I had a sudden urge to watch Bob Fosse's SWEET CHARITY so I started looking for it on our DVD shelves. I could have sworn we had a DVD. So I combed through it a couple of times (I did manage to unearth two unopened VHS copies of WHEN HARRY MET SALLY...I guess they were back ups in case of an emergency!) but still couldn't find it!

Feeling that maybe my memory had failed me and we didn't own a copy after all, I went and bought a new DVD (widescreen of course). I went to special features and they had an alternate ending which I'd never seen before! It starts after Oscar leaves her at City Hall and she leaves, crying and broken hearted and heads to the bridge from the opening scene and throws the sign "almost married" into the water. Then it cuts to Oscar in his apartment, agitated and "suffocating" so much that he has to go out for a walk.

He spies Charity on the bridge and thinking she is about to commit suicide runs up to her, trips and falls in the water. She jumps in after him, but she can't swim so he has to save her. They have a touching converstation in the water about how he can't breathe without her and he asks her to marry him again and she accepts, deliriously happy again. They get out of the water and walk hand in hand into the moonlight. "And she lived hopefully ever after" is still supered over the ending.

Boy is that ever a different message from the original ending! Hmmm...I think I still prefer the original ending. Although hard to take because it isn't a pat happy ending, it really speaks to the character of Charity and how strong she is, and how she doesn't necessarily need a man to go on living hopefully, if not happily. Cool to see though.

And there is also a great "stage to screen" featurette with Bob Fosse and how he found the two mediums different, and how he came to really love directing films because he felt so much less constrained than directing on stage. You get to see them filming "Big Spender" and "The Rich Man's Frug" and "There's Gotta Be Something Better Than This". Very cool.

Of course, I'll probably find the other copy of SWEET CHARITY now...

Technorati tags: Broadway Music Movie Musicals Musicals Blog Blogs Theater Theatre Entertainment