SWEET CHARITY SET TO SIZZLE IN COSY VENUE
Habitat Living Sound DJ and Nightclub like ‘another character in the show’
Hey big spender, Caitlynne Medrek, Ryan Maschke and Amber Bissonnette have a deal for you.
The three artists who worked on Theatre Calgary’s award-winning musical Billy Elliot, are now co-producing a Calgary version of Sweet Charity, a 1966 musical that turned Bob Fosse and his then wife Gwen Verden into Broadway stars.
It’s the story of Charity Hope Valentine, a dance hall girl who wears her heart and her lover’s tattoo on her arm even though the rat has dumped her. Charity never gives up hope she’ll find Mr. Right.
The trio promise their show is a lean, mean, mighty production of this classic musical and that the venue they’ve chosen is going to make Charity’s story feel more authentic and definitely more intimate. Habitat Living Sound DJ and Nightclub has the look and feel of a 1960s nightclub.
“We love that Habitat Living has all these great disco balls and a bar. There are so many wonderful spaces at Habitat and we’re using every nook and cranny we can find. It will be an exclusive, intimate performance for 40 people per performance,” says Bissonnette, who is directing Sweet Charity.
Maschke, who is choreographing, says “it’s a real dance show and it’s going to showcase some of the incredible dancers we have in our community, including Hunter Jackson, Nicole Gapero, Jocelyn Hoover-leiver and Liberty Shultz.
“We trimmed the musical quite a bit because there is only so much story you can tell in a small space, but we’ve kept the nine dance numbers intact.”
Maschke was particularly excited about choreographing The Rich Man’s Frug, which he says is “pure fun and pure Fosse.” He also relished choreographing There’s Gotta Be Something Better Than This, which features Medrek as Charity and Cassie Muise and Stefanie Barnfather as her fellow dancers Helen and Nicki.
“It’s such an uplifting, feel-good number and, for the dancers, it’s the equivalent of an Olympic sport.
It’s a dazzling number. We’re so fortunate to have Habitat and it has become another character in the show and, boy, do our ladies know how to use it.”
Medrek says playing Charity is not that much of a stretch for her because they both see the positive in life.
“Charity and I know life is hard and it tends to beat you up when you’re down, but if you can wake up truly believing something good could happen, life is a lot easier to live.”
Medrek won the 2019 Betty Award for best actress in a musical for Billy Elliot but she said there was nothing for her in this season of plays. So her company YYC Princess Productions teamed up with Brown Cow Collective and The Honest Collective to present this musical, which hasn’t been done professionally in Calgary in more than two decades. It enjoyed a revival at the Shaw Festival in 2015 and on Broadway in 2005 with Christina Applegate. Medrek says Charity is “a dream role for actresses. She’s so alive and powerful. She always chooses to see the good in everyone and everything. The audience wants her to find happiness.””
Also starring opposite Medrek are Steven Morton as Italian movie star Vittorio Vidal and Sara Me as his girlfriend, Thomas Zima as Oscar, the man who steals Charity’s heart, and Sofi Munson as Rosie, the newest dancer at the Fandango Bar.