Lack of English accents in Sweeney Todd - WTF?

[Musicaldudepeter]

Posted: 8/23/12 at 11:58am

Why didn't Len Cariou or George Hearn even ATTEMPT a London accent in the original production (and 2000 NY Phil Concert) of Sweeney Todd? I mean, to me Angela Lansbury was the only original cast member who really adopted an English accent! Even the ensemble is very American-ized on the original cast recording. I know Musical Theatre is very much the quintessential American art form, but Sweeney Todd, like My Fair Lady and Oliver!, is extremely English, and I would have thought that an appropriate accent would be fundamental when mounting such an English show.

[Wynbish]

Posted: 8/23/12 at 11:59am

to me Angela Lansbury was the only original cast member who really adopted an English accent

She is English...

[jv92]

Posted: 8/23/12 at 12:00pm

I've always thought it works better when Todd doesn't have an accent. Maybe it's because I was brought up on Cariou and Hearn and I just got used to it that way.

[Musicaldudepeter]

Posted: 8/23/12 at 12:06pm

I know she's English. Lansbury left England when she was very young, so she's had an American accent for a very long time (i.e. during the '70s) so she was actually 'putting on' that accent for Lovett. Updated On: 8/23/12 at 12:06 PM

[jv92]

Posted: 8/23/12 at 12:07pm

Because Len Cariou is great. Case closed.

[Kad]

Posted: 8/23/12 at 12:07pm

"...such an English show."

Unlike My Fair Lady and Oliver, it was created by an American composer and a writer that, although born British, was an American citizen and lived in America for much of his life.

It is also much more stylized than either of those shows, particularly in the original production.

[jv92]

Posted: 8/23/12 at 12:09pm

Actually, Alan Jay Lerner was American. Fritz Loewe was Austrian, but lived much of his life in America. Neither were English.

[Kad]

Posted: 8/23/12 at 12:14pm

Yikes. For some reason, I had gotten it into my head they were British.

[jv92]

Posted: 8/23/12 at 12:19pm

Lerner sometimes spoke with a faux-British accent because I think he fancied himself an Anglophile, which could have lead to your confusion.

[castlestreet]

Posted: 8/23/12 at 12:27pm

Actually, in person Angela still speaks with a bit of an English accent- at least the two times I've met her she did...

[jv92]

Posted: 8/23/12 at 12:29pm

Lansbury's accent isn't quite English. But it's not quite American. It's sort of Lansburyian.

[Wynbish]

Posted: 8/23/12 at 12:34pm

Like John Barrowman and his faux-American that doesn't sound all-the-way American?

[jv92]

Posted: 8/23/12 at 12:35pm

Lansbury's accent is better. Everything the woman does is better than what most people do.

[wonkit]

Posted: 8/23/12 at 12:35pm

I totally agree that Cariou was so perfect that I wouldn't have wanted him to change a thing. The argument can be made that either (a) Todd is back from 15 years in Australia where he probably had to "lose" his accent or be taunted for it, or (b) Mrs. Lovett has an accent because she is Cockney and therefore stands out as a matter of class from all those around her. Or you can just relax and enjoy the show.

[ChiChi]

Posted: 8/23/12 at 12:56pm

Angela has an accent, but I think for how long she has been in the U.S. it has become more New England. Perhaps that's why they made her New England for MURDER SHE WROTE.

[broadwaydevil]

Posted: 8/23/12 at 1:21pm

Why does everyone speak English in Les Miserables or Fiddler on the Roof or The Sound of Music?

There are certain aspects of theatre, or really any art form, that we accept as not being reality. The point is, it isn't. Why do people in shows express emotions through song?

I can't remember - did Cerveris use an English accent? Come to think of it, I can't think of many Sweeney productions in which Sweeney has an accent. It could be a creative choice or a choice up to the actors but either way I don't think it matters much.

Updated On: 8/23/12 at 01:21 PM

[ChairinMain]

Posted: 8/23/12 at 2:00pm

Cerveris used a british Accent.

I think Cariou and Hearn do more of a mid-atlantic LACK of accent as Sweeney than an american one (this is talking about the Original casts. On the concert video Hearn doesn't do an accent at all, but that's a concert an nobody does an accent except LuPone). You could argue that this relates him better to the audience. Actually the only people in the original production who did strong british accents were the cockney characters: Mrs. Lovett, Toby, the Beggar Woman, The Beadle (who clearly began low-class and climbed the social ladder). Everyone else adopted mid-atlantic pronunciation or very slight oxford accents. Edmund Lyndeck didn't use an accent at all. Victor Garber and Chris Groenendaal kind of did. I don't know why. Maybe Hal Prince felt that except for the really low-class characters, the accents would be distracting or unnecessary. English accents are harder than they seem, as Hollywood has proved so many times. I know that I consider my English Accent to be pretty good but it takes focus to maintain properly without going either too American or too regional (I usually slip into Yorkshire for some reason). I don't think it's necessary in Sweeney that strong accents be applied, except by Lovett and Toby. (My feelings on this may be suggested by having just seen a regional production of Sweeney where the accents were a real issue.)

[sparrman]

Posted: 8/23/12 at 2:08pm

I agree with "WTF". Cariou and Hearn are both great, but I think it's ridiculous that they don't have English accents. My guess is that Cariou couldn't do one, the creative team said "Oh well, who cares", and then when Hearn replaced him they decided it was "better" that way, simply because they were used to it. But it's pretty lame.

Can anyone think of another production in which Cariou (or Hearn for that matter) HAVE attempted English accents?

[jv92]

Posted: 8/23/12 at 2:19pm

Cariou is a classically trained actor. He probably can do an English accent.

[Musicaldudepeter]

Posted: 8/23/12 at 2:36pm

Thank you Sparrman

And to ChairinMan: Mid-atlantic my ass, come on, let's call a spade a spade here, Cariou and Hearn can't do English accents - and neither can LuPone for that matter. You are making excuses for all of these people and trying to come up with 'logical' reasons - they couldn't do the accents, none of the original cast use British accents - The Beggar Woman doesn't, Ken Jennings' attempt at a Cockney accent comes across as a half-assed attempt at a Scottish accent. My final point is clearly that most American actors CANNOT do English accents - I thought Ashley Brown, for example, her accent was appalling in the OBC of Mary Poppins.

Updated On: 8/23/12 at 02:36 PM

[Jay Lerner-Z]

Posted: 8/23/12 at 3:15pm

Patti's was just dreadful, not that it bothered me. She didn't seem downmarket enough.

[sparrman]

Posted: 8/23/12 at 3:22pm

Agreed about Ashley Brown. I wouldn't say "appalling", but not very good at all.

[best12bars]

Posted: 8/23/12 at 3:28pm

It never really bothered me either, just like it doesn't bother me that Clark Gable doesn't use a southern accent in Gone With the Wind.

And let's not even talk about Dick Van Dyke's "regionally challenged" accent in Mary Poppins.

The strong personalities of these performers inhabit the roles. They own them, lock, stock, and barrel.

I remember being surprised by Depp's accent in the film version of Sweeney (not that he hasn't pulled that one out of his bag many times before), but I was so used to hearing this role without one. Funny how that works.

[Musicaldudepeter]

Posted: 8/23/12 at 3:30pm

Oh I would most definitely say appalling.

And Jay, Patti's wasn't any kind of market, her NY Phil accent landed somewhere in South Africa. And in the 2005 revival, she basically toned down her American accent, and over pronounced (surprise, surprise), the ends of her words. Her interpretation was so striking in the latter production, though, that I didn't care.

[Plum]

Posted: 8/23/12 at 3:36pm

I'd rather have the American actors sticking to American accents and being as utterly marvelous as Cariou and Hearn than spending all their mental energy trying to sound English and letting their acting suffer, which happens, IMO, to most performers who try to put on accents.

And the difference between Sweeney and My Fair Lady is that the latter is about accents. The former just happens to be set in England.