Thursday 27 October 2016

'Sweet Charity' at Manchester Royal Exchange

SWEET CHARITY
Book by Neil Simon / Lyrics by Dorothy Fields / Music by Cy ColemanDirected by Derek BondChoreographed by Aletta CollinsDesigned by James Perkins


Sat 3 Dec 2016 – Sat 21 Jan 2017 - The Theatre

TRANSFORMING the Royal Exchange into the hustle and bustle of New York City, Derek Bond returns to the theatre this Christmas to direct the Tony-nominated Broadway hit SWEET CHARITY. Bursting at the seams with instantly recognisable hit songs (Rhythm of Life, Big Spender, and If My Friends Could See Me Now) and stunning choreography by Aletta Collins this show, which defined a decade, is created by the team behind the 2014 sell-out success LITTLE SHOP OF HORRORS. Kaisa Hammarlund takes on the role of the hapless Charity Hope Valentine, who dreams of finding luck in love in the big smoke. SWEET CHARITY runs at the Exchange from 3 December 2016 – 21 January 2017.
Charity is a dancer in New York City. With a heart tattooed on her arm and always looking for love, she has a habit of falling for the wrong man. When she meets shy tax accountant Oscar it seems as though Charity’s luck might have changed. Their romance sends them whirling and spinning through the dance halls, churches and streets of 1960s New York. But not everything’s a walk in the park and Charity soon faces a choice between Oscar and the wild existence she has chosen to hide from him.
Derek Bond’s work for the Exchange includes the hugely successful LITTLE SHOP OF HORRORS by Howard Ashman and Alan Menken which was nominated for 3 Manchester Theatre Awards. Other credits include AS YOU LIKE IT by William Shakespeare (Southwark Playhouse), MICROCOSM (Soho Theatre), SHIVER and LOST IN YONKERS (Watford Palace, 2012), MANY MOONS (Theatre503) and FLOYD COLLINS (Southwark Playhouse) which was named Best Musical at the Off West End Awards, and was nominated for the Ned Sherrin Award for Best Musical at the Evening Standard Theatre Awards. Up -coming projects include JESS AND JOE FOREVER (Orange Tree Theatre) and STIG OF THE DUMP (Storyhouse Chester). He was Associate Director of Theatre503 from 2010-2011. He is also the creator of the PLAYlist project.
Aletta Collins was born in London, studied at the London Contemporary Dance School and was a dancer and choreographer for London Contemporary Dance Theatre. She is a former Associate Artist at the Royal Opera House, where her work included choreographing and directing THE RED BALLOON, COCTEAU VOICES and MAGICAL NIGHT in the Linbury Studio Theatre. Aletta won Best Choreographer at the 2012 Music Video Awards for LOSING MYSELF by Will Young. Choreographic work includes: WIND IN THE WILLOWS (Plymouth & National Tour); THE HAIRY APE (Old Vic); BEND IT LIKE BECKHAM (Phoenix Theatre); MADE IN DAGENHAM (Adelphi Theatre); LA TRAVIATA (Glyndebourne Festival and UK Tour); ANNA NICOLE (Royal Opera House and Brooklyn Academy of Music); AWAKENINGS AND BLOOM (Rambert Dance Company); DRIFTING AND TILTING – THE SONGS OF SCOTT WALKER (Barbican); THE EFFECT AND HIS DARK MATERIALS (National Theatre) and JESUS CHRIST SUPERSTAR (Lyceum).
Kaisa Hammarlund trained at Mountview Academy of Theatre arts. Originally from Sweden, Kaisa’s theatre work includes BAKKHAI (Almeida Theatre); CAN I BE STRAIGHT WITH YOU? / COURTING DRAMA (The Bush Theatre); The Sculptress in THE CAPTAIN OF KOPENICK (NT, directed by Adrian Noble); JUNO IN THE TEMPEST (Theatre Royal, Bath, directed by Adrian Noble); Elle Woods in LEGALLY BLONDE (Malmo, Sweden); Petra in A LITTLE NIGHT MUSIC (The Menier Chocolate / Garrick Theatre, directed by Trevor Nunn) and Crystal in DESPERATELY SEEKING SUSAN (Novello Theatre). Television credits include an upcoming 5 episode guest lead role in Holby City (BBC).
The cast is completed by Lucy Jane Adcock, Christine Allado, Michelle Andrews, Josie Benson, Olly Christopher, Michelle Cornelius, Daniel Crossley, Bob Harms, Natalie Hope, Cat Simmons, Holly Dale Spencer, Sévan Stephan and Alex Thomas-Smith.

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