Dance diary
Lydia Polzer went along to a performance of Sweet Charity with a difference
I read about a man who was in the newspaper not so long ago because he had put up a tent in some woodland and was commuting between the tent and a London office for work – all in the name of charity. But, putting together a West End musical in 48 hours? That has to be bordering on madness.
A lot of things can happen in 48 hours. If the TV series “24” is to be believed, it’s long enough for a bunch of terrorists to gain control over all American power stations and threaten to melt them down while a counter terrorist unit uncovers this plot, finds everyone involved in the most unlikely places, and cracks the computer code the terrorists had used to manipulate the power stations just in time to prevent total disaster.
But I digress. While “24” is entirely fictional, the showtime challenge is not. In fact, I think “24”’s Jack Bauer could learn from the brave producers of Sweet Charity, who put together a fantastic performance in 48 hours in support of the British Heart Foundation.
The rules are simple. After open auditions – which attract actors and zoologists alike – the lead roles are given scripts, scores, and six weeks to learn them. But there are strictly no rehearsals – not with the directing team, and not even just amongst the cast – until 48 hours prior to the gala performance.
What I don’t know is if anyone involved sleeps in that 48 hours beforehand. The answer is probably: not much. The intense rehearsal period starts off with a full run-through with no direction. The following day is dedicated to rehearsals and ends in another full run of the musical. I don’t even want to begin to imagine how many things still go wrong at that stage and what it would feel like to go home knowing there’s only another 24 hours left before the curtain rises.
The dance suffers a little bit. There is just no way any dance routine can look polished after just two days of rehearsals. But the lead roles have got to be admired. Jenny Bede, in the role of Charity Hope Valentine, was in every single scene of the show, and still singing her lungs out on the gala night. The performance had an edge to it, which suits the musical itself very well (the story of a dance hall hostess in a seedy New York bar, sorry: joint, looking for love). It was obvious that all the performers were still new to the musical and very much on their toes and engaged, which in turn engages the audience (quite possibly more so than the interval raffle did). And of course you don’t have to be the charitable type for a tune like “Big Spender” to lift you off your seat.
