Christina Applegate Offered Sweet Charity Lead

By Andrew Gans
12 Jan 2004

Christina Applegate, right, in a guest stint on "Friends," with Jennifer Aniston
Christina Applegate, right, in a guest stint on "Friends," with Jennifer Aniston
Photo by Danny Feld for NBC

Jenna Elfman. Marisa Tomei. Jane Krakowski.

All three have been attached to the planned revival of Sweet Charity. Now comes word that another high-profile actress has been offered the lead in the forthcoming revival of the 1966 Broadway hit. Variety reports that Christina Applegate — of "Married with Children" fame — has been asked to play Charity Hope Valentine, the role created by four-time Tony Award winner Gwen Verdon. As previously announced on Playbill On-Line, the revival will be directed by Chicago's Walter Bobbie.

Best known for her role as Kelly Bundy in the FOX-TV series "Married with Children," Christina Applegate has also appeared in "Wonderland," "View from the Top," "The Sweetest Thing," "Prince Charming," "Just Visiting," "The Giving Tree," "Out in Fifty," "Jesse," "The Big Hit," "Mars Attacks!" and "Vibrations." Sweet Charity would mark Applegate's Broadway debut.

Sweet Charity is a quirky, romantic, urban musical comedy about a dance hall hostess with a heart of gold. It includes such songs like "If My Friends Could See Me Now," "Where Am I Going?" and "There's Gotta Be Something Better Than This." The Neil Simon-Cy Coleman-Dorothy Fields show from 1966 was a triumph for creator-director-choreographer Bob Fosse and actress Gwen Verdon. A film starred Shirley MacLaine as the innocent Charity, who lives hopefully ever after that she'll find a mate. A 1986 Broadway revival (overseen by Fosse, who died shortly after) starred Debbie Allen.