Walter Bobbie's stylish $7.5 million production has very solid Broadway prospects. With straightforward but pleasing choreography that lands somewhere between Fosse and Shaft, this is a young, hip, fresh, droll and under-anticipated Sweet Charity that should show greater-than-expected appeal for auds schooled on Austin Powers."

Michael Phillips of The Chicago Tribune: "With a sweet but tentative performance from Christina Applegate in the title role—an underplaying lamb surrounded by musical comedy wolves—the wan revival of Sweet Charity, continuing through next weekend at the Cadillac Palace Theatre, never makes good on the promise of its best-known song, 'Big Spender,' the one about fun, laughs and a good time. Director Walter Bobbie's production is more about bits of fun here and there, a few chuckles and, at best, an OK time... Charity's songs never required a powerhouse singer; Applegate gets by well enough there, most of the time. What's missing overall is size, and a sense of confident attack. This headliner doesn't yet have the dominating instincts to be the brass band, the cut-up, the self-fabulizing icon called for by this show."

Hedy Weiss of The Chicago Sun-Times: "The revival of the show... is not so much bad as it is cute, slight and bland. And more often than not, this production... makes you wonder why anyone felt a compelling need to invest millions in bringing it back at all... [Applegate] is vanilla-cupcake pretty, she brings a wistful sweetness to her scenes, and there is something light and lovely about the way she dances. But there is nothing terribly compelling about her voice or persona. O'Hare, an actor I have long admired, arrives near the end of the first act... and his panic attack, an over-the-top burst of physical comedy, briefly energizes things. But there is little sustained chemistry between the two. And to a great extent, everyone in this production seems to be in a different show, no matter how able the dancers may be."

Scott Morgan of The Daily Herald: "Theater fans indignant of Applegate's lack of stage experience will be surprised at how well she inhabits the role of Charity Hope Valentine, the luckless dance hall hostess looking for true love in 1960s New York. Applegate has plenty of stage presence and a pleasant if not powerful singing voice that doesn't let down the standard-stocked score by the late Cy Coleman and Dorothy Fields. She's also no slouch when it comes to projecting Charity's oblivious optimism and aching vulnerability opposite Denis O'Hare's hilariously neurotic Oscar Lindquist. Applegate's stumbling block is her dancing. She moves stylishly enough through Wayne Cilento's Bob-Fosse-homage choreography, but Applegate merely impresses when she should be all-around dazzling."