From "Balancing Act: The Authorized Biography of Angela Lansbury" by Martin Gottfried (pg 229):
Despite Sondheim's preference for Angela, Patricia Routledge remained Harold Prince's actress of choice to co star with Len Cariou in Sweeney Todd. The director even arranged for Cariou and Routledge to confer by telephone, while he was in Vienna making the movie version of A Little Night Music. In fact, that was the one reason why Sweeney Todd wasn't being produced in 1976.
Routledge, a splendid actress and a good singer, was not entirely sold on the show, and in fact, had the creeps just thinking about it. "You don't know what it's like," she told Cariou on the phone. "I was raised on that story. I'm not kidding you, it's scary having anything to do with it. For us that 'penny dreadful' is like Grimm's Fairy Tales. When we were kids, it was always something to be afraid of. Even my parents would say to me, 'You'd better be careful or we'll get Sweeney Todd after you.'"
I've also heard she turned down the London production, too. That said, she would have been phenomenal! Judy Kaye's Lovett reminded me a bit of her (PS, Routledge was the first choice for - and turned down - "Souvenir").
Updated On: 2/4/10 at 08:00 PM
