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

[BCfitasafiddle]

Posted: 10/20/23 at 5:35pm

Aaron Tveit and Sutton Foster is what I hear from an employee of the production. 

[PipingHotPiccolo]

Posted: 10/20/23 at 6:05pm

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

[GiantsInTheSky2]

Posted: 10/20/23 at 6:57pm

BCfitasafiddle said: "Aaron Tveit and Sutton Foster is what I hear from an employee of the production."

Starting at the same time, or staggered first performances? Sutton is booked until February 4th. 

[TellZ]

Posted: 10/20/23 at 7:00pm

Tveit and Foster are hugely talented, but neither of them are right for these roles. They also aren't marquee ticket-selling names.

Get a huge name for Lovett so we can have a Josh Henry or Norm Lewis Sweeney. Like Reba. Get Reba. I don't care what accent she does

[PipingHotPiccolo]

Posted: 10/20/23 at 7:02pm

 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. 

[JasonC3]

Posted: 10/20/23 at 7:35pm

If the rumor is true, she wouldn't be my first choice, but I don't see Foster as any less appropriate for Lovett than Ashford and I would enjoy seeing her take on the role. YMMV of course. Updated On: 10/20/23 at 07:35 PM

[inception]

Posted: 10/20/23 at 7:43pm

BCfitasafiddle said: "Aaron Tveit and Sutton Foster is what I hear from an employee of the production."

Maybe that's just what they've been told to tell people?

Despite the mockery, I can still see LMM doing good as Sweeney.  He could use his chimney sweep accent from Mary Poppins.

[ACL2006]

Posted: 10/20/23 at 7:56pm

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.

[Sebastian]

Posted: 10/20/23 at 8:40pm

ACL2006 said: "So they're adding a tap number for Sutton Foster? And making Aaron take his shirt off?

Would pay to see Aaron take his shirt off during epiphany lol

[RippedMan]

Posted: 10/20/23 at 8:55pm

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

[ljay889]

Posted: 10/20/23 at 10:49pm

inception said: "BCfitasafiddle said: "Aaron Tveit and Sutton Foster is what I hear from an employee of the production."

Maybe that's just what they've been told to tell people?

Despite the mockery, I can still see LMM doing good as Sweeney. He could use his chimney sweep accent from Mary Poppins."

I know it would never happen, but this is quite possibly one of the worst suggestions I've ever heard. Lin can barely carry a tune, let alone handle the demands of Sweeney.

Aaron and Sutton is a pretty terrible idea as well. Give me Audra and Joshua Henry.

Updated On: 10/20/23 at 10:49 PM

[Sutton Ross]

Posted: 10/21/23 at 12:40am

Give me Audra and Joshua Henry.

HOLY SH*T

HOLY SH*T

HOLY SH*T YESSSSSSSSSSSSSSS

[binau]

Posted: 10/21/23 at 1:52am

Did anyone see Aaron Tveit as Booth in the Jamie Lloyd Assassins? That might give at least some indication of what his voice might sound like and how threatening he might seem. It is a surprising choice but after dismissing the last pair before actually seeing them (and being so positively surprised), and after also being wrong about Nicole in Sunset too (went from very little interest to one of my fav performances of all time) at this point I’m going to just let the director do their job and maybe it might turn out well. 
 

I could easily imagine Sutton Foster turning out a similar performance to Ashford though. 

[imeldasturn]

Posted: 10/21/23 at 2:42am

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

[inception]

Posted: 10/21/23 at 4:08am

After seeing the recent Coco Chanel advert on TV last night, I went down a deep YouTube rabbit hole on Amanda Lear.  It is too bad there are no more singing fashion models... I started to imagine the possibilities if different people had the vocal abilities, and what drop dead gorgeous Mrs Lovetts they would make...   

Cara Delevigne has done some films, but probably can't sing & is a bit young, but wow she'd be stunning.

[Noideawhatimdoinghere]

Posted: 10/21/23 at 4:15am

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]

Posted: 10/21/23 at 4:49am

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'. 

 

 

[Noideawhatimdoinghere]

Posted: 10/21/23 at 5:03am

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. 

[imeldasturn]

Posted: 10/21/23 at 6:09am

They'd need to change the key for him 

[RentBoy86]

Posted: 10/21/23 at 7:29am

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. 

[dramamama611]

Posted: 10/21/23 at 7:36am

While I don't see either of them as the right choices .. I'd probably buy tickets to see it!

I daresay the above poster has forgotten a few scenes of N2N, where he is indeed hitting more than "golden boy"  moments as he tempts Dianna I to the safety of their world together. 

[Noideawhatimdoinghere]

Posted: 10/21/23 at 7:41am

Sondheim does not equal an option up.
 

 

 

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

[EDSOSLO858]

Posted: 10/21/23 at 8:28am

Will Tveit and Foster even manage to bring in the more casual theatergoers during the winter doldrums? Highly unlikely, but if they do, I think this narrowly avoids a rare early-spring closing for an open-ended run. 

[WearSunblock]

Posted: 10/21/23 at 9:31am

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....

 

[WldKingdomHM]

Posted: 10/21/23 at 10:33am

Both are sooo wrong for this