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Sweet Charity by Broadway-San Diego 
If you could see Molly Ringwald now, she’s turned
primarily to the stage where she is currently starring at the Civic Theatre for
the national tour of Sweet Charity.
This hit musical from the mid-1960s got a Tony-nominated facelift a few years back from Director Walter Bobbie, and it’s looking good. The Neil Simon story, based on Federico Fellini’s screenplay Nights of Cabiria, is centered on Charity Hope Valentine, a dancer at The Fandango club and a hopeful romantic who falls in love by breakfast and gets dumped by lunch, but keeps on trying. Molly Ringwald is a lovable Charity, her comedy especially on target as she is stuck in the closet during her latest attempt with romance, in this case with movie star Vittorio Vidal (played by suave Aaron Ramey). His room includes the peak of Scott Pask’s set design, a long, red couch that keeps extending into the room, eventually nudging a slightly embarrassed but intrigued Charity. As the fickle finger of fate would have it, she has come full circle since Sixteen Candles, and this time it is Molly asking for underwear as proof of a liaison. But Charity’s leading man seems destined to become the desperately claustrophobic and shy Oscar Lindquist whom she meets in a stuck elevator. Guy Adkins is a masterful physical comedian, and his climbing the walls of the elevator is worth the price of admission in itself. Guy does all his scenes with just the right touch – an actor to watch. The ensemble is something to watch as well. The female ensemble kicks the show off to a steamy start with Big Spender. They all dance with flair to Wayne Cilento’s fittingly funky choreography in the 60-ish Club Pompeii, and their jazzy Rhythm of Life Church makes for some great and groovy religion.Performs September 12-17, 2006.
~ Cast ~
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Charity Hope Valentine: Molly Ringwald