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An autumn workshop is planned for a new production of the classic Neil Simon / Cy Coleman & Dorothy Fields musical, Sweet Charity, starring Academy Award winner and Tony Award nominee Ariana DeBose, with all-new direction and choreography by Tony Award nominees Jeff and Rick Kuperman.
Inspired by Federico Fellini’s Nights of Cabiria, Sweet Charity explores the turbulent love life of Charity Hope Valentine, a hopelessly romantic but chronically unlucky dance hall hostess in New York City. With a hilarious book by Neil Simon and a quintessentially mid-1960s score by Cy Coleman (music) and Dorothy Fields (lyrics) that includes the songs “Big Spender,” “If My Friends Could See Me Now,” “The Rhythm of Life,” and “Baby, Dream Your Dream,” Sweet Charity captures all the energy, humor, and heartbreak of life in the Big City for one of musical theater’s most enduring and iconic optimists.
Sweet Charity opened on Broadway at the Palace Theatre on January 29, 1966, in a production directed and choreographed by Bob Fosse and starring Gwen Verdon, John McMartin, Helen Gallagher, and Thelma Oliver. Bringing together several defining talents of the American theater—including Coleman, Fields, Simon, Fosse, and Verdon—the collaboration made the musical a landmark of mid-century Broadway. It ran for 608 performances and received nine Tony Award nominations. Charity Hope Valentine immediately entered the canon of great musical-theater heroines: funny, sexually candid, bruised but irrepressibly hopeful, and denied the conventional romantic ending audiences had come to expect from musical comedies.
Additional details will be announced at a later date. The workshop will be produced by ATG Theatricals, Kristin Caskey, Mike Isaacson, Bee Carrozzini, Kevin Ryan, and Lamar Richardson.
Ariana DeBose is an award-winning actress renowned for her dynamic roles onstage and in film and television. She gained worldwide recognition for her groundbreaking performance as Anita in Steven Spielberg’s West Side Story, which earned her an Academy Award, BAFTA, Critics Choice, and SAG Awards. In doing so, she became the first openly queer Afro-Latina to receive an Academy Award. DeBose most recently starred opposite Ke Huy Quan in Universal’s action-romance LOVE HURTS. Her upcoming feature film projects include Lear Rex and Tow, the latter for which she also serves as executive producer. Her other recent films include Matthew Vaughn’s action film Argylle (Apple/Universal), Gabriela Cowperthwaite’s space thriller I.S.S., Disney’s 100th anniversary animated film Wish, Kraven the Hunter (Sony Pictures), and House of Spoils (Blumhouse/Prime Video). DeBose also recently wrapped production on the Prime Video series adaptation of Patricia Cornell’s Scarpetta, starring opposite Nicole Kidman and Jamie Lee Curtis.
In 2022, 2023, and 2024, DeBose has hosted the Tony Awards, earning critical acclaim and two Emmy nominations for “Outstanding Variety Special” in 2023 and 2024. She also starred in both seasons of the critically acclaimed musical comedy series Schmigadoon! (Apple TV+) as well as Ryan Murphy’s The Prom (Netflix). On Broadway, DeBose is perhaps best known for her Tony-nominated role as Disco Donna in Summer: The Donna Summer Musical, and for being part of the original cast of Hamilton, in which she also appeared in the film adaptation for Disney+. Other stage credits include Pippin, Motown the Musical, Bring It On: The Musical, and Company. A passionate advocate, DeBose serves on the International Board of Covenant House, supporting homeless LGBTQ youth, and on the boards of trustees for Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS (BCEFA) & the Entertainment Community Fund. She most recently appeared in The Baker’s Wife off-Broadway.
