Broadway Revival of Sweet Charity to Close on New Year's Eve

Dance hall hostess Charity Hope Valentine will soon be getting up and out of the Al Hirschfeld Theatre.Sweet Charity, headlined by Tony-nominated actress Christina Applegate, will end its Broadway run on December 31. At the time it closes, it will have played 25 previews and 279 regular performances.

With a book by Neil Simon, music by Cy Coleman and lyrics by Dorothy Fields, Sweet Charity is a look at the misadventures of Charity Hope Valentine Applegate, a dance-hall hostess who always gives her heart--and her earnings--to the wrong man. The tuner is based on Federico Fellini's Nights of Cabiria.

This Sweet Charity, directed by Walter Bobbie and choreographed by Wayne Cilento, had a long, well-publicized rocky road to Broadway. It began life, with Applegate in the title role, at the Orpheum Theatre in Minneapolis, where it ran from February 8 through February 20. The show then played Chicago's Cadillac Palace Theatre from February 24 through March 13. The revival suffered a major setback when Applegate broke her foot on March 11, during the Chicago engagement of the tuner, and was forced to sit out the Boston run at the Colonial Theatre from March 18 to March 27. Standby Charlotte d'Amboise assumed the role of Charity Hope Valentine in Boston and was then announced to headline the Broadway engagement with Applegate presumably returning some time after her foot healed. After the Boston reviews, the cast was told that the production would end in Beantown, with producer Barry Weissler blaming "weak sales on the road and in New York" for the decision. The week after the cancellation confirmation, it was announced that Sweet Charity's Broadway engagement was back on with Applegate opening the show. The dates were pushed back to allow further healing for her foot. D'Amboise began Broadway performances in the starring role, but Applegate took over on April 18, well before opening.

The revival finally opened at the Al Hirschfeld Theater on May 4. In his Broadway.com Review of the tuner, Ken Mandelbaum said: "The staging by Walter Bobbie, who directed the blockbuster revival of a certain other Verdon-Fosse musical, is likewise lacking in a style that might unify Charity's elements. Applegate has abundant sweetness and vulnerability, and she's warmly appealing... [But] Applegate lacks the effortlessness of top-notch musical-theater performers."

The production received Tony nominations for Best Revival of a Musical, Best Actress Applegate and Best Choreography. It did not win any, losing the Best Revival award to La Cage aux Folles which shuttered in the summer.

In addition to Applegate, Sweet Charity stars Denis O'Hare, Mylinda Hull, Kisha Howard, Ernie Sabella, Paul Schoeffler, Rhett George and Shannon Lewis.