Village Players present SWEET CHARITY

The Village Players closes its 94th season with the high stepping musical Sweet Charity, the classic musical comedy by Neil Simon with Music by Cy Coleman and Lyrics by Dorothy Fields.

The production runs weekends May 12th through the 28th at the Village Players of Birmingham.

Meet the ever-optimistic Charity Hope Valentine; a hostess at the Fandango Ballroom who wants to leave the seedy world of 10 cents a dance in this disreputable establishment and start a more "respectable" life. She sings, dances, laughs and cries her way through one misadventure after the next, searching for true love. Based upon Federico Fellini's Oscar winning masterpiece Nights of Cabiria, Sweet Charity is one of the all-time classics of modern musical theatre. Get ready for famous tunes such as "If My Friends Could See Me Now" and "Big Spender" and high-energy dance numbers that will make you glad you decided to "spend a little time" with Charity and her crazy, frenetic friends.

Sweet Charity is directed by Village Players member Marcus Laban. When asked why he wanted to direct this musical comedy he stated; "Sweet Charity is one of my favorite musicals of all time. Even with such fun iconic numbers such as 'Big Spender' and 'Rhythm of Life' I find this piece to be tragically uplifting. The emotions the character of Charity goes through are at the base extremely tragic and put into these farcical situations which make for an extremely entertaining musical. I hope in general Sweet Charity's over all message of hope can ring true. This fantastic, talented cast is doing an excellent job at bringing this lesser-done classic/edgy musical to life. I like people to form their own opinions on productions, and as long as they can walk away with some new thought or idea while exiting the theatre, this production will have done its job."

The two act musical runs approximately 2 ½ hours plus one 15 minute intermission. Show dates and times are May 12, 13, 19, 20, 26, 27 at 8:00 p.m. and May 14, 21 and 28 at 2:00 p.m. Tickets are $20.00 (plus a $1.00 facilities improvement fee and $1.00 processing fee for each ticket order) and are available online at www.birminghamvillageplayers.com or by calling the theater box office at 248-644-2075. The playhouse of the Village Players is located at 34660 Woodward Avenue in Birmingham.