Rhythm of Life- Sweet Charity

[ahmelie]

Posted: 4/5/07 at 12:23am

I just got back from Sweet Charity and one of my least favourite numbers in the show was Rhythm of Life. I shouldn't say least favourite, but the most dissapointing. When listening to the OBC recording I always thought of the song as this observation of how hookers relate to their pimps. I was watching a documentary about hookers and a few of them, when asked why they were in the business, they said that they "Did it for Daddy" or "Because Daddy needs me" I thought that Rhythm of Life was talking about how prostitution is almost a cult, how one gets themselves sucked into this life and cannot get out of it.

Apparently, it's not. Apperently it's a useless song in a church.
Was what I saw the original concept of the song? Or was I getting the right idea from the recording but it was considered too racy in 1966? And if not, do you guys agree with me that if Rhythm of Life was given a purpose, it could intensify the whole show?

[JustChillin8908]

Posted: 4/5/07 at 12:35am

I never got that idea, but did you see the tour with Molly Ringwald or a Regional production?

[ahmelie]

Posted: 4/5/07 at 12:37am

The Tour. It was my first time ever seeing a production. (I don't like to watch movie-musicals until after I've seen the musical live)

[JustChillin8908]

Posted: 4/5/07 at 12:41am

This is completly off-topic, but what did you think of Molly Ringwald?

[ahmelie]

Posted: 4/5/07 at 12:45am

I thought her voice was perfect for Charity, cute and a little squeaky but in an endearing way that was great.

But she can't dance, big dissapointment. She was obviously giving her all though, and I felt like she was really trying. She exceeded my expectations but really Charity needs to be able to dance.

[CATSNYrevival]

Posted: 4/5/07 at 12:48am

Molly can dance. Wayne Cilento just can't choreograph to save his life is all...

[JustChillin8908]

Posted: 4/5/07 at 12:50am

CATSNYrevival, is there a reason you believe Molly can dance?

[MargoChanning]

Posted: 4/5/07 at 12:52am

"The Rhythm of Life" scene was always intended to be a spoof of the sorts of underground, off-the-wall, cult-ish fly-by-night "churches" that had begun popping up all over the place back in the 60s and became trendy for a little while with the hip and "cool set" and then would disappear overnight. Some like the Hare Krishnas have stuck around along with other Eastern-influenced, experimental Hindu and Buddhist sects (which first began to gain some popularity in America over the Judeo-Christian dominance of the religious "market" around that time -- even the Beatles had their own Maharisi Yogi for a while).

The song NEVER had anything whatsoever to do with prostitution. It was a topical comedic reference (everyone in the audience in 1966 would have gotten the joke) and nothing more (the "daddy" in the song is not a pimp, but the religious leader of the cult/"new religion"). Mind you, the original staging of it was infinitely better than the unfunny, haphazard anticlimatic mess that Cilento created for the revival -- check out how Fosse staged it in the film version with Maclaine, where Sammy Davis Jr. played Daddy -- but the context and subject matter of the song have always been the same.

Updated On: 4/5/07 at 12:52 AM

[CATSNYrevival]

Posted: 4/5/07 at 12:54am

Because I was very impressed with what I saw? I saw her potential talent had she been given real choreography.

[neddyfrank2]

Posted: 4/5/07 at 1:04am

CATS- You and I saw it on the same leg of the tour but I don't know who the hell you saw because the Molly I saw couldn't dance to save her life.

[JustChillin8908]

Posted: 4/5/07 at 1:05am

"Because I was very impressed with what I saw? I saw her potential talent had she been given real choreography."

Oh, sorry if my question was confusing or sounded kind of rude. I have just seen so many negative comments about Molly's dancing that I was suprised to see someone believed she had potential. I guess I'll get to judge for myself on the 28th.
Updated On: 4/5/07 at 01:05 AM

[TLKfan]

Posted: 4/5/07 at 1:09am

I didn't think she danced well, but other than that I liked her.

Thanks for the explanation, Margo, that's what I figured it was about. I actually liked the number, but oh well. :)

[CATSNYrevival]

Posted: 4/5/07 at 1:13am

Well, yes. I became a fan of Molly's after seeing the tour. I think she is very funny and that she has a sweet voice that suits the character as it is for this revival though perhaps not the brash powerhouse (yet still confusingly naive) girl she is in the Fosse version. The only down side to Molly's performance was her dancing which I blame on Cilento and not her.

[Josh Freilich]

Posted: 4/5/07 at 9:23am

I have a theory that some people who can dance well can't sing well and those who can sing well can't dance well, so they should watch who they cast in that show.

She sounded great and she danced okay. I saw it in West Palm Beach (I flew there for Spring Break).

Anyway, Christina Applegate could dance well, she couldn't handle her voice well. So, I had doubts in terms of Molly's dancing abilities. Same thing with Gwen Verdon. I know she was a GREAT dancer, but I wish I could say the same for her singing. The only person they cast in the show who I think is a triple threat is definitely Debbie Allen.

[best12bars]

Posted: 4/5/07 at 9:32am

Sweet Charity is adapted from The Nights of Cabiria... and The Rhythm Of Life scene is adapted directly from a scene in the original where Cabiria and her companion visit a holy shrine. The creative team spun it into the "church of the month club" scene for exactly the reasons Margo described.

And I LOVE this number with the original staging and in the film with Sammy Davis Jr. as Daddy.

[ahmelie]

Posted: 4/5/07 at 9:36am

Even the little parts where she did dance, she didn't deliever. She wasn't even graceful, much less fosse-esque.

Margo, I picked up on that, but I thought it was a bit of a cop out. I'd still rather see that number have a meaning rather than it just being a spoof.

Josh- Donna McKechnie toured with the show 20 years ago, and she's a fantastic singer, dancer, and actress. I would kill to have seen her tour with this show. And I'm sure there were 10 girls in the chorus who could've been more Competent Charitys, the only reason Molly was up there was because of her name.

[Bwaydreams01]

Posted: 4/5/07 at 9:42am

Did you just see it in Pittsburgh? I'm hoping to see it this weekend.

[best12bars]

Posted: 4/5/07 at 9:48am

The number has a meaning as much as ANY musical theatre number has a meaning that takes place at a social event in a story.

It's no more out of place than The Farmer and the Cowman, the Ascot Gavotte or The Dance at the Gym in WSS.

...Unless it's ill-conceived and badly executed. (Which sounds like the real problem here.)

Charity and her boyfriend are out on a date. He's an adorable oddball who takes her to the latest religious ceremony in his Church of the Month Club on this date. It's part of the story. Her story. Their story. As they get to know each other and fall in love.

[BrodyFosse123]

Posted: 4/5/07 at 9:58am

Christina's "Charity's Soliloquy" is up now on that unmentionable site. There's 2, so look for the long one with the full scene that leads into it (with Janine LaManna, etc.). This'll give you an idea how Christina's actual voice was 'live' at the theatre, which was great -- unfortunately, her voice doesn't capture well with the intimacy of the mircophone and a small recording booth. Full voice -- she's great. Vocally controlled, she isn't.

[Piercemn]

Posted: 4/5/07 at 11:17am

Thank you, best 12 bars. I've always thought that Sweet Charity was a very fine adaptation of Nights of Cabiria which followed Fellini's ideas really closely. I've always thought that Nights of Cabiria was his best film, and Giulietta Messina gave her finest performance in this. La Strada is too sad, and while I loved La Dolce Vita and the passion of Amarcord, this is such a lovely film, and a fine, naturalistic work of Italian Cinema.

Fosse loved movies and he put that love into Sweet Charity. Thanks for clarifying the purpose of Rhythm of Life.

[ljay889]

Posted: 4/5/07 at 12:18pm

Same thing with Gwen Verdon. I know she was a GREAT dancer, but I wish I could say the same for her singing. The only person they cast in the show who I think is a triple threat is definitely Debbie Allen.

- Are you really insinuating Verdon wasn't a triple threat? Have you heard her solo album THE GIRL I LEFT TOWN FOR, obviously not. Her vocals are fabulous on there. She had a great voice, but sadly her voice suffered from a lot of problems, from the feathers to throat infections.

BUT the term triple threat was created FOR Gwen. She is considered the ORIGINAL triple threat.

I'd never thought there would be a day where someone doesn't think Gwen Verdon was a triple threat.

Ps. Debbie Allen wish she had the dancing skills of Verdon.

[javertjunky]

Posted: 4/5/07 at 1:00pm

I sang this song in my Men's Chorus and ABSOLUTLY loved it!

[sondheimboy2]

Posted: 4/5/07 at 2:04pm

For some reason, my mother gave a copy of the soundtrack album of the film to my straight brother on his birthday back in the early seventies. (I know, wrong brother.)

I can't say that I fell in love with it, but I really, really fell into like with it.

And "Rhythm of Life" and "I Always Cry At Weddings" were my favorite songs from the show.

A couple of decades later, my brother (from whom I'd grown a bit estranged) and I were driving to a family reunion and we passed by a church that had a wedding party emerging from it as we passed by.

And my straight brother sang exactly what I was thinking: "I walk into the chappel and get happily hysterical..."

And I thought, yes, we are related...

[jv92]

Posted: 4/5/07 at 3:30pm

See the film. Unfortunately, Bob Fosse did not allow any of his shows to be taped for Lincoln Center (Sweet Charity opened before Lincoln Center started taping shows anyway, but still...) so there is no filmed record of the original number and how it worked onstage, but the film is the closest you are going to get to the original stage choreography. It really is a great number.

Posted: 4/5/07 at 7:54pm

On the remastered OBCR CD they have interviews with the cast and writers (and oddly Ethel Merman0 at openign night and Neil Simon mentions that Rhtym of Life was written out of town very quickly--there was instead a scene there that apparantly didn't work though I have no idea what it is.

I *love* the number, love the church/hippy parody, love the garage setting. It's insane how many showstoppers there ar ein Charity--that said what I've seen of Cilento's other numbers for the revival (his lame Rich Man's Frug) makes me think he probably turned this number into a not very memorable dance routine when it really needs to be WOW to work--otherwise it does feel forced in. (I would argue that it's as necesary to the show as WSS's Dance at ther Gym--but it's a very different kind of show)

I think it does help if you think of Charity as Felini-esque--Felini's films, best exemplified by the love it or hate it (I love it) Dolce Vita are often episodic scenes centering around one main character that comment, usually in comic but cynical ways, on humanity and society. WOw--I just realized why Felini was such a natural source for Fosse--jeez haha. If you look at Charity as a love story between Charity and Oscar I think it'll fall apart.

Man I *really* *really* wish the tour were a restaging of Fosse's original production--I was watching the Ed Sullivan performances by Gwen in Friends See me now and Brass Band (which is STUNNING on Ed Sullivan)--and I have the RIch Man's Frug and Big Spender memorised from FOSSE of course.

Rhythm of Life is oddly the only big showstopper I wish I could see a clip of (the clips of the BFACT concert on youtube show nearly every number but Rhythm) cuz, while I love how spooky and weird it is in the movie version and the funkier arrangdment
you can't clearly see much of the dancing--


As for Gwen not being able to sing, I think she sounds radiant on the cast album--and every note WAS written for her voice.

I *love* the film and just rewtached it last week although I have to admit for me it doesn't feel liek a good apropriation of the stage work--it's almost liek a different show for me--even though most of the actual choreography in a number like Brass Band are exactly the same, just because it's been opened so much and Fosse was experimenting with film technique it has a different feel than the work does on the cast album and from waht I've seen on stage IMHO.