The ever-hopeful romantic Charity burst onto the stage at Gordon’s School, West End, for the sequinned, glitzy and glamorous Sweet Charity.

Playing to capacity audiences, the musical packed a powerful punch with hits such as Big Spender and If My Friends Could See Me Now, accompanied by a live orchestra.

Work on the production began in June 2023, building to a peak in January with rehearsals taking place at every opportunity, including weekends.

The instantly likeable Charity was played by Alice Kermeen, providing an ideal platform on which to demonstrate her singing, acting and dancing abilities. It also proved a test of her stamina as she was on stage for almost every minute of the two-hour performance.

With the mantra “Without love, life has no purpose”, the story follows Charity’s quest for love, which sees her losing money to Charlie (played by Elliot Watson) and hiding in the cupboard of the famous film star Vittorio Vidal (Owen Knight), before meeting the man of her dreams, Oscar (Killian Smith), a claustrophobic tax accountant, when they are stuck in a lift together.

Humorous, with toe-tapping songs and glorious dance routines, the musical included stand-out moments with the hippy Ed Reed as the distinctly dodgy Daddy Brubeck from the Rhythm of Life Church, the cameo role by the director of music Adam Stanworth and the camaraderie of the taxi dancers in the Fandango Ballroom.

For Alice and Emily Hallett (playing Nickie), the musical is their last at Gordon’s as they leave the school in July.

Alice, a former winner of the Musical Theatre Group for the Godalming Performing Arts Festival who has regularly performed for the British Youth Music Theatre, is hoping to continue to drama school. She said: “I have loved the process of developing Sweet Charity as it is such a fun production with an amazing cast. This whole process has been memorable.”

Emily, winner in six categories at the Woking Music Festival, judged Most Promising Singer by the Woking Music Festival committee and a member of the National Rodolfus Choir, was recently offered four Choral Awards by four Oxford University colleges and is hoping to read music at university.

She reflected: “Performing arts throughout my time at Gordon’s has grown so much, each production getting bigger and better.’’