Sweet Charity on Disc: Part One
Indeed, there wouldn't have been a Sweet Charity, a revival of which is on its way to Broadway, without Gwen Verdon and without her chemistry, both personal and professional, with director-choreographer Bob Fosse. On the 1966 original Broadway cast recording, Verdon is warm, vivacious, touching, and irresistible. In fine voice, her singing is full of personality. Verdon receives grand support from Helen Gallagher and Thelma Oliver as her dance-hall comrades Nickie and Helene; John McMartin as Oscar, the man who almost answers Charity's prayers; James Luisi as movie star Vittorio Vidal; and John Wheeler as Herman, the dance-hall proprietor.
Although Columbia Broadway Masterworks' 1999 CD reissue of the original Broadway cast recording offers the first release of an extended version of "Rich Man's Frug," about half the dance music from that number remains absent. And there are similar cuts in "Big Spender," "There's Gotta Be Something Better Than This," and "I'm a Brass Band."
Even with these and other abridgements, though, this is an electric cast album, very well produced by Goddard Lieberson. Although some might make a case for On the 20th Century, Little Me, or City of Angels, Sweet Charity is arguably Cy Coleman's best Broadway score, and it's enormously aided by Dorothy Fields' terrific lyrics, not to mention Ralph Burns' scintillating orchestrations. Needless to say, songs like "There's Gotta Be Something Better Than This" and "I'm a Brass Band" lose something when one can't watch the Fosse choreography that accompanied them in the theatre. But the score is strong enough to stand on its own.
One of the first recording's chief attractions is Verdon's second solo, "Charity's Soliloquy." Not only is it an intriguing free-form musical monologue, but it's a rarely heard number, not used in the show's national tour, London production, film, or first Broadway revival. It's included in the current revival.
The 1999 CD reissue provides several additional bonuses. There's a previously unreleased, extended version of "I Love to Cry at Weddings." Then there are three songs sung and played by Cy Coleman, tracks taken from a 1966 Columbia Records album. One of them is "You Wanna Bet," the tune of which became, with a new lyric, the title song. "You Wanna Bet" was also recorded by Barbra Streisand.
An additional bonus on the reissue is ten minutes of material from Opening Night at the Palace, a separate, Columbia Records Broadcast Services LP, distributed to radio stations for use in conjunction with Columbia's Charity cast album. Part of what made the Saturday, January 29, 1966 opening of Charity an event was that it marked the re-opening of the Palace Theatre, this time as a house for legitimate theatre, after decades of use as a vaudeville and motion picture auditorium.
As Side One of Opening Night at the Palace begins, we hear the sounds of the opening-night curtain calls at the Palace, then move to the party at the Waldorf Astoria, where Fred Robbins interviews stars of the show and celebrities in attendance. These interviews were to be interspersed with cuts from the Charity cast album on radio broadcasts.
During Robbins' interview with Palace Theatre veteran Ted Lewis, Gwen Verdon arrives at the party and gets a standing ovation. Lewis predicts stardom for Charity supporting player Thelma Oliver.
Lena Horne talks about the collaboration between veteran lyricist Fields and the youthful Coleman. Co-star Helen Gallagher discusses Fosse's eye for detail, and states that Gwen is never satisfied until things are perfect. She pinpoints Gwen's special quality as the ability to make you laugh and cry almost simultaneously, then sets up the cast-album cut "Baby, Dream Your Dream."
After husband-and-wife Burt Bacharach and Angie Dickinson are interviewed, it's the turn of Ethel Merman, who declares Verdon's opening-night performance "fabulous," stating that the star has topped herself with this show. Merman talks about being taken to the Palace as a child, and appearing there during rehearsals for Girl Crazy.
Neil Simon calls Verdon "sheer perfection," then it's the star's turn to be interviewed. Verdon says she loves the character of Charity because she's so hopeful and never turns bitter. Verdon declares that she's happy to be back on Broadway after a five-year absence, during which she got married and had a baby. Verdon sets up "Where Am I Going?" as Side One concludes.
On Side Two of Opening Night at the Palace, we have radio's Lee Jordan interviewing Coleman and Fields in a studio on the Sunday prior to opening night. Each of the four cuts on the side features chat followed by a song from the show.
Fields says Coleman requested her as lyricist after he was asked to do the show. Coleman sings and plays the title song, noting that the lyric was completely rewritten on the road. Fields says she has enjoyed working with Coleman more than with any of her previous fourteen composers. Then Fields sings, in her baritone voice, "Baby, Dream Your Dream," accompanied by Coleman.
The two join to sing "I'm a Brass Band," noting that the song was written in Philadelphia as a replacement for another song. Then, after Fields talks about her start, at the Cotton Club in the '20s, the album concludes with Coleman singing and playing "Where Am I Going?"
The second Sweet Charity cast album was CBS's 1967 London recording, starring Juliet Prowse, who had previously played Charity in Las Vegas and who received great acclaim from the London critics. Restaged by Broadway co-producer Lawrence Carr, the London production featured a reproduction of Fosse's Broadway dances and staging.
A less vulnerable Charity, Prowse is actually a stronger singer than Verdon, taking a high option at the end of "You Should See Yourself." If she has a less distinctive vocal manner than Verdon's, she's brassy, breathy, and stellar.
Leading man Rod McLennan Robert and Elizabeth, Applause may sing better than McMartin, but there's less character in McLennan's voice. And he gets only one number here, the title song: Inexplicably, the Charity-Oscar duet "I'm the Bravest Individual," included in the London production, was left off the cast recording. Also omitted, both in the theatre and on disc, is "Charity's Soliloquy." A bit more dance music is included in "There's Gotta Be Something Better Than This."
As Charity's pals, Josephine Blake The Rink, Jean Seberg and Paula Kelly who would get to repeat her role in the film are about as good as Gallagher and Oliver on the Broadway set.
The London cast recording of Charity was released on a Sony West End CD that soon went out of print. Unlike the Broadway CD, this one maintains the corresponding LP's faulty tunestack order.
Most big West End musicals of the late '60s got not only a stage cast recording but also a quickie English studio recording, sometimes with stars, and usually released on budget labels. Charity got just such a second recording, a 1967, non-star studio cast LP released on the Saga label.
In the title role is the little-known Mary Preston, who appeared in the ensemble of the London productions of Grab Me a Gondola and Oh What a Lovely War! Her most significant credit is the title role in the intriguing Australian musical Lola Montez 1959. Preston is a belter, but she makes a rather gushy, decidedly British, and not especially appealing Charity. The supporting cast is barely adequate. This fairly neligible disc lacks the overture, "Charity's Soliloquy," and "I'm the Bravest Individual." Surprisingly, the first number, "You Should See Yourself," includes a cut section unheard elsewhere.
In 2003, Decca Broadway issued the first CD of the soundtrack album to the 1969 film version of Sweet Charity, the first movie directed by Fosse. The film gave Charity two new songs: The catchy "My Personal Property" replaced the character's original opening number, "You Should See Yourself," and the show's duet for Charity and Oscar, "I'm the Bravest Individual," was replaced by a new solo for Charity, "It's a Nice Face."
Also dropped from the stage score were "Baby, Dream Your Dream," "Too Many Tomorrows," and "Charity's Soliloquy." The soundtrack album omits most of the music of "Rich Man's Frug," but there's a new overture.
John McMartin got to repeat his stage role of Oscar, but got a new melody to sing for the title song. Chita Rivera, who played Charity on the national tour, played Nickie in the film, opposite Paula Kelly, repeating her London Helene. The lavish casting included Sammy Davis Jr. singing "The Rhythm of Life," Ricardo Montalban as Vittorio with "Too Many Tomorrows" cut, he has nothing to sing, and Stubby Kaye as Herman.
Shirley MacLaine, the only possible choice for the film's Charity, sings in a sweet, accurate, small voice. The soundtrack is a pleasant disc, but watching the film itself, on the available DVD, is preferable, especially as it allows one to see a good deal of Fosse's Broadway choreography.