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Sweet Charity, a collaboration between veteran lyricist Dorothy Fields and young composer Cy Coleman, opened at the Palace Theatre, New York on 29th January 1966. Neil Simon’s book, which was based on the Federico Fellini film Nights of Cabiria changed the main character from a prostitute to a dance hall hostess named Charity Hope Valentine.

Set in the mid-sixties, the story follows Charity as she desperately seeks love, marriage and respectability. She becomes romantically involved with an Italian film star, Vittorio Vidal, and a neurotic accountant, Oscar Lindquist, whom she is set to marry.

The highs and lows of Charity’s story allow for a score packed with a whole range of marvellous songs, including Big Spender, If My Friends Could See Me Now, There’s Gotta Be Something Better Than This, Too Many Tomorrows and Rhythm Of Life.
Bob Fosse won a Tony Award for his innovative and exciting choreography for the original show, which ran for 608 performances and which was later revived in 1986. The show hit the London stage in 1967, followed two years later by a film version starring Shirley Maclaine, Chita Rivera and Sammy Davis Junior.