Betty in Sweeney?- Page 2

[Princeton78]

Posted: 4/23/05 at 11:04pm

I still wish they'd hire Idina Menzel for the role...

[BWayBoy88]

Posted: 4/23/05 at 11:36pm

Balletgirl-Do you know when the cast will be announced?

[jim coleman]

Posted: 4/24/05 at 2:25am

Betty Buckley can certainly hit all the notes in the score. But she is NOT funny! The comedic aspects of Mrs. Lovett are very important. Betty is way too intense!!

[apdarcey]

Posted: 4/24/05 at 2:31am

bernadette's being considered? really...

[rockfenris2005]

Posted: 4/24/05 at 5:10am

Stop ya whingin. It's better than Kelly Osbourne playing the role

[Auggie27]

Posted: 4/24/05 at 11:19am

Someone thought she was "a scream" in TRIUMPH OF LOVE? Noting in TRIUMPH was a scream to most of us, least of all the otherwise gifted, but ill-used, Ms. Buckley. Betty's strength is finding the soft underbelly, and/or neurotic subtext, in a character. I've no doubt that she could bring that sort of interpretation to Nellie Lovett, particularly the obsessive love for Sweeney; I fear it would so dominate as to make the character considerably less entertaining, and miss the black humor. It simply isn't her strong suit, as many of us -- her biggest fans -- might deduce.

[Michael Bennett]

Posted: 4/24/05 at 12:21pm

Considering that Stephen Sondheim can not stand Betty Buckley as a person or an artist, I somehow doubt that we will see her play Mrs. Lovett in any major revival of the show as long as he's alive.

[BWAYboi_yes]

Posted: 4/24/05 at 2:41pm

I hardly think that Sondheim "can't stand" Betty Buckley. She did sing at his birthday celebration, which I realize, he likely didn't put the talent together, but I think they've just had some issues. Sometimes it's those hard times that make people closer than they think, you know? I have no idea if any of this is true, but Ms. Buckley is a great performer, and I don't think either Sondheim or Buckley are so shallow that they'd let old problems get in the way of a great production.

[JMVR]

Posted: 4/24/05 at 5:37pm

I am a great Betty fan, loved her in Sunset but I can't see her playing Mrs. Lovett. I think she could certainly sing it, but I do not know if I would believe her as a zany, loony woman in love with Sweeney. She just seems to centered and strong to be Mrs. L. Still, I wish they found a vehicle to bring her back to Broadway. Why didn't she replace Bernadette in Gypsy?

[FolliesofYouth]

Posted: 4/24/05 at 5:48pm

Betty's comic talent was also evident in Drood.

[BenIdIct]

Posted: 4/24/05 at 7:17pm

Because I'm sure Bernadette wouldn't want someone better than her as a replacement.

[Rathnait62]

Posted: 4/24/05 at 7:18pm

Three words for you, Ben: Song. And. Dance.

[Auggie27]

Posted: 4/24/05 at 8:27pm

Yes, to be fair, she was effective in DROOD.

[Thenardier]

Posted: 4/24/05 at 8:33pm

Idina would do wonders....

THE WORST PIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIES IN LOOOOOOOOO-OOOOOOO-OOOOOOOOOO-YEAHYEAHYEAHYEAH-AHahAHahAHahAH-ONDON!

[Tenorific2]

Posted: 4/24/05 at 8:38pm

Thenardier,

ROTFLMAO!!

Mrs. Lovett got some soul!!
Updated On: 4/24/05 at 08:38 PM

[moljul]

Posted: 4/24/05 at 8:40pm

"Three words for you, Ben: Song. And. Dance. "

Exactly! Not to mention Betty had her chance at Rose at Papermill and blew it. Sondheim and Laurents felt she found none of the humor in the role so clearly there are many people who feel "funny" is not her thing. Mrs. Lovett is not for her.

[Mutts]

Posted: 4/24/05 at 9:13pm

I saw Buckley in concert last year and even if Sondheim and Laurents didn't have their reported issues with her, I'm not sure how she would have fit with this revivals concept of Rose. Buckley's not exactly in the same shape she was when she did Gypsy in 1998, was it? I wonder if Annette Benning or Sigourney Weaver could handle Rose's songs?

[M_Jokay]

Posted: 4/24/05 at 9:34pm

Betty's probibly reading all of this thinking to herself, "I'll show them who's funny! I'll be so damn funny!" I wonder if these things influence actors.