Michael Ball & Imelda Staunton Led SWEENEY TODD Headed to West End & Broadway? — Page 2

Ah, interesting.

I actually am kind of tired of the standard "Sweeney sound." I saw Cerveris early in the run, and he wasn't doing it. But by the time the recording happened, he was all hollow and rumbly sounding. To my ear, anyway.

This setting is brilliantly chosen- the rationing and food shortages of this time period in Britain actually led to urban legends of this sort of thing happening for real.

I always thought Michael Ball was a baritone. Anyway, I say no to Mandy Patinkin for Sweeney.

I really liked the trailer for the Michael Ball and Imelda Staunton Sweeney Todd, so I'd love top see it come to Broadway. I think.
This is how I will forever imagine Bernadette will be as Mrs. Lovett.

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A lot of well known ladies probably "wanted" the role of Mrs. Lovett in the film. I don't know if they all tested for it or not. The only actresses who did screen tests (that I know of) were Emma Thompson, Bernadette Peters, Imelda Staunton, and Helena Bonham Carter.

Streep was indeed offered the movie but turned it down in favor of Mamma Mia. After she declined, they cast Helena. I would assume Streep tested as well before they offered it to her, but I don't know that for sure.

Here's Imelda singing "Worst Pies." She definitely nails the humor and I love her timing.
Worst Pies - Imelda Staunton

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Me, too. When I first heard she tested for the film, I was hoping she would get it. Helena is closer to Depp in age, but I liked the idea of an older Mrs. Lovett with him. It would have added to both the creepy and sad aspects of the character.

She's a hell of a good actress, that's for sure.

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Streep was definitely offered the film with Burton directing. It was "unofficially announced" all over Hollywood that Depp and Streep would be doing it.

Then she announced her participation in Mamma Mia, and that was that. A few weeks (if that) later, Helena was announced as getting the part.

EDIT: The rumor was that Streep was definitely interested in doing a musical, but turned Sweeney down because she didn't think she could do the role well. She didn't find it a good fit for her, and I think she was intimidated by the score. She chose Mamma Mia because it "felt right."

I won't knock her instincts with film choices. She does far better than most with picking the right projects.

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Updated On: 11/4/11 at 03:26 PM

Bernadette certainly has the hair for a Tim Burton film.

Updated On: 11/4/11 at 03:37 PM

Please, please let this be true!

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To be clear was Bernadette Peters screen tested for the Tim Burton Sweeney or back with the old director (Mendes?)...

I do feel a bit sad thinking that BP could have played the role on film but will tell myself that if it was meant to be it would have happened (she WAS considered, after all) and wouldn't have fit.

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Ha ha no. Peters apparently screen-tested for Burton. I think Streep was the only person Mendes really considered. There is an interview with Sondheim stating that Mendes gave up on the project partly because he couldn't get the two stars he wanted (Streep/Russell Crowe).

I haven't had the time to travel to Chichester to see it, but I know many who have and they have all raved about it.
I'm going to London to see it next year.

Found this audio clip on youtube of Michael Ball and Imelda Staunton singing "A Little Priest" - I can't wait to see the show. They sound amazing.


A Little Priest (Michael Ball & Imelda Staunton)

Updated On: 11/5/11 at 08:21 PM

Aww the thought of Toni Coltte in Sweeney.

I have nor eal problem with Sweeney set in a different era (although Sondheim did go out of his way to try to make the piece feel time authentic--something it could be argued Shakespeare rarely did with his works which often used a current Elizabethan style no matter when they were et), but I'd like to think there's a good reason for it--not just setting Sweeney in modern dress cuz it'd look cool. Have people actually called Sondheim the modern Shakespeare? I obviously love Sondheim but I don't see a direct similarity...

I saw this yesterday and would echo much of what Sean2 has said. I must have seen at least ten productions of Sweeney including the OLC at Drury Lane; I know all the plot’s twists and turns and I still left this with my nerves shredded. I have never known the slaughter of the Judge elicit cheers and a spontaneous round of applause from the audience, and much of that has to do with the most warped and repugnant performance of the Judge’s role (by John Bowe) I’ve ever seen. It also has to do with Michael Ball’s quiet, sinister malevolence at this point, choosing to whisper the revelation of who he really is rather than shout it in anguish, as so often has been done before. All of the critical moments work and work well in this production, they must have been rehearsed to death: you could have cut the air in the auditorium with a knife when Toby rests his hand on the edge of the trunk close to Pirelli’s; Mrs Lovett’s waltz into the oven leaves the audience gasping and, even though I know Joanna escapes Todd’s grasp in the final sequence, I actually doubted it was going to happen. The set flows with the action so as to enable and heighten the tension but there is huge advantage in the Chichester stage being two thirds in the round and I fear something may be lost in transferring this to a conventional proscenium theatre. We took a Sondheim virgin with us but one who is very familiar with Shakespeare and he found it “disturbing and unsettling.”

Moving the action to the mid twentieth century is a gift to Imelda whose track record in portraying British women of this period is second to none and accordingly she turns in a performance that will have most other Mrs Lovetts eating their hearts out. Her performance has a streak of naïve silliness that I have not seen in others, and the time-shift allows for this development in twentieth century British humour that would not fit into the Victorian period. There are moments when her macabre crudity, particularly during By The Sea could have come out of Carry on Screaming. But equally, her naivety allows for much greater revelation during Not While I’m Around.

I completely disagree with those newspaper critics who have dissed Lucy May Barker’s Joanna – there has clearly been a decision to go for the nutty-Joanna interpretation rather than the beautiful ingénue and I thought Miss Barker’s interpretation to be absolutely fine. But this does create a problem with Luke Brady’s Anthony who is too two-dimensional. Also it doesn’t help that Tobias is taller than Mrs Lovett either and Michael Ball’s accent comes and goes.

However these are minor quibbles when considering that the production deservedly got one of the biggest spontaneous standing ovations I’ve ever seen from a British audience.