Michael Cerveris = SWEENEY TODD?????- Page 3

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Posted: 4/6/05 at 2:12pm

I DID see Brian Stokes Mtchell as Sweeney at Kennedy Center and he was fantastic. Sang the role amazingly (of course) but it was his acting that impressed me most. In "Epiphany" you could see Sweeney crack open and pour out his rage.

There is no single correct approach to Sweeney: each actor brings something unique to the part. I think Michael Cerveris will make a fascinating Sweeney.

[LostLeander]

Posted: 4/6/05 at 3:08pm

It took me a while to get used to Cerveris in the Passion concert.
Even when I did, I wasn't hugely affected by his performance.
He was A LOT better than Jere Shea, I'll give him that, but there was this timidity than I really hated about his performance.

Then again, I'm not a huge fan of the character Georgio.

Cerveris' accent and singing in Assassins irked me greatly.
It was so detached, and a bit unemotional in my opinion.
However, he did prove himself at least a good singer in the Passion concert.

Sweeney must be sincerely and sweetly sinister, some qualities than I can see in Cerveris.
But there needs to an edge, and an invulnerability that is hard to achieve, and that I don't see Cerveris pulling off too well.

I think Cerveris, in the same vane as Len Cariou (utter brilliance himself), has that true bari-tenor voice that Sweeney needs.

Hearn was too much of a baritone, and he oversang sometimes.
Although I never saw him, I prefer to listen to Cariou singing it.

But back to Cerveris - I can see being good, but not up to the level of Cariou, or even Hearn.

This is all IMHO, of course.