Viewing/Paper of Sweet Charity

Plot Synopsis: The movie Sweet Charity begins with Charity singing through Central Park with her ‘boyfriend’ Charlie. Hopelessly romantic and optimistic, Charity believes they will get married and even has a tattoo of his name on her arm. However, as Charity is about to make a wish, Charlie pushes her off a bridge and steals her entire lifesavings. In denial about what happened Charity returns to her work as a Dance Hall Hostess at the Fandango Ballroom and tries to convince her taxi dancer friends Nickie and Helene that Charlie will be back. Upon leaving work, Charity runs into the famous Italian actor Vittorio Vidal having an argument with his girlfriend Ursula. When Ursula departs in a cab, Vittorio asks a nosy and starstruck Charity to accompany him to a party. At the party Charity finds herself surrounded by luxury and fame and upon leaving the party the two return to Vittorio’s luxurious apartment where Charity is overwhelmed by the sheer extravagance and refers back to her life due to a “fickle finger of fate”. As she thinks back to her taxi dancer friends, she begins in song wishing her friends could only see her now. She then realizes that her friends would never believe her. It is then that Vittorio autographs a picture made out to Charity and givers her a few mementos from his old movies to remember him by and to use as proof. Unfortunately, Ursula unexpectedly shows up causing Vittorio to hide Charity in the closet for the rest of the night. Returning to the dance hall, she tells her friends Nickie and Helene about her night with Vittorio and they ridicule her of her inability to milk the situation for all it was worth. Nickie then claims that she is going to get out and that there’s got to be something better than what they are doing now. She, Charity and Helene then go off into song about a better life they could have and what they would do. Unfortunately, after the plans and dreams from the song Charity is the only one who actually sees it as a possibility while Nickie and Helene go back to work. The next day Charity goes to try and get a job by interviewing at a job search company. However, at the interview the man is so surprised by Charity’s lack of professional skills that he believes her interview to be a prank leaving Charity discouraged as she cries and enters the elevator. The elevator then breaks down leaving her and a claustrophobic man named Oscar Lindquist trapped. After calming and helping Oscar, the elevator becomes fixed and as Charity exits Oscar asks her out on a date. After their date in Central Park, Oscar attempts to guess her profession. However, Charity cannot bring herself to correct Oscar after he guesses that she works at bank. The two continue to date for two weeks, one of which he asks Charity to go to church with him. This church turns out to be a part of the hippie movement and after the date Oscar commends Charity for sharing in his beliefs of decency and morality. This leaves Charity distraught as she returns back to the dance hall where she quits work and decides she must tell Oscar. When she goes to meet him in a café he already knows and claims that her past is not important and that she must marry him. Charity again breaks out into song about how somebody loves her. Charity then takes Oscar with her to clear out her locker at work only to be met by a surprise party thrown by her friends. This party is a glimpse into Charity’s life and noticeable has effect on Oscar. When the two finally go to get married Oscar admits that he cannot go through with it due to Charity’s past and is forced to leave her. However, despite all of this, Charity seems to make it through as the movie ends with Charity in Central Park as “she lives hopefully ever after.”
Choreography Analysis: The overall choreography within the movie lends itself very well to the story telling. The first real use of choreography begins in the dance hall as all the taxi dancers