Groban & Ashford in SWEENEY TODD On Broadway - Reviews & News Thread — Page 61

For Kathryn Hahn's Mrs. Lovett, I'd be at the theater weekly.

Updated On: 10/20/23 at 07:35 PM

So they're adding a tap number for Sutton Foster? And making Aaron take his shirt off?

 

Love both of them, but that's two terrible casting choices.

Does he have the low notes for it? And he's kind of a bland actor. I don't think he's right at all. You need someone a bit menacing. Joshua Henry? Take my money.

Updated On: 10/20/23 at 08:55 PM

Give me Audra and Joshua Henry.

HOLY SH*T

HOLY SH*T

HOLY SH*T YESSSSSSSSSSSSSSS

Tveit was really good in Assassins, but I don't think it's a particularly good indicator of how his Sweeney might be. Compared to Sweeney, Booth after all is a much more charming and even seductive character throughout the show, or at least Tveit played it that way. I now realize that I remember much more vividly his later scenes than Booth's Song, which I remember liking at the time but not as much as Michael Cerveris' rendition. Vocally he would be awfully miscast in Sweeney  

Updated On: 10/21/23 at 02:42 AM

PipingHotPiccolo said: "I agree that Tveit and Foster seem totally miscast--i cant think of more wholesome actors-- but i cant imagine they would be getting anyone more famous or more likely to sell tickets than these two who are at least Broadway "names" with TONY AWARD WINNER to splash across billboards."

Has everyone forgotten Aaron's performance in Next To Normal? He can be so dark and menacing. Or his Roxanne? He's got range that not everyone knows about so of COURSE he's gonna be underestimated. So was Groban! I think he'll be even better than Groban if I'm being honest. Wholesome are just the roles they like to cast him as because he is a wholesome dude IRL and is very pretty. Y'all are just used to that. I agree with the most recent commenter that Aaron in Assassins is not the best indicator of his Sweeney voice. Most of his singing in that was very pure, sweet and in his mix. Although he was in a more natural and chestier legit placement in Ballad of Booth and Everybody's Got The Right. But hearing the bootleg of Moulin Rouge when he went in as an emergency cover on July 1st, I could hear how his voice was much darker, fuller, mature and operatic. So I think it'll be fine. He'll be singing this score the way it should be sung, just in a slightly higher key. And people on Twitter obviously think he'll be doing the option up because they have worms for brains. He mentioned earlier this year that he wanted to play a role next where he could display his classical chops. The Roxanne opt-up wasn't his idea either. The closest thing we might get to an option up is if he does the octave flip Nicholas Christopher does in Epiphany. But a nasally belted B? He's not stupid, he would never do that in a show like this. 

binau said: "I'm not sure if we are talking about the same "Assassins" but I would not personally expect "The Ballad of Booth" if done well to be sung in a way that sounds "pure" and "sweet" - I would expect it to be passionate and broody. And there are moments in the song that I could tenuously map to sections of the score in Sweeney across songs such as No Place Like London, Barber and his Wife and Epiphany in terms of pitch and dynamics. This is why I feel it'd be a better litmus test of capability than a song such as "I'm Alive" that is clearly very high and probably why people have a hard time imagining him signing the score (recognise that if his voice has changed over time as you suggest then too much might time might have passed).

Listening to the most recent cast recording again with Steven Pasquale singing "Booth" I actually wonder if he would have been a great choice (but I guess he is tied up with 'Here We Are'.



"

It is on YouTube, so check it out and form an opinion yourself. He doesn't sound like that throughout the whole song. Just in the beginning of the "damn my soul if you must" but it grows into more brooding and powerful throughout that passage. 

Noideawhatimdoinghere said: "PipingHotPiccolo said: "I agree that Tveit and Foster seem totally miscast--i cant think of more wholesome actors-- but i cant imagine they would be getting anyone more famous or more likely to sell tickets than these two who are at least Broadway "names" with TONY AWARD WINNER to splash across billboards."

Has everyone forgotten Aaron's performance in Next To Normal? He can be so dark and menacing. Or his Roxanne? He's got range that not everyone knows about so of COURSE he's gonna be underestimated. So was Groban! I think he'll be even better than Groban if I'm being honest. Wholesome are just the roles they like to cast him as because he is a wholesome dude IRL and is very pretty. Y'all are just used to that. I agree with the most recent commenter that Aaron in Assassins is not the best indicator of his Sweeney voice. Most of his singing in that was very pure, sweet and in his mix. Although he was in a more natural and chestier legit placement in Ballad of Booth and Everybody's Got The Right. But hearing the bootleg of Moulin Rouge when he went in as an emergency cover on July 1st, I could hear how his voice was much darker, fuller, mature and operatic. So I think it'll be fine. He'll be singing this score the way it should be sung, just in a slightly higher key. And people on Twitter obviously think he'll be doing the option up because they have worms for brains. He mentioned earlier this year that he wanted to play a role next where he could display his classical chops. The Roxanne opt-up wasn't his idea either. The closest thing we might get to an option up is if he does the octave flip Nicholas Christopher does in Epiphany. But a nasally belted B? He's not stupid, he would never do that in a show like this."

Sondheim does not equal an option up. 
Nothing about his prior performances has been been any indicator to Sweeney. Gave is a golden child. He played it as such. Nothing menacing or scary. His performance in Rouge was - acting wise - wooden and dull (terrific vocals). But I’m down to be surprised. I think for Sweeney you need to have some bellowing low notes. 

Sondheim does not equal an option up.
 

 

 

Bruv, I said that he will NOT be opting up! Read my message again.

Long time lurker (over 10 years) first time poster...because this topic fascinates me.  I first saw Tveit in Assassins.  I loved it.  I thought he was excellent in the role (and very funny at stage door-all stage doors should be in bars!!) I found his Ballad of Booth to be haunting, but I agree that it was the end of the show that sealed the deal for me.  He was scary and bat-**** crazy.  I turned to my boyfriend at the time, and I said, "I get it" about him.

Cut to Moulin Rouge.  I saw it not long after it opened...and ooof.  Whatever the technical term for anti-chemistry is, he and KO had it.  (An older man sitting behind me yelling out, "Are you kidding me?" after she died was the highlight of the show for me)  I left disappointed, and I don't even remember his Roxanne.  Whole performance was blah.

This past spring, I was in NYC seeing a few shows (no intention of seeing MR again), and I was really enjoying his role on Schmicago, so I grabbed an overpriced ticket for his last week.  I thought he was MUCH better.  Don't get me wrong, Christian still sucks, but he was passionate, he was charming, and he sang Roxanne with RAGE.  (I was also impressed he was doing this while promoting Schmicago full time)

I feel like I have seen him at his best and worst.  I also think he knows that his tony nomination is looked at as a joke, so if he decided his first role after that debacle is to accept a role that he can't do, then he deserves all the scorn that he will get. And he will get it. But if he crushes this, and I hope that he does,I hope that he starts getting offered roles that have more depth than MR.  And yes, they will have to raise the key for him.

At the very least, the producers will be getting a WORK HORSE.  Man does not like to call out ..

(Totally off topic, but Titus has missed more days than he has performed, and I am concerned for him.)

Back to lurking....