Bittersweet Charity

By Kari Geltemeyer in Arts & Entertainment on Mar 14, 2005 2:00PM

Critical reception of her Sweet Charity may have been mixed, but you’ve gotta admit Christina Applegate is one game girl: the actress managed to Fosse her way through 20 minutes of Friday night’s show on a broken foot before her understudy stepped in.

According to on-the-scene sources, Applegate was injured during the evening’s first number but toughed it out until the dreaded “injury intermission” was finally called; fifteen minutes later, understudy Dylis Croman took the stage at the Cadillac Palace Theatre in her place. Applegate was carted to a local hospital, where the news on the hoofing front was decidedly downbeat: she’ll be benched through Charity’s final pre-Broadway engagement in Boston, playing March 18–27. Current Chicago headliner Charlotte D’Amboise will take over for that run, but Applegate is expected back in time for New York previews on April 4 (or so pray the show’s producers—the former Kelly Bundy’s name and face are the revival's main selling point. No small amount of pressure for a Broadway virgin, eh?).

Meanwhile, we’d like to know exactly what it is about Chicago stages that’s causing all of these actors to stumble during their opening numbers.

Image from broadway.com