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November 03, 2009

SWEET CHARITY 1992

Whitworth A.M. & D.S.

This was probably one of the best shows I have attended for some time and, taken overall, it is probably the second best Sweet Charity I have seen. This is quite a compliment when I mention that the best Sweet Charity was many years ago and won the top award given by the Manchester Evening News in those days. When I see a show of this quality I tend to analyse it, probably more carefully than the average show, and this is, in fact, a compliment to the society.

The character of Charity and the show are rather complex if you take them at more than face value. Charity can be considered to be basically a simple soul looking for warmth, love and affection. Perhaps she is not blessed with the greatest brains or strictest morals, but on the other hand, she is a very sexy person or someone to whom sex is merely an entrée for true love. So, every Charity is different and how did Susan L. Walker shape up?

She can act well and move well. Her voice was strong enough to put over the numbers and she looked good. Perhaps she looked a little too good and perhaps she was a little too sexy but overall she was superb in this demanding part.

It was then very interesting to go on to her two soul sisters at the Tango Palace. Normally, all three parts are played by people of a similar age range but both Mal Fidler as Helene and Anne Kerry as Nickie were slightly more mature. Indeed, they were probably more right for the parts than many others I have seen but this did tend to over emphasise Susan Walker's youth and freshness. Indeed, she looked almost too good to be a hostess in a semi-sleazy joint. Anne and Mal were superb. They put their numbers over well and did not miss a trick.

Stuart Forbes was probably the best Oscar I have ever seen. Bill Nicholson was a highly competent Vittorio and Des Cunliffe maintained the high standard I have seen in other Hermans. These are all difficult and important parts but they and all members of the company did extremely well.

Peter Wakefield, the Producer, most ably assisted by Jacci Nicholson as Choreographer, must have been very pleased with the end product.

This is a most difficult score which really needs a top class professional (and expensive) band and, in the circumstances, I think Andy Kelly kept everything going extremely well, most ably assisted by Spencer Kerry, the pianist.

The sets were excellent and all aspects of the production from the moment you set foot inside the Civic Hall at Whitworth reflect great credit on this Society.