Sweet Charity at the Donmar

Wouldn't surprise me if they gave it back to Taylor Shaq. There would've been an announcement by now surely!
 
They don't need to sell any tix for the show, the only thing it does is liven the place up with a bit of fresh meat on the stag for 5 minutes.

To be honest that is what I was also thinking

I wish I'd booked for earlier in the run now! Missed out on the likes of Adrian Lester, Beverley Knight, Clive Rowe...

I hope I'm eating my words in 10 years' time and boasting about seeing Kadiff Kirwan before he was famous, obviously, but my, what a let-down as a guest star after the previous Daddy Brubeck's!

Apparently he was in the Donmar City of Angels, but I have zero recollection of him in that production (which admittedly I didn't go crazy for).

I'm going on Thursday so we will see Shaq Taylor.

The only thing good about this production is that it marks the end of Josie Rourke's time at the Donmar. It's fitting that she goes out with something so misguided, miscast and miserable. Now they just have to fumigate the place to get the stench out. Charity has three things going for it: a great score, a funny and heart-breaking book and an opportunity for a choreographer to show what they can do . Thanks to Miss Duff's horrible ( though weirdly confident) singing voice, the score is destroyed. Thanks to Ms Rourke having no sense of what comic timing is ( except of course in the bullet-proof elevator scene and Mr Darvill's considerable skills) the book simply drones on and on. The laughs were few and far between. And while no choreographer is going to be better than Bob Fosse on this show , Mr MacGregor came up with NOTHING. A horrible production. ( and when you can't make Rhythm of Life a show stopper you're in big trouble) . Grrrrrr.

Seeing it tonight, so, uh, looking forward to it.

I dont use Twitter so may have missed it but there doesn't seem to be any news on who is doing the guest appearance next week.

We had Shaq Taylor last night.  I get the feeling they've sort of given up on the stunt 'Daddy Brubeck' casting, given the recent lack of fanfare in terms of announcements.

This is a bit of a grumbling review for two reasons. One is that I splurged and got two stalls seats (C1 and C2) for £40. I cannot tell you the last time I spent that much on tickets at the Donmar - I'm usually £20/£10 up in the circle, but I thought this might be an occasion I didn't want to miss. Just to get the seat comments out of the way C1 and C2 are not good seats. Although your view is not actually restricted, much of the production has been stage out front, so you have a poor view of things like the elevator scene. My daughter said she felt cut off from the show, it was a bit like watching it from the wings - close, but at an odd angel. The other reason, despite the criticism here of the singing, I'm not a musical purist, so thought that since I like the music, a good concept/acting/staging would carry it for me. Alas.

The Duff's singing isn't good, and she also sounded like she might be losing her voice, so it was a bit rough and warbly, but I hadn't been entirely prepared for her lack of dancing. However she wasn't alone in that. I'm usually a big fan of ensembles, but, with a couple of standouts, the group numbers were poor. There was scarcely a number that wouldn't have been better staged or executed in your average American high school or a piece of choreography that anyone on this forum couldn't execute. I know someone on here (Steve? Mallardo?)  wrote brilliantly about the Warhol influence - and I think that is one of those clever directorial ideas that, in practical terms, sapped the musical.  Members of Warhol's factory, judging by their films, were often lacklustre, exhausted, drugged up. When you apply that to the ensemble as they slowly haul out a sign that says 'Park' or whatever, it just deadens the show.

I agree Oscar was v. good and the show picked up upon his arrival. The beginning of 'I always cry at weddings' was strong, until

I think there might be a domino effect of negativity here. The production and actors are fantastic. There are a couple of moments where things don’t necessarily land with all audience members, which will always be the nature of a 3-sided space, but having read some of these reviews makes you hate it before you’ve even arrived. I was so wrong to do that. I have now seen in 3 times, twice with a standing ovation at the end of the performance from the entire audience. There’s not a single bad actor in this show, and for those concerned about the Daddy, that is it’s an added thing, the show was already sold out before the Daddy’s were announced, having the hump because you don’t know who you’re gonna have on your week is silly, as far as you knew when you booked the ticket you would never have known until you got there anyway. I hate how much this has been shot down, when there are other shows on right now that are far worse... also £40 for a ticket is the cheapest in most theatres these days, this is the most expensive ticket for the Donmar. They aren’t over price for the work and the actors on that stage

I was apprehensive about today's matinee but actually enjoyed it. My heart sank at the start with the style of production but in the end I thought it worked. The weakest bit was the lack lustre choreography but the band were terrific and the sound balance exemplary. This is the third Charity I've seen, the other two being the Menier one of ten years ago and the Watermill one of last year. This was definitely the best of the three for getting the sleaziness of the club across - the other two were way too 'polite.'
For me Anne Marie Duff was the most convincing Charity I've yet seen and I actually liked her voice. OK she has a limited range and was a little gruff but here intonation was virtually spot on and, because she is such a good actor, she can 'sell' a song really well. I'd love to see here do other musicals (maybe Sondheim) and at the end she was absolutely heartbreaking and made this 'problem' part of the musical really work for me.

We are seeing this on Wednesday and I have just received from the theatre,a very detailed and comprehensive ‘welcome’ e-mail from them with rehearsal photos,guide to facilities,how to get there etc.Very impressive and classy.Never come across this before in such detail from other venues.