There's a genuine triple threat in the title role, nine healthy pieces in the pit, a groovy Austin Powers-like setting and the most precise, hardest-working ensemble this side of the Alleghenies. All of that reflects the ongoing, thrilling sea change in the cultural life of
Oakbrook Terrace, propagated by the ambitious young producer Kyle DeSantis of the Drury Lane Oakbrook.
But Jim Corti's eye-popping revival of "Sweet Charity" also comes with another, less tangible feature. This is a show bursting with new ideas.
Suburban musical houses such as Drury Lane typically survive by offering more local, intimate and lower priced versions of Broadway shows. One has the typical compromises already lodged in one's head.
Well, not this time. Corti's fresh-eyed, uber-cool "Sweet Charity" is far, far superior to Walter Bobbie's recent Broadway revival starring
Christina Applegate. And that's not hometown jingoism. I saw that other version three times at various stages of its troubled development. And it never got where this show arrived right on its opening night, because it never had this level of conceptual certainty.
Or choreographic execution. Corti has snagged the Fosse-like stylings of Broadway veteran Mitzi Hamilton (the inspiration for the character Val in "A Chorus Line"). I've no idea how long choreographer Hamilton had her crew of superb Chicago dancers in the rehearsal studio, but they surely didn't throw this one together in the usual couple of weeks.
The famous "Big Spender" rail number is a spectacular melange of limbs akimbo and attitudes ablaze. It brought the house down Thursday night, and this knockout ensemble — which includes many performers who usually play lead roles — deserved every cheer.
That number wasn't alone. As executed by Summer Smart — a performer who really comes alive when she dances — Charity's "If My Friends Could See Me Now" fantasy number is just as disciplined and vivacious. And in this show's myriad number of tricky exterior scenes, Corti and Hamilton create a seamless, semi-fantastical visual picture of 1966 New York. Brian Sidney Bembridge's setting shimmers with life. And the gifted Tatjana Radisic's costumes — a riot of pattern and wit — are spectacular.
It's not a perfect show. Some of the scenes are underpaced. Although Nicholas Foster has a beautiful voice and an engagingly earnest presence as Oscar, asking him to play both principal male roles is perhaps asking too much. And the fresh-faced, eager-limbed Smart (who just spent several months playing Nessarose in the Chicago production of "Wicked") is certainly more at home with the legitimate singing and dancing than with her character's inherently goofy sense of comedic irony. No dance-hall hostess ever remained this seemingly guileless.
But really, those are minor quibbles about a don't-miss-it-at-these-prices show in the western suburbs.
The eager-limbed Smart sings, smiles and dances her heart out. With a killer score and droll book, "Sweet Charity" is a very sexy piece and, now, one of the best shows I've ever seen at the Drury Lane.
cjones5@tribune.com
"Sweet Charity"
Where: Drury Lane Oakbrook, 100 Drury Lane, Oakbrook Terrace
When: Through May 18
Running time: 2 hours, 30 minutes
Tickets: $24-$54 at 630-530-0111
