Intimate Sweet Charity at the Hayes

Sydney’s new home for independent musical theatre, the Hayes Theatre Company, named after Australian triple threat legend Nancye Hayes, opens in February 2014 with a new production of her breakthrough show Sweet Charity. Director Dean Bryant spoke to Neil Litchfield prior to rehearsals.

How do you scale back a Broadway musical like Sweet Charity for an intimate space?

“(Sweet) Charity has been one of those musicals I’ve wanted to do for years,” Dean Bryant confesses, “because there’s so much that’s really exciting – anyone who’s ever seen a clip of ‘Big Spender’ or heard the ‘Frug’ thinks Charity is about those iconic songs, which is wonderful, but I feel we’re actually being given a bit of a gift by being forced to shrink it down, because originally it was probably scaled up a bit to be a Broadway show.

“It’s based on the Fellini movie Nights of Cabiria, and actually follows the plot line of that movie quite closely. It’s a very intimate story about a Roman prostitute in the 50s who is just trying to get through her life and give herself some sort of security for old age, and she keeps thinking that’s going to come through finding a man to look after her. By making it a Broadway show and setting it in the world of New York, sometimes it felt quite large, so by making it small again we get to really focus on Charity’s story. Doing that in the 110 seat Hayes Theatre actually allows us to up what’s really special about the story.”

But where does that leave those big production numbers you mentioned?

“We’ve got 12 in the cast, and essentially the breakdown is 7 women and 5 men. They’ll all be on stage all night, so it’ll still feel quite big; you’ll get your ‘Big Spender’ line up with eight women (I’m sure you can figure out the maths) and the ‘Frug’ is really exciting because the music itself is so iconic and we’re just taking that music and really finding the way to tell physically what happened in that club. Even though I love the genius of what Fosse did, what’s interesting in a smaller space is telling the story of Charity going to the most chic club in New York, and really not fitting in, and telling how she charms the Italian movie star with her innocence of that world, as opposed to being like all the New York sophisticates. So I think the numbers will end up looking massive when you’ve got 12 people dancing full out in an 8 metre square stage space.

 “Charity is a huge role. In my version she will not leave the stage all night, so it’s like two and a half hours of just following one woman’s journey from two metres away.

“We’ve got a four piece band. We’re obviously staying very true to the 1960s rock feel, then kind of just using some surprises to give it that kind of contemporary twist, in the way that a lot of Amy Winehouse music or some of the Lana Del Ray stuff harks back now to that period of music-making.”

After nearly 50 years, how do you find a Sweet Charity for today?

“I always direct from the point of view that if this story was happening to me, now, what would make sense of it. Inherently you just have a contemporary take on it because you bring your own experiences, as for me as a 36 year-old man, interpreting this woman’s journey. What I feel is particularly important is, especially in Australia at the moment, that ability that our politicians have to overlook the less fortunate. That is the world that Charity is from; she was not born into a good family, she had no education, she’s literally gone into this field of work because she can’t think of a single thing else to do to make a living and survive. She still has this romantic notion that a hero will come along that she can give everything to, and he will protect her, but ultimately what she realizes is that she can only rely on herself. I think giving the sense of empowerment to women in that situation still resonates.

“I’ve talked a lot about the issues side of it, but it’s a really fun, joyous show. It’s so much about being sexy, especially with so many of the numbers being about women being in their bodies and being unashamed about using what they’ve been given. We have a cast of astonishingly good female triple threats; the dancer / singers you want in your show. We’re lucky we’ve got them all together in one tiny room. 

“Andrew Hallworth who is choreographing it is the most exciting, innovative music theatre choreographer in Australia.

“He’s a very witty choreographer. He works from storytelling, so his numbers build and go somewhere, so you’re not just watching three minute of full-out dance, you’re actually watching a story being told that’s funny, that’s sexy, that’s surprising, and that’s always choreographed on the actor.”

And your Charity; your leading lady?

“Verity Hunt Ballard is such an exceptional talent – she’s a brilliant actress, an amazing singer and a very, very good dancer, and sexy as well.

“We’ve known each other for about a decade. She went to WAAPA with my brother, and she did a musical that I wrote with Matthew Frank called Virgins, A Musical Threesome, in 2006 at the Malthouse, so I knew way before the rest of the general public how talented Verity was, so I was very, very unsurprised when she suddenly went from Jersey Boys to getting cast in (Mary) Poppins. So it’s really exciting for me, now that Australia knows how talented she is, to come back and renew a relationship we’ve been working on for years.”

What resonances do staging the first production in the theatre named after Nancye Hayes, the first Australian Charity, have?

“Nancye Hayes is such an inspiration for all Australian performers, being one of the pioneers who actually broke that mold and got us the right to perform the roles when those big shows came to town.

“Nancye is just so elegant. She’s completely true to herself, takes no bullshit and works really hard. She’s got all the attributes that you want your triple threat performers to have, and then she’s hardworking and completely humble. She inspires younger performers to do better, to work hard eight shows a week and to realize that it’s a joy to be employed, so take advantage of it when you’re there.

“She’s also been a great teacher. She goes to drama schools all the time and directs musicals and trains students.

“She and Verity have a connection. Nancye used to come to WAAPA, where I studied as well, and worked with us on shows. It’s almost bizarrely fitting that the first show is the role which made her famous, in her own theatre with an actor who she has mentored.”

Sweet Charity plays at the Hayes Theatre Company, formerly the Darlinghurst Theatre, 19 Greenknowe Ave, Potts Point, from February 7 – March 9, 2014. www.hayestheatre.com.au

More Reading

Full cast and additional details

Musicals in 2014 and Beyond

Originaly published in the January / February 2014 edition of Stage Whispers.