Sweet Charity was performed Performance Preparation Academy final-year graduates at the Yvonne Arnaud Theatre, Guildford.
Star rating: four stars ★ ★ ★ ★ ✩
Occasionally, very occasionally, you see somebody with ‘star quality’ stamped all over them and watching Natalie Thorn absolutely nail Sweet Charity was pretty special by any standard.
This final show from the PPA’s three-year musical theatre graduates before they leave Guildford and go out into the great wide world was a cracker from start to finish with the polished Thorn totally captivating, whether acting, singing or dancing.
Her Italian movie scene for the benefit of its star Vittorio (who had picked her up to make his ladyfriend jealous) was an absolute gem.
Charity Hope Valentine, so winningly played by the great Shirley MacLaine in the film and brought back to vibrant life by Thorn, was a loveable, vulnerable, funny, hopelessly mixed-up creation and a masterclass in how to make best use of eyes, accents and facial expressions.
But this was far more than a one-woman show. The supporting cast, the set (which took us immediately to 1960s New York), costumes and dance routines were of the highest quality and if you put this show in the West End, it wouldn’t look the poor relation to anything.
Thorn apart, Emily Benjamin was particularly strong as Charity’s friend Nickie from the dive where the girls had to ‘entertain’ customers to earn a crust. Louis Rayneau was electric in his Daddy Brubeck cameo in ‘The Rhythm of Life’ routine which spectacularly opened Act II.
Nerdy boyfriend Oscar was humorously achieved by Michael Magennis, little Amy Forder was a pocket rocket as Charity’s other workmate Helene and Melissa Coleman worked well with William Paul as the demanding Ursula and her matinee-idol lover Vittorio.
This was arguably the best thing PPA has done and some feat by a relative ‘baby’ – they are barely eight years old.
It helped, of course, having a proper theatre to work in rather than the bare necessities of their in-house studio but, under their principal Louise Pieri, PPA has come a remarkably long way in a short time.
For a small, young operation to have consecutive-year finalists in the prestigious Sondheim Society Student Performer of the Year competition – Thorn took part last year, Ellen Day represented them on Sunday – takes talent even when you are a famous seat of learning.
Direction and staging by Lewis Butler and Lucy Stewart were inspired and Mary McAdam and her band got the last drop out of Cy Coleman’s enduring score.
With standards like ‘Big Spender’, ‘There’s Got to Be Something Better Than This’, ‘If My Friends Could See Me Now’ and ‘The Rhythm of Life’ – lyrics by the wonderful Dorothy Fields – it has always been a musical to savour and one that gets audiences onside from the start.
That may be due to the warmth of Neil Simon’s book but with an original screenplay by Federico Fellini (among others) and made famous on Broadway by Bob Fosse’s choreography, this iconic musical was never going to be short of class in any department.
The four main female roles were shared over the six performances and I was only sorry not to see Jenny Huxley-Golden’s Charity, Sophie Baxter’s Nickie, Sophie Burrell’s Helene or Tiffany Le Coultre’s Ursula. Having seen them before in other shows, I bet they have made a fine job of it.
All 36 final-year graduates made the very most of this last chance to strut their stuff for PPA. Their passion for theatre was gloriously obvious. Now they set off into the uncertain world of auditions with our good wishes and every finger crossed.
My four-star rating is judging it by West End standards. As student productions go, it merits the full five – and that’s not sweet charity!
Jeremy Chapman
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