User Reviews

There are three shows here historically documented and reproduced with style: "Lady in the Dark", "Finian's Rainbow" and "South Pacific" from the 1940's, and "Sweet Charity" from the 1960's. It's more of the same in this second installment of the brief recurring PBS series, but the stars are there: Danny Kaye and Lynn Redgrave, showing off "Jenny, who couldn't make her mind up", Nancy Dussault and Jack Lemmon as Sharon and Og the Leprechan, and Bonnie Franklin, the "cockeyed optimist" and Sergio Franci, the charming Frenchman "across a crowded room". It's the second of three specials hosted for PBS by Sylvia Fine, and here, she is joined on stage by real life husband Danny Kaye who repeats some of the patter lyrics she had written especially for him for "Lady in the Dark". The sets and colors are bright, and you do indeed feel like you were watching these back in the 1940's when they were first seen. Juliet Prowse also gets to repeat her role as Charity Hope Valentine and it's a shame that she never really got the chance to become a huge Broadway star, mainly only either replacing or touring in hit shows. Fine's wit is still present, and so are the observations about history and culture, which makes this not only entertaining, but delightfully informative as well.