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Yes, right, performing in stage musicals is difficult work. But it shouldn't look difficult.
The cast of "Sweet Charity," now at the Paramount Theatre, gets the job done. They sing the songs, dance the dances, act the parts and crack the jokes. But it all looks so labored and laborious. Molly Ringwald, in the title role, conscientiously goes through the motions. But her performance -- especially her dancing -- lacks verve.
The Paramount show is a touring version of a recent not-very-successful Broadway revival. Its frail impact is not only a matter of uninspired performances. The actors do their routines on an almost empty stage. The effect is too few people in too much space.
Charity Hope Valentine is a person to whom things happen. In that sense, this 1966 Broadway musical based on a 1957 movie is what you could call a melodrama. What brings it to life (if it comes to life at all) is Charity's verve, her chutzpah, her pizazz. Ringwald clearly struggles for these effects. But visible struggle is the antithesis of ... all that.
Charity is a dance-hall hostess. Her co-workers are hard and cynical. But Charity keeps hoping for something or other. Men come. Men go. She falls for them. They are heels. She gets hurt. But she doesn't become calloused. She meets a nice guy. They get stuck in an elevator together. They fall in love.
This nice guy is played at the Paramount by Guy Adkins. And here's the odd thing about this production: Adkins has the hardest part of all. But he makes it look, not easy, but as if effort and struggle are energized by the character's internal wildness.
Oscar, the wild accountant, is claustrophobic. During the elevator scene, Adkins gasps and gags; he trembles and writhes; he literally climbs the walls; he dangles upside down; he folds up, forehead to knees; he writhes and wriggles. It's amazing. And it has the verve of a timid man who, in spite of all the contortions, hopes to make a favorable impression on Charity.
Adkins' subsequent scenes aren't nearly as spectacular as that elevator freak-out. But everything he does has the vitality that is so conspicuously lacking all around him. Adkins doesn't save the show. But he does make it possible to be a little charitable about this "Charity."
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