Reviewed by Wendy Midren
April 2011
Sweet Charity was bought to life at Stirling by the Hills Musical Company. It was an all singing all dancing spectacular. The show was directed by Ceri Horner, assisted by Fran Edwards. The stage is not overly large and given that there was a cast of twenty five Ceri is to be congratulated on her blocking.
Carolyn Curtis played her role of Charity with great energy and verve. She both sang and danced well, however her microphone was far too loud and this had the effect of distorting some of her diction. Shelley Crooks and Nikki Gaertner were splendid as Charity’s friends, Nikki and Helene. Chris Eaton as the neurotic boyfriend, Oscar Lindquist, was very good and his singing voice was extremely pleasant and his diction was clear.
The self absorbed Italian actor, Vittorio Vidal was played with much gusto by Mark Horner, and his narcissistic actress girlfriend Ursula was played well by Rachael Horbelt. Jon McKay as Herman the manager of the Dance Hall did a rousing job of the song I Love to Cry at Weddings. The large chorus did a great job with singing and dancing.
Kerreane Sarti as the choreographer did a fantastic job with the large cast, especially the nightclub scene and the Rhythm of Life numbers. Well done. Mention must also be made of the brilliant work done by Ann Humphries as the costume designer. The set was reasonably minimalistic but there were some innovative touches, especially the lift scene.
The only down side of the production was the sound operation which was way too loud, especially with the somewhat discordant brass section. There were also a couple of hiccups with sound effects, but these were probably opening night nerves and would have settled down by the end of the season.
