"Sweet Charity" works best as a modern urban fable, complete with a Good Fairy and a heroine who lives "hopefully ever after" despite a string of poor choices.

The book by Neil Simon provides a comic female lead swimming upstream in a river of irony. But the original 1966 direction and choreography by Bob Fosse trump the story line and stamp it with a distinctive look and feel. The dancing dominates the film version and continues to shape the revival now at Diamond Head Theatre.

Despite Cy Coleman and Dorothy Fields' string of hot tunes ("Big Spender," "If My Friends Could See Me Now," "I'm a Brass Band") this is a choreographer's musical. Andrew Sakaguchi follows that lead at DHT by casting Kristin Ing in the title role of Charity Hope Valentine, who not only wears her heart on her sleeve, she has it tattooed on her arm.

Ing's dance credentials give the production authenticity and continuity, but she's also able to fill out the songs with clarity and energy. Her performance abandons the stubborn, wistful-waif tone that Shirley MacLaine set in the movie version and adopts instead a spunky Mary Tyler Moore flavor.

Ing holds the character at arm's length — appropriate for this production's stylized folk-tale feel — but never leaves any doubt that love is all around and that Charity will ultimately find it on her own.

So while Charity is literally dumped by a series of unsuitable boyfriends, the show is buoyed up by its optimistic attitude and playful response to life's hard knocks.

"He tried to rescue me," protests Charity, "but he was only able to save my handbag." She and the other hostesses at the dance hall where she works don't only just dance, they "defend themselves to music."

Sakaguchi exploits that positive tone in the show's big numbers. "Rich Man's Frug" is a tight chorus number in the Fosse style, with the dancers tightly packed into a single unit, shoulders hunched, and arms at odd angles. Ing's irrepressible enthusiasm leads the men's chorus on "I'm a Brass Band," displaying enough punch for 75 trombones, at least.

And the static energy generated by the girls as they drape themselves over that dance bar on "Big Spender" undeniably electrifies the number.

Brent Yoshikami's barely controlled hysteria when his character shares a stalled elevator with Charity is satisfyingly over the top, and Scott Wallace oozes European charm as another of her short-term boyfriends.

Ahnya Chang and Kathryn Mariko Lee blend their voices beautifully as Charity's friends, and Tony Young powers his way through "Rhythm of Life," the gratuitous big number inserted into the show to kick-start the opening of Act 2.

Alethea Train's musical direction, Willie Sabel's minimal, but strongly suggestive set, and Karen Wolfe's bright costumes add to the show's big feel.

While the 90-minute first act plays long, there's nothing in it that could be easily cut and — while the final curtain approaches 11 o'clock — the production should play well with audiences.