Sweet Charity
Neil Simon (Book); Cy Coleman (Music); Dorothy Fields (Music)
San Jose Stage Company (The Stage)
Sometimes there are so many aspects of a spectacular production that it is almost impossible to know where to begin. That is especially true for San Jose Stage Company’s current summer hit-in-the-making, Sweet Charity. First, the 1967-premiering musical created by a Broadway dream team (Neil Simon, book; Cy Coleman, music; Dorothy Fields, lyrics) includes number after number that quickly became standards in the Great American Songbook — universally popular ones like “Big Spender,” and “If My Friends Could See Me Now.”
But more importantly, The Stage has pulled out all the stops to insure that this Sweet Charity is the sweetest it can possibly be with a cast that soars and sizzles , choreography that is electrically exciting, projections that are mind-bogglingly fun and innovative, costumes that elicit both guffaws and wows, a band that plays the hell out of the score … and did I mention the lighting, the sound effects, the props? Any way you look at it, The Stage’s Sweet Charity under the inspired and creative direction of Kenneth Kelleher is San Jose’s must-see of the summer.
Please proceed to Talkin’Broadway for the rest of my must-see review.
Rating: 5 E, MUST-SEE
A Theatre Eddys Best Bet Production
Sweet Charity continues through June 29, 2025, in a two-hour, thirty-minute (one intermission) production by San Jose Stage Company, 490 South 1st Street, San Jose, CA. Tickets are available online at www.thestage.org, by email at boxoffice@thestage.com, or by phone at 408-283-7142.
Photo Credit: Dave Lepori
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