KEY POINTS:
The Auckland Theatre Company's end-of-year dance musical Sweet Charity is not the only big production on the minds of cast and crew.
ATC's artistic director Colin McColl, who directs his first musical for the company, and the show's star Vincent Harder are about to hear the pitter-patter of little feet - and we are not talking about the chorus line.
Both are about to become second-time fathers and should the fickle finger of fate mean they have to leave the theatre post haste, there are contingency plans to ensure the $1 million Broadway-style salute goes on.
There's a lot riding on its success. For starters, it is the first ATC production to be sponsored by New Zealand Post; then there is the fact that end-of-year musicals are big money-spinners for the company with block bookings from those looking for something to mark the advent of the festive season.
McColl says the emphasis is on fun and good times rather than deep and meaningful, thought-provoking dramas.
He chose Sweet Charity partly because he wanted to work with Jackie Clarke who stars as Charity Hope Valentine, and because of the "great numbers" which include Rhythm of Life, Hey Big Spender and If My Friends Could See Me Now.
"Sweet Charity is one of the best musicals of all time and it promises to be the highlight of the year," he says. "It was written in the early 60s and encapsulates all the energy and exhilarating freedom of those times."
It doesn't hurt that the show has had a high-profile revival in the United States with Christina Applegate and Molly Ringwald taking the lead role in two productions.
Based on the Fellini film Nights of Cabiria and Neil Simon's novel Sweet Charity, the show is the story of dance hall hostess Charity, described as an "eternal optimist and the unluckiest romantic in New York City". She wears her heart on her sleeve, giving it - and her earnings - to the wrong man time after time. Then Charity meets Oscar (Stephen Butterworth), a nerdy-but-nice accountant who looks as if he could be The One she has been dreaming of.
The original Broadway production opened in 1966 and ran for 608 performances, earning 12 Tony Award nominations but winning only one for choreography. Three years later, the film version opened with Shirley MacLaine somewhat mis-cast in the lead role alongside Sammy Davis Jr and Mr Fantasy Island, Ricardo Montalban.
The show was revived on Broadway in 1986 with Debbie Allen as Charity and won four Tony Awards, including Best Revival.
Nineteen years later, it was back again with Christina Applegate as Charity and, earlier this year, Molly Ringwald donned the fishnets for a US tour.
McColl acknowledges that Sweet Charity hasn't been easy to cast. It needs all-rounders who are great singers as well as good dancers.
"I knew Charity would be a perfect, perfect role for Jackie but finding the rest of the cast was a little trickier. There were lots of auditions in Auckland and Wellington. We could find people who could either sing or dance but finding those who could do both, it took some sifting through."
Harder was brought over to appear in a scene-stealing cameo as Big Daddy Brubeck, played by Sammy Davis Jr in the 1969 film, after spending two years across the ditch starring as Simba in The Lion King.
"It's been refreshing to work on a show where the cast gets to have some input into what's happening on-stage," he says. "The Lion King is all written down with explicit instructions. Wherever in the world you see it, it will be exactly the same."
What: Sweet Charity by the Auckland Theatre Company
Starring: Jackie Clarke, Stephen Butterworth, Vincent Harder, Peter Daube, Georgia Duder, Debbie Fulford, John Gardiner, Sophia Hawthorne
Director: Colin McColl
Where and when: SkyCity Theatre, Nov 16-Dec 16
