Sweet Charity
Sweet Charity is the Central Hall Musical in York this year. Nouse caught up with some of the cast for a chat.
Nouse: What is Sweet Charity about, and what makes it special?
Michael Slater (Director): What makes Sweet Charity special is that it’s an incredibly rich mixture of song, dance and music. You tend to get in musicals that they’re either very acting-heavy, or they’re very singing-heavy, or they’re very dance-heavy. This is very heavy everywhere. It’s a lot of work, but it’s got Big Spender and Rhythm of Life, it’s got massive, massive show-stopping tunes in it, and then it’s got some of the most cleverly-written dialogue I’ve ever read. I mean, it’s fantastic.
Oli Regan (Assistant Director): One of the dances is called the heavyweight, so you could call it a heavyweight musical.
[general laughter]
Tom Rogers (Vittorio): He’s a thinker!
Iain McCluskey (Daddy Brubeck): He’s like yeah, I might… might put that in, yeah…
Nouse: Uh, yeah. Um, who’s playing what in it, and what’s it been like rehearsing?
Michael: Ok, so there’s Oscar and Charity, as in Sweet Charity. Charity’s the unlucky-in-love girl who is always falling for the wrong guy, and getting dumped and ending up in horrible situations. This is Alice Boagey.
Alice Boagey (Charity Valentine): Hello.
Nouse: What’s the character been like to get into?
Alice: It’s been awesome. She’s a really fun part to play, because she’s just… she’s a little bit mental. You never quite know what she’s going to do next. And… What was the question? [laughter]
Nouse: How’ve rehearsals been?
Alice: It’s been quite intense, because it’s quite a massive part for one person to play. It’s been awesome.
Michael: Then, there’s Oscar, the person she finally meets who then dumps her.
Jethro Compton (Oscar): Don’t give it away!
Michael: Oh. Uh. Wait, that doesn’t happen.
Jethro: That doesn’t happen.
Michael: I made that up.
Oli: That’s what happens in Les Mis.
Jethro: It does?
Michael: [to Jethro] Just answer the questions.
Jethro: Um, it’s been good; quite scary. I’ve not done musical theatre before, really.
Alice: What about Tony the Blair Musical?
Jethro: …Except for Tony the Blair Musical. The award-winning sell-out show. [Laughter] But yeah, it’s been really good; it’s quite a difficult part because he’s kinda really weird, and kinda geeky. But you’ve gotta love him. It’s quite difficult to make him not as camp, as it’s quite easy to do. A lot of the humour comes from the physical situations they’re put in, and it’s really easy to go over-the-top with it. What I’m finding really difficult is to actually be… straight. [More laughter]
Alice: Put that one in.
Michael: That’s a brilliant quote.
Jethro: Kissing Alice has been quite difficult. We’ve only had one kissing rehearsal so far.
Michael: Actually, that’s because you don’t want to do it.
Jethro: It’s quite difficult, because Alice and I have got a lot of history. [Laughter] And I think emotions are still running high, it’s quite difficult to, sorta, you know…
Michael: Right, shut up. Ok, Charity has two friends, Nicki and Helene, who counsel her throughout the show. That’s Vicky Jones and Charlotte Ward-Caddle. Tom is a movie star, Vittorio, she meets at one point. I don’t know what you guys want to say, really. Just say you’re loving it, and that basically me and Oli are legends.
Tom: We’re loving it, and basically… naah, Oli’s more of a legend than Michael, definitely. But Gav is the champion’s league of legends.
Gavin Whitworth (Musical Director): I like it.
Tom: It’s been quite good fun, because I’ve only had one rehearsal so far. But my character is mint; he’s an Italian movie star so for me the biggest challenge is the Italian accent, which I hope everyone doesn’t think is too terrible. I’ve been doing a lot of research YouTubing Dolmio adverts… [laughter]. Basically, a lot of searching through my emotions to find my Italian, love-rattish core, really. And I think it’s coming out…
Nouse: Gav, I hear you’re musical director.
Gav: I am indeed.
Nouse: Can you tell us how that’s going?
Gav: It’s quite jazzy-influenced. Cy Coleman, the guy who wrote it, was a big Jazzer. [Laugher]. What? How is that funny?
Michael: Cy Coleman is a massive jazzer.
Gav: Uh, yeah. But it’s good; lots of trumpets, lots of big brass, and obviously it’s got the big, famous numbers like Big Spender which are always fun to do. It’s been fun to get the guys singing Rhythm of Life. I love the music. It’s one of the reasons we chose it. It’s got a couple of little hidden gems as well. S’nice.
Nouse: In summation then: “Come to Sweet Charity because…”
Iain: …I’m in it.
Nouse: Ian’s in it.
Oli: Ian’s in it. [looks at Michael].
Michael: Ian is, actually, in it. Um, come to Sweet Charity because it’s an incredibly fun show, and one that you don’t get to see very often because it’s very difficult to do. Very difficult to do. And we’re doing it very well.
Tom: It’s got grass. We’ve actually got real grass in the park scene. I’ve got a pile high of two inches.
Michael: A pile high of two inches?
Alice: It’s about love!
Michael: …Lack of.
Vicky: Love and sex.
Tom: Love, with somebody who works in the sex trade.
Nouse: Thanks very much guys.
