PATTI LUPONE HEADLINING SWEENEY! — Page 3

LuPone is one of the greatest talents any of us will see in our lifetimes. Sometimes self-destructrive, like other divas, but when she is fully engaged, there's no one as powerful.

She will rise to the occasion and give the level of performance she would have given in Gypsy if the evil old queen Arthur Laurents hadn't petulantly decreed that she would only play it over his dead withered body.

Thank GOD he and Sondheim aren't speaking any longer. Maybe this news will finally drive a steak through his vampiric heart.

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Oh no. Love Sweeney, don't exactly love LuPone. I have to admit the only times I've found her tolerable are when she was singing Sondheim, but I wanted more than tolerable from this production. Still...B'way.com has been wrong before, hasn't it?

Patti has studied cello and I think she studied brass growing up, so musically she could pull off the instrumentalism. This will be a show to see!!!

Updated On: 4/27/05 at 05:30 PM

Kid no its not. The Roundabout is no longer producing it, but it is the same production from London that they were initially going to present. Same director. Same concept.

The upper hand? Do you mean she's the front runner or she is forcing the producers to cast her because she is LA LUPONE.

That's what I meant......still I think the image of Cyndi Lauper, which is probably her own personality(which can carry over into her portrayal Mrs. Lovett), would go well with the show!

Anyone who says they don't like Angela Lansbury in Sweeney Todd should be eaten.

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i was looking forward to cyndi but patti is great and i think she will be wonderful in the role!

I just thought she was too over-the-top, even in a over-the-top role. It aggravated me to the point where I avoid watching the OBC DVD (well her and Johanna) No offense, just my opinion.

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omg! amazing!

I absolutely LOVE Lupone's Lovett and I watch the DVD as often as possible. I'm very happy with the casting thus far.

Thank you, Magruder, for your defense of the remarkable Lansbury in this, easily a defining role of musical theatre.
That said, I am THRILLED by the casting of Cerveris and the possibility of LuPone.
What I am decidedly NOT thrilled about is this odd, performance art, off-off-off-off-Broadway-sounding staging of Todd.
I, personally, hate "concepts" that are slapped onto a show haphazardly in an attempt to be fresh. I am not AT ALL interested in watching two people sing "Ah, Miss" while they sit in chairs playing instruments and stare out at the audience. We're going to miss every real human emotion in favor of attempting something that, I think, just won't serve this piece.
Maybe they can do it in a stylized Japanese style, and give every single line delivery a monotone.