Sunday Showtunes

FRIDAY

Friday evening was “SWEET CHARITY,” the revival of the Cy Coleman musical from the 1960’s about an untalented woman who thought she was great -or rather, always had pluck despite every stroke of bad luck she encounters.  This is the show famous for its star, Christina Applegate, breaking her ankle on the road - but convincing the producers not to shut the production down.  I saw it on her next-to-last night before the show closed in New York after a respectably long run of 8 months. 

I enjoyed it (even though the show itself is not one of my favorites) and I thought Applegate did a great job - although I am not quite sure why I didn’t think she would be as good as she was.  Maybe I couldn’t get Kelly Bundy out of my head before I saw it.  Well, she proved the nay-sayers wrong.  Also, I was amazed at how much physical stress she was choreographed to put on her bad ankle - they certainly didn’t “dumb down” the choreography to baby her injury, or if they did I would hate to see what she had been doing before!   I found myself cringing a few times when she would leap or jump this way or that.  Even in her specially designed orthopedic boots, she must have been throbbing with pain (after all, she never really got a chance to heal properly and it’s EIGHT SHOWS A WEEK) and I bet she’s glad the run is over.  She’s a trouper and a half, though, no matter what.

KSHO broadcasts to the Mid-Willamette Valley in Western Oregon.
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