Most powerful Sweeney?

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Most powerful Sweeney?

Posted: 4/21/08 at 2:41pm

Who was the most powerful Sweeney to you? I gotta say George Hearn.

He's a faker, and you've been taken in by his con. And in doing so, you are enabling him. He is doing more damage to aspergers than papa's words ever could. -Chane/Liverpool on me having asperger syndrome.

re: Most powerful Sweeney?

Posted: 4/21/08 at 2:42pm

Johnny Depp.

Just kidding. George Hearn pretty much took the cake for me with Angela Lansbury.

"that's what my date said."

re: Most powerful Sweeney?

Posted: 4/21/08 at 2:51pm

Len Cariou, followed by Johnny Depp, and then Michael Cerveris.

I didn't like Hearn's interpretation at all. He just screamed for two and a half hours. Horrible. I was glad when he got this throat cut open.

"If they can get you asking the wrong questions, they don't have to worry about the answers." Thomas Pynchon, GRAVITY'S RAINBOW "Reality is that which, when you stop believing in it, doesn't go away." Philip K. Dick My blog: http://www.roscoewrites.blogspot.com/

re: Most powerful Sweeney?

Posted: 4/21/08 at 2:51pm

Clearly, George Hearn.

re: Most powerful Sweeney?

Posted: 4/21/08 at 2:53pm

No one scared me as bad as Bryn Terfel. He's a BIG fella, with a seriously imposing voice to match!

Then I'll put Hearn and Cerveris at joint second, and Cariou following on after, and Depp trailing in the gutter. And that's all my Sweeneys. ^_^

Notes from the Earlham Street Gutter

re: Most powerful Sweeney?

Posted: 4/21/08 at 2:58pm

George Hearn

It Sucks To Be Me

re: Most powerful Sweeney?

Posted: 4/21/08 at 3:03pm

I have to agree with Roscoe...George Hearn was just too loud and one-note. Cerveris was creepy as hell so I'd have to say he's my favorite. I only know Cariou from the cast recording and he's great on that, but I haven't seen him live so I can't count him.

re: Most powerful Sweeney?

Posted: 4/21/08 at 3:06pm

Cariou, hands down.

Cerveris a close, creepy second.

re: Most powerful Sweeney?

Posted: 4/21/08 at 3:17pm

Cariou, although I have not seen him in the role, only heard him, but prefer him over the rest vocally. I saw Hearn in the show on Broadway and loved him. So, out of the Sweeneys I have seen, I would have to say Hearn. Cerveris was quite creepy though.

Just give the world Love. - S. Wonder

#10

re: Most powerful Sweeney?

Posted: 4/21/08 at 3:20pm

Len Cariou. An amazing performance with many levels...George Hearn was to hammy and over the top. Johnny Depp was wonderful

#11

re: Most powerful Sweeney?

Posted: 4/21/08 at 3:20pm

Of the Sweeney's I've actually seen, I'd have to say Michael Cerveris. His was a really creepy take on the character, although George Hearn was good as well but sometimes it did seem a little over the top. But I must say I just love how at the end when he discovers his wife, instead of singing the lines "What have I done?", he shouts them in anguish so that it comes off more as "WHAT HAVE I DONE?!" . It just gives me chills everytime I see it.

"You drank a charm to kill John Proctor's wife! You drank a charm to kill Goody Proctor!" - Betty Parris to Abigail Williams in Arthur Miller's The Crucible

Updated On: 4/21/08 at 03:20 PM

#12

re: Most powerful Sweeney?

Posted: 4/21/08 at 3:29pm

Did not see him, but Cariou's performance on the OBCR impressed me more than the performances of Hearn, Cerveris, or Depp.

I am a firm believer in serendipity- all the random pieces coming together in one wonderful moment, when suddenly you see what their purpose was all along.

#13

re: Most powerful Sweeney?

Posted: 4/21/08 at 3:53pm

Honestly, Brian Stokes Mitchell. VERY imposing voice, crazy eyes, and he seems pretty tall to me.

Jimmy, what are you doing here in the middle of the night? It's almost 9 PM!

#14

re: Most powerful Sweeney?

Posted: 4/21/08 at 3:54pm

Len played it the best
George Sang it the best
Michael was just plain scary

If I had to pick, I'd say Len Cariou.

#15

re: Most powerful Sweeney?

Posted: 4/21/08 at 3:58pm

George or Len

#16

re: Most powerful Sweeney?

Posted: 4/21/08 at 3:58pm

Cerveris.

#17

re: Most powerful Sweeney?

Posted: 4/21/08 at 4:02pm

Definitely Cerveris for me personally. He made me cry during Epiphany.

Carious is second.

#18

re: Most powerful Sweeney?

Posted: 4/21/08 at 4:04pm

Cariou. Sometimes the first *is* the best. It's a shame there's no *legal* video recording of his Sweeney, as it's, I believe, the most truly realized.

Would it be too catty to ask who's the worst Sweeney? I vote Kelsey Grammer (LA Reprise).

#19

re: Most powerful Sweeney?

Posted: 4/21/08 at 4:10pm

I have to say the most powerful Sweeney was George Hearn in the concert version he did with LuPone for the NY Philharmonic. With that orchestra behind him, it was one of the most pwersul performances I've ever witnessed--and I saw it three times.

"Long live God!" (GODSPELL)

#20

re: Most powerful Sweeney?

Posted: 4/21/08 at 4:19pm

Stokes Mitchell who charmed us right up until he went off the deep end never to return.

His Sweeney got crazier and crazier (and calmer and calmer) and he took us with him into his madness until we were one with him, feeling sane and looking out at a crazy world.

"If my life weren't funny, it would just be true. And that would be unacceptable." --Carrie Fisher

#21

re: Most powerful Sweeney?

Posted: 4/21/08 at 4:21pm

Len Cariou. The man is an acting god.

I agree with everyone else who said Hearn was too one-note and over-the-top. Watching him, it seems that he didn't think too much about what the character should be feeling and just decided that extra loud, extra big, and extra dramatic would work. Yeah, those things may be important components of a melodrama, but I want Sweeney to scare me. Hearn doesn't. Cariou does.

Cerveris was a little too catatonic for my taste. Depp had a similar thing going on, yet I really enjoyed him because there were moments where the beast within broke out of its cage. I didn't get that so much with Cerveris.

I would love to see Philip Quast or Shuler Hensley do it.

Updated On: 4/21/08 at 04:21 PM

#22

re: Most powerful Sweeney?

Posted: 4/21/08 at 4:27pm

Part of the problem with Cerveris as Sweeney Todd is that Cerveris wasn't playing Sweeney Todd. He was playing an anonymous lunatic who was playing Sweeney Todd. Kind of a problem, but he did very well, I thought.

#23

re: Most powerful Sweeney?

Posted: 4/21/08 at 4:40pm

I loved Cariou when I first saw it.
No one has mentioned Gunton but I did like him in the first revival.
On the PBS concert version, I did like Hearn.

#24

re: Most powerful Sweeney?

Posted: 4/21/08 at 7:10pm

So....I'm the only one that found Michael Cerveris sexy?... In a really scary, creepy way?...Should I even be admitting this?...

#25

re: Most powerful Sweeney?

Posted: 4/21/08 at 7:20pm

Cerveris. (clever name, it's OK. I have the hots for Angela Lansbury. Be proud. BE PROUD!!!)
Then Depp
Then Cariou
Then Mitchell (All I've seen is his Epiphany, which I loved, but I saw nothing else)
I also find myself disgusted at Hearn's Sweeney.

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