Sept. 25, 2013
One woman's trust and faith in others despite continued disappointment is the storyline behind "Sweet Charity," the fall musical of the Benjamin T. Rome School of Music at Catholic University.
Performances are set for Friday and Saturday, Oct. 18 and 19, at 7:30 p.m. and Sunday, Oct. 20, at 2 p.m. at Hartke Theatre.
The plot follows Charity, a dance hall hostess, looking for Mr. Right in all the wrong places. Jay Brock, clinical assistant professor of musical theater, is director. He noted the play's writer, Neil Simon, "wrote this incredibly deep character who has a very complex arc and tells a wonderful story about who this woman is."
Brock described the play's plot as a circle. "Charity starts off as incredibly naïve, she's eternally optimistic. No matter what happens to her, she finds something positive about it. But she's unable to process the world as it is. She sees it through rose-colored glasses."
Sweet Charity differs from other musicals, he said. "Cy Coleman has written beautiful yet serious music. One of the things that makes Sweet Charity really stand out is, if you took the music out, it stands alone as a great play."
Lyrics in "Sweet Charity" are by Dorothy Fields.
The production crew includes Sally Boyett D'Angelo as choreographer. "She's an accomplished dancer, who originated the role of Patsy in 'Crazy for You' on Broadway," said Brock. "We are very lucky to have her with the show."
Music school alumnus Kyle English will conduct. Completing the production crew are JD Madison as set designer/projections, Cheryl Patton Wu as costume designer, and Catherine Girardi as lighting designer.
"We do our best to create productions that are surrounded by a professional team of creative artists so the students have a great experience," Brock added.Tickets are $20 for general admission; $15 for CUA alumni; $10 for seniors, students, and CUA faculty and staff; and $5 for CUA students. They can be purchased online at http://music.cua.edu.
The theater is located at 3801 Harewood Road, N.E., Washington, D.C. For more information, visit http://music.cua.edu/calendar/index.cfm or call the box office at 202-319-5416.