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Sweet Charity live on Broadway In New York

Sweet clarity
By Patrick Pacheco, Special to The Times from the LA Times

The Big Story of the Broadway season, which will be celebrated tonight at the 57th annual Tony Awards, demonstrates the special delirium of the Great White Way: Consider Christina Applegate and "Sweet Charity," the musical revival that has been revived more times on the way to its opening last month than a heart patient on "ER."

A star's broken foot, lukewarm reviews, tepid box office and an official closing. Yet "Sweet Charity" still managed to emerge from these travails to open on Broadway last month, thanks to the plucky Applegate. Not only did she hobble back into the show but she reportedly marshaled backers to pony up a third of an additional $1.5 million needed to get to opening night.

Cheers, tears, flowers, ovations. Tony nominations for the show and its star. The kind of show-must-go-on story Broadway loves. But was it worth it?

Given that the show has a comparatively small advance — $2 million — the producers now risk losing $9 million (rather than the reported $7.5 million had the show remained closed.) It seems the investors' additional money might have been better spent at the Fandango Ballroom, where Charity and her friends ply their trade as "dance hall hostesses." Their come-on seems as directed toward today's Broadway investor as to their marks: "The minute you walked in the joint / I could see you were a man of distinction / A real big spender! Good-looking, so refined / Say, wouldn't you like to know / What's going on in my mind?"