ORANGEVILLE MUSIC THEATRE has scored a hit with its production of Sweet Charity, currently playing at the Opera House. The stellar cast includes (left to right) Alison Port, Andrew Welch, Elizabeth Weait Glenday and Jennifer Bartrum. In reviewing a local community theatre production, one often feels obliged to give it positive spin in deference to the free time put forward by volunteers.

But the Orangeville Music Theatre’s Sweet Charity, now playing at the Opera House, has absolutely no need for such condescension. It is a riveting show with a terrific cast, strong production values, and choreography that makes one want to jump out of his seat and join in.

Co-director and choreographer Roland Kirouac has now established, beyond a doubt, that he’s the guy who can see the preconceived limitations facing a production, bust through them and take the show to new heights.

He shares the directing duties for Sweet Charity with his wife, Sandra Kirouac, who brings 35 years of show business experience to the project.

Executive producer Dale Lundy, stage manager Janis Epners and the production team utilize the smaller Opera House stage to the utmost; complimenting the production with a set and light show that are understated yet nonetheless effective.

Since it debuted in 1966, this story of a dance hall girl’s futile pursuit of love and respectability has been approached in different ways. Sweet Charity has been presented as both a quasi-slapstick farce and as a bittersweet dark comedy flirting with depression.

OMT’s production leans tastefully towards the former.

Depending on the observer’s outlook on life, Sweet Charity also comes across as either a tribute to eternal optimism or proof of the axiom that there’s a sucker born every minute.

Elizabeth Weait Glenday shines in the title role of Charity Hope Valentine. She brings a measured energy to the part, tempering Charity’s hopecrazed rants with an undercurrent of pragmatism that convinces the audience she is not totally naive.

Alison Port and Jennifer Bartrum skillfully portray Nicki and Helene, Charity’s fellow “dance hostesses” at the Fandango Ballroom. While their crusty, hard-bitten outer selves ridicule Charity, their softer inner cores vicariously feed off the heroine’s prevailing dreams of a better life.

Throughout the play, Charity is subject to disappointments that would curdle the romantic cream of most people. She tattoos the name of Charlie (Gaetano Pompa) – who says he will be her fiancee once his divorce is final – on her arm and pledges her life savings to furnishing their future home.

Charlie reciprocates by tossing her in the lake and stealing her purse.

She is then swept up by the volatile movie star Vittorio Vidal, (played with appropriate bluster by Bruno Zuccato), who ends up stashing Charity in a closet all night while he reconciles with his mistress.

Finally, she ends up stuck in an elevator with a neurotic tax accountant named Oscar. In the role of Oscar, Andrew Welch nearly steals the show with his elastic facial expressions and the goofy angst in his voice.

On their first date, Oscar drags Charity to the “Rhythm of Life” Church, populated by somewhat sleazy ex-jazz musician Daddy Brubeck (Doug Stang) and his spun-out, psychedelic congregation of followers.

What ensues is yet another of the production’s explosive choreography numbers. The cast dances in precise formation, yet manages to blend in comic and acrobatic sub-routines. Nobody on stage is ever idle and the audience is treated to a buffet of sights and sounds to choose from.

If there is anything that could be construed as a flaw, it’s near the end when Oscar dumps Charity after realizing he cannot reconcile himself to her less than innocent background. She seems to bounce back too quickly from this latest disappointment.

How often can a person get the air punched out of her and still automatically re-inflate herself?

Then again, such criticism may come from the innate cynicism of an audience member, and not from the show’s rousing and well-executed finale.

There is one thing that is certainly not up to dispute, however. If anyone is harbouring any doubts about Orangeville’s treasure trove of creative talent, those doubts have been swept away by an act of Sweet Charity.

Sweet Charity plays at the Opera House until Sunday. For information on tickets, call 1- 800-424-1295.