London Sweeney: Maria Friedman to Play Mrs. Lovett

[kec]

London Sweeney: Maria Friedman to Play Mrs. Lovett#1

Posted: 5/13/07 at 5:46pm

opposite Bryn Terfel's Sweeney, per the Sondheim Society.
Sondheim Society News page

[AC126748]

re: London Sweeney: Maria Friedman to Play Mrs. Lovett#2

Posted: 5/13/07 at 5:48pm

A great choice for the role.

"You travel alone because other people are only there to remind you how much that hook hurts that we all bit down on. Wait for that one day we can bite free and get back out there in space where we belong, sail back over water, over skies, into space, the hook finally out of our mouths and we wander back out there in space spawning to other planets never to return hurrah to earth and we'll look back and can't even see these lives here anymore. Only the taste of blood to remind us we ever existed. The earth is small. We're gone. We're dead. We're safe." -John Guare, Landscape of the Body

[ray-andallthatjazz86]

re: London Sweeney: Maria Friedman to Play Mrs. Lovett#2

Posted: 5/13/07 at 5:50pm

A great choice for the role

How so?

"Some people can thrive and bloom living life in a living room, that's perfect for some people of one hundred and five. But I at least gotta try, when I think of all the sights that I gotta see, all the places I gotta play, all the things that I gotta be at"

[folkyboy]

re: London Sweeney: Maria Friedman to Play Mrs. Lovett#3

Posted: 5/13/07 at 5:51pm

ooh more Sweeney! i hope it gets recorded

[AC126748]

re: London Sweeney: Maria Friedman to Play Mrs. Lovett#4

Posted: 5/13/07 at 5:54pm

She's an intense presence, but also very funny, and her voice is perfectly suited for the score.

"You travel alone because other people are only there to remind you how much that hook hurts that we all bit down on. Wait for that one day we can bite free and get back out there in space where we belong, sail back over water, over skies, into space, the hook finally out of our mouths and we wander back out there in space spawning to other planets never to return hurrah to earth and we'll look back and can't even see these lives here anymore. Only the taste of blood to remind us we ever existed. The earth is small. We're gone. We're dead. We're safe." -John Guare, Landscape of the Body

[kec]

re: London Sweeney: Maria Friedman to Play Mrs. Lovett#5

Posted: 5/13/07 at 5:55pm

If I remember correctly, this is an extremely short run.

[ray-andallthatjazz86]

re: London Sweeney: Maria Friedman to Play Mrs. Lovett#6

Posted: 5/13/07 at 5:58pm

I couldn't disagree more. To me, she's miscast. Her Lovett may end up being winning, but Friedman tends to overact when she sings and while she can be funny, I think she doesn't have the kind of broad humor that I'd expect from Lovett. She'll probably fare better in numbers like "By the Sea" and "Wait," but I wouldn't like to sit through her "Worst Pies in London" or "A Little Priest."

"Some people can thrive and bloom living life in a living room, that's perfect for some people of one hundred and five. But I at least gotta try, when I think of all the sights that I gotta see, all the places I gotta play, all the things that I gotta be at"

[MungoGypsy8232]

re: London Sweeney: Maria Friedman to Play Mrs. Lovett#7

Posted: 5/13/07 at 6:36pm

She seems like the go-to-girl for Broadway to London transfers (ie. Fosca in Passion, Mother in Ragtime).

[ElFantasma14]

re: London Sweeney: Maria Friedman to Play Mrs. Lovett#8

Posted: 5/13/07 at 7:20pm

Omg no way!! I looove Maria Friedman, and I looove Sweeney Todd! This is amazing news; I wish I lived in the U.K!

Edit: sorry for sounding like a wicked fangirl, I just really like Maria Friedman. :) Updated On: 5/13/07 at 07:20 PM

[ThankstoPhantom]

re: London Sweeney: Maria Friedman to Play Mrs. Lovett#9

Posted: 5/13/07 at 7:22pm

This is thrilling news! I've googled this, and can't find any information...when is this running? I would see it if my tentative college visit falls under the same time as this.

How to properly use its/it's: Its is the possessive. It's is the contraction for it is...

[blaxx]

re: London Sweeney: Maria Friedman to Play Mrs. Lovett#10

Posted: 5/13/07 at 7:32pm

She's not bad, but, really...it seems like she's the only musical theatre performer in England!

Listen, I don't take my clothes off for anyone, even if it is "artistic". - JANICE

[MungoGypsy8232]

re: London Sweeney: Maria Friedman to Play Mrs. Lovett#11

Posted: 5/13/07 at 7:49pm

I think given a few more years, Ruthie Henshall would make an amazing Mrs. Lovett.

[All_For_Laura]

re: London Sweeney: Maria Friedman to Play Mrs. Lovett#12

Posted: 5/13/07 at 9:16pm

AMAZING News! I so wish I could see it!

...What happened next, was stranger still, a woman breathless and afraid, appeared out of the night, completely dressed in white. She had a secret she would tell, of one who had mistreated her. Her face and frightened gaze, my mind cannot erase...But then she ran from view. She looked so much like you...

[Fabrizio2]

re: London Sweeney: Maria Friedman to Play Mrs. Lovett#13

Posted: 5/13/07 at 9:33pm

I really really really want to see this because I LOVE Maria Friedman.

[MungoGypsy8232]

re: London Sweeney: Maria Friedman to Play Mrs. Lovett#14

Posted: 5/13/07 at 10:05pm

I've loved her since the Joseph movie

[BigFatBlonde]

re: London Sweeney: Maria Friedman to Play Mrs. Lovett#15

Posted: 5/14/07 at 12:47am

I agree with ray-andallthatjazz86.

I'll add that I'd really surprised if she does anything fresh with the role. I've always thought that her range is limited.

What great ones do the less will prattle of

[kec]

re: London Sweeney: Maria Friedman to Play Mrs. Lovett#16

Posted: 5/14/07 at 2:19am

ThankstoPhantom, please check the link below. As I thought it is an extremely short run, July 5-7.

Edited to add that apparently tickets are difficult to come by, per a friend who has been trying.

South Bank Centre Sweeney Todd Updated On: 5/14/07 at 02:19 AM

[ruthiefan_felix]

re: London Sweeney: Maria Friedman to Play Mrs. Lovett#17

Posted: 5/14/07 at 3:38am

Isn't Maria still abit too young to play the role?? Anyway.. completely miscast to me! I mean... I personally am not a fan of her voice... find it very cold and hollow... I do think she'll make a gd witch in ITW tho!

All That Jazz Check out & support my drawings @ www.facebook.com/felixdrawings

[JJPeachum2]

re: London Sweeney: Maria Friedman to Play Mrs. Lovett#18

Posted: 5/21/07 at 10:17am

She'll be brilliant. Enough said.
I hope to get my hands on a recording of these performances...
Attend the tale...

[Weez]

re: London Sweeney: Maria Friedman to Play Mrs. Lovett#19

Posted: 6/15/07 at 4:45pm

Just thought I'd bump this because I'm excited. Guess who they've got for Judge Turpin!

(My future husband) PHILIP QUAST! If I wasn't excited about this production before, I am now! (And I was VERY excited before, so I think my excitement level has actually shot RIGHT off the chart by this news. ^_^)

From http://www.playbill.com/news/article/108765.html

"Directed by David Freeman, the Stephen Sondheim-Hugh Wheeler work will play four performances July 5-7. Welsh opera star Bryn Terfel will head the cast in the title role with Olivier Award winner Maria Friedman as the pie-baking Mrs. Lovett. The cast, according to the Southbank Centre's official website, will also include Adrian Thompson as Pirelli, Daniel Evans as Tobias, Steve Elias as The Beadle and Phillip Quast as Judge Turpin.

The production will also feature the London Philharmonic Orchestra under the baton of Stephen Barlow, the Maida Vale Singers and the chorus from the Guildford School of Acting."

I'm so going to have to see it more than once. :3

Notes from the Earlham Street Gutter

[kec]

re: London Sweeney: Maria Friedman to Play Mrs. Lovett#20

Posted: 6/15/07 at 4:54pm

There are only -- what, four performances? -- Weez... why not see 'em all?

Lucky you...my trip to London isn't until the following week, and there is no way I can "sneak" in an extra trip just for this.

[Weez]

re: London Sweeney: Maria Friedman to Play Mrs. Lovett#21

Posted: 6/15/07 at 5:02pm

'Cos I can't get the Thursday off work as well and I'm seeing 'Kismet' Saturday afternoon. Rest assured that if I didn't already have my 'Kismet' ticket, I would see it three times!

Notes from the Earlham Street Gutter

[kec]

re: London Sweeney: Maria Friedman to Play Mrs. Lovett#22

Posted: 6/15/07 at 5:26pm

I'm seeing Kismet the following week...