The Official Raúl E. Esparza "Spread the Love" Thread, part two — Page 20

Raul was designed to be hugged.

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When I look at your avatar one word (well some others I can't say here) comes to mind, HUG.

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Hehe, yes, several words... Hug is definitly one of them. I officially have my mom in love with him. She watched Seth's Chatterbox and listened to tick, tick...BOOM!. She is now jelious that I get to see him in Company.

Speaking of seeing people, I talked to my mom about going to Anthony's book signing in PA, which I was planning on doing no matter what but really wanted her approval so I can tell her all about it later, lol. She is totally okay with it, and is gonna tell my dad that it is a trip with the Arts Villiage Learning Community that I am a part of at my college. We are convieniently leaving out the fact that I am going to be driving 10 hours with 3 other people, and staying in a hotel room with a *gasp* boy. I considered telling my dad about how this guy is gay, but I've decided to leave it out entirely, because he's majorly homophobic.

Gah... Chess is so amazing, sorry, that was really random.

I need to finish that book already.

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Chess is amazing. I like some performances on various cast recordings of it as well as or better than some of the benefit concert ones, but Raul is definitely the best Arbiter I've heard (though, to be fair, most recordings don't have "The Arbiter").

I didn't know that Boy George had written an autobiography, actually. I imagine that it would be interesting...

I'm very amused that he has a cookbook. That's awesome.

Yay, Alix! I'm so glad you enjoyed Sweeney. I'll be honest with you, I think it takes a while to absorb everything that's going on. Seeing the show a second time will really clear things up for you.

I am so proud of Michael. I knew he would do the role justice, but I was frightened for the production. I just couldn't see how it was going to work! But Michael has worked so hard, and he's done his father proud.

Everyone asks about the baby coffin. Basically, John Doyle needed a clever way to get a cheap and easy portable barbers chair. This was it. Michael's said a bunch of times that it can really stand for anything you want to make of it. I personally saw it as a sort of replacement for Joahanna. Sweeney sings "I think we shall not meet again. My little dove, my sweet, Johanna. Goodbye Johanna. You're gone, and yet your mine. I'm fine Johanna, I'm fine." "And though I'll think of you I guess until the the day I die, I think I miss you less and less as every day goes by, Johanna." So while the coffin serves as one of Sweeneys only "friends", in his mind, it almost takes the place of his love for her. Now he loves the chair. It's his new child. I think this is the REAL point where Sweeney becomes completely insane and looses any of the caretaking human traits he still was able to cling to. You see him rocking the coffin, and he seems mad. Also, you have to remember, the coffin is the same exact size the baby Johanna was when he was deported.

I hope this answers your question!

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*spoiler* (Just in case some folks don't know the story...) The problem you run into with considering Sweeney is the only "just" one is the fact that he murders both Pirelli and Lucy in cold blood. In both their cases, he is pressed for time, and kills them in a panic. Though Pirelli does threaten to blackmail Sweeney, he had nothing to do with Sweeney's deportation. He becomes willing to sacrafice anyone who would stand in his way, which is sadly why he ends up killing his wife, who's only fault was that she recognized him.

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One of the billion things I loved about this production was the fact that Michael WAS able to make Sweeney a person you could relate to. His main goal was for people to understand how someone could commit such unthinkable crimes. Not to the point where the revenge is justified, but enough so that the audience can relate to Sweeney in some way instead of judge him right off the bat. He wanted you to see the good AND the bad in Sweeney. And Michael is just so intuitive and was able to pull it off beautifully. There were moments where I just wanted to hold Sweeney Todd and just rock him back and forth and tell him everything would be okay and that he can put the pieces back together, etc. I genuinely CARED about him as a person. There are times when he is so gentle. And then, there are times when I just want to run as far away from Sweeney Todd as possible and tell all the people to run for their lives. He's just so evil that it's down right frightening.

At the chatterbox, Michael was so cute when he was talking about what his objectives for Sweeney were. And then he and Seth got on the subject of how he slices Lovett three times. Michael was so cute and chimed in all proud "That was MY idea!"

The way Sondheim wrote it, Mrs Lovett is the true villian of the show. And an actual backround story (which I think is just so interesting) is that Sondheim actually wrote the part with Angela Lansbury in mind. He told her "Angie, I have a great part for you, you are going to love it. It is the part of all parts etc." She said to send her the script. He did. She got the script and said "Steve, the show is called SWEENEY TODD, not NELLIE LOVETT!" She ended up reading it anyways, and of course, the rest is history.

LOL! I have no idea how to tie all of this in with Raul Esparza, but see what all of you folks (that I am extremely jealous of) have to look forward too. I just hope John Doyle starts a tradition and has like a baby Bobby, or something!

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An excellent choice.

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I'm loving all the Sweeney talk. Great show! I saw Jersey Boys tonight, that was great as well. A really unexpected night of fun!

I did something similar in Spanish, Elphie! We had to "modernize" Don Quijote, so I wrote about a character named Raul in order to keep myself awake and finish the assignment in the middle of the night.

That's how I felt too, like I wanted to give Sweeney a big hug and fix him in a way or show him that there is good and that there are other ways. I never really wanted to warn people of him. Maybe because Michael did such a good job of endearing the character to the audience. Before he killed the first person, I was nervous and wanted to warn him, but that was more because I was afraid of what I was about to see I think, how they were going to depict the murders. I always get really nervous when watching stuff like that or action scenes and kind of turn away or cover part of my face with my hands but watch anyway.

It's really interesting that he wrote the role for Angela Lansbury, because she's more of a comedic actress, isn't she? In the short clips I've seen of her that's true, and the people next to me were talking about previous productions they have seen during which they were laughing almost all the way through. Even though I don't really have any basis for comparison, I think I like it done this way more, a darker interpretation. It's more effective.

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