Blank Theatre Company’s ‘Sweet Charity’ Is A Charming Tale Of Love
Blank Theatre Company’s Sweet Charity is full of fantastic costumes, top-tier talent, and fascinating dance sequences. With a very funny story and script, this is an excellent night out.
Everyone enjoys a good love story. Whether you are into that kind of thing or not, if it’s funny enough, quirky enough, entertaining enough, most people are going to be intrigued enough to want to see how it ends.
Blank Theatre Company’s new production of Sweet Charity is all of these things with flair. A story about Charity, a woman who works as a taxi dancer at a dance hall in the 60s, all she wants is to find love. She looks high and low, bending and contorting herself to fit into the box that each man might desire, but has very little luck in keeping a partner. When she comes across Oscar, a high-strung worrier, she hopes her luck has changed.
A comedic musical that premiered on Broadway in 1966, this production is chock-full of talent. Teah Kiang Mirabelli’s Charity is magnetic and all personality. While she is an incredibly gifted singer, dancer, and actor, her smile and presence make Charity stand out as sweet, awkward, and genuine. I enjoyed watching for what she would say or do next because it was often something completely unexpected (in the best of ways).
The costumes are authentic to the 60s and incredibly diverse, funky, and fun. It was very exciting to see how the lighting would dull some of these costumes into pastels for some scenes and show them in their full groovy form in others.
As this story is designed a little like a movie or an old comic strip, floating signs would come out in the background or across the stage to help move the story forward. This was a fantastic addition to the whimsy of the show, as an actor would turn a briefcase around and it would say something like “later that night” or the like.
The entire show is constructed really well, but I want to highlight the ensemble and the choreography. When this production began, actors would hold positions to create beautiful images for the audience, all bending backwards together or striking a sexy pose while waiting for customers at the dance hall.
The dancing is electric and unbelievably captivating. With Bob Fosse-esque movements and techniques, angular motions with necks and wrists were fascinating to watch. Think about sequences that you’ve seen in shows like Chicago, Hair, or Pippin, where the entire ensemble is moving in rhythmic, jazzy coordination. It is wonderful and requires a heightened level of talent for everyone to be on the same page.
Sweet Charity is very funny, colorful, and lively, and definitely worth a watch. You never know what Charity will do or say, but you can be sure that when you see this show, you will be thoroughly entertained.
Sweet Charity runs for approximately 2 hours 30 minutes with one 15-minute intermission.
Blank Theatre Company: Sweet Charity – Sweet Charity is playing at Blank Theatre Company through 6/8/2025. Tickets can be purchased through the Blank Theatre Company website. Blank Theatre Company is performing at The Greenhouse Theatre Center at 2257 N Lincoln Avenue in Chicago, IL.