Lack of English accents in Sweeney Todd - WTF? — Page 5

I just got back from seeing a production of Macbeth.

Not one Scottish accent. And it was a brilliant production.

Made me think of the whiners in this thread.

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I'm still trying to figure out why the generally wonderful revival of Sunday in the Park with George at the Roundabout a few years ago asked the cast to use varying English accents in Act One, where everyone (save for two characters) is French.

I'll never forget the accents in 54, which ranged from sublime to Dick Van Dyke. And since class is far less a theme in Sunday than in Sweeney Todd, I really didn't understand the choice. It's not the like two British leads couldn't handle some sort of American accent, which they both did very well in Act Two.

But then again, I had no idea why everyone in NINE had to have Italian accents.

I paid attention enough to know that I shouldn't just hold you but hold *this*.

I didn't think it worked cause I thought the quality of English accents was...varying, let's say.

I would have had no problem with Evans and Russell using their natural accents, and the rest of the cast using theirs. I also didn't have much of a problem with their American accents. The accents I had a problem with were some of the British accents being employed by the American actors.

Same with Nine. Would have been fine is Banderas was the only one with an accent (as it is his natural accent). I don't even think Liliane LeFleur needs a French accent (think Josephine Baker).

I think audiences' preconceptions with accents (especially American audiences) is odd, when you think about it.

If anything is a period piece and set in any country other than the United States, they expect the actors to have (some form of) British accents. I don't know why that is. All those TV episodes of Masterpiece Theatre with bonnets and bustles probably had something to do with it.

But it can be in France, Germany, Japan, Timbuktu, or Sweden ... if it's a work in English, set in a period of at least 100 years ago, we want those accents!

I do remember people (even other actors I talked to) at the time, finding the noticeable American accents on all of the leads in the film version of "Amadeus" to be jarring. They thought they sounded so "ordinary," because they didn't trot out something British for that era ... even though the characters are Viennese, Austrian, Italian, German, etc.

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Robbie- the reverse is true for the cast recording of the revival. Many of the British actors have pretty terrible American accents.


I once saw a London production of Beyond the Horizon where the accents ranged from Midwestern to Texarkana to mid-Atlantic... in an O'Neill drama.

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Best12 is right. We (Americans) except almost all period/continental shows to use British accents. Really things like this are up to the director. The original Sunday didn't use them at all but the revival did for reasons of the leads, distinguish class, etc. I was thrown off in the Night Music revival when Bernadette/Elaine took over because Bernie attempted to sound continental while Strichie basically sounded like she was fron Yonkers or something.

If you remember in Venus in Fur Vonda switched into an accent whenever she slipped into character. It's just expected for an actor/the audience to hear a "classy/dignified" accent.

The Cate Blanchett Uncle Vanya took place in Russia but they all used their natural Aussie accents. At first it threw me, but then I realized I wouldn't have been thrown by say, Mary Louise Parker in Hedda Gabler not being Swedish.

And yeah, when I saw Singin' in the Rain in London this past spring I was laughing at how AWFUL their American acccents were. Lina was basically just making up funny noises and not even remotely trying to do a real (albeit exagerate and funny obviously) based American accent of some kind.

[nvm]

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Updated On: 8/25/12 at 05:47 PM

"One thing that drives me NUTS, though, is on the recording of the National's LITTLE NIGHT MUSIC (with Judy Dench), the words 'enchanting' and 'panting' do not rhyme because of the native accents employed. The words MUST RHYME!!!"

Firstly, it's Judi Dench.

Secondly, if the lyrics don't rhyme, it's the fault of the lyricist, not the actor. Even if the lyricist happens to be the greatest in the world.

So now it's considered "too hard" for actors to adopt the proper accent for the role? How sad that the acting profession has fallen to such depths. At least we still have Meryl Streep.

I'm afraid they don't rhyme in my accent. What I am saying is that Sondheim has changed lyrics before to suit different accents. The characters in the show would not say "enchanting" in such a twangy way. Unless you're writing Oklahoma, you need not be tied to dialects in lyric writing.